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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today commented on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program. The 4-4 decision in United States of America v. State of Texas means that an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stands, effectively blocking the Obama Administration from moving forward with its executive actions on immigration.

“This is the right decision. No matter what solutions one may prefer to fix our broken immigration system, those policies must be pursued and passed into law by Congress. Immigration policy cannot be imposed on the country based on the whims and political goals of a president,” said Rubio. “While the Supreme Court’s decision makes clear that President Obama has acted lawlessly, it does not leave Congress off the hook either. This is also another reminder of how important who fills the vacancy on the Supreme Court is. We have a disastrous immigration system that needs to be fixed, and Congress needs to take the lead in doing so by starting by securing our borders and enforcing our laws.”

Earlier this year, Rubio joined a group of 43 Senate Republicans in filing an amicus brief on this case.

“Given that the Executive has asserted that the acts challenged here are not even subject to judicial review, what is at stake in this matter is nothing less than an effort to supplant Congress’s constitutional power to ‘establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.’ Such an action stands in stark contravention to federal law and to the constitutional principle of the separation of powers,” the amicus brief stated. “There is little doubt that the Executive adopted the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) program as part of an explicit effort to circumvent the legislative process.”