De Blasio Defends Immigrants After Supreme Court Tie Blocks Obama Plan
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday told New Yorkers that the city will stand by the immigrant population -- even as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against immigration reforms.
"New York City, like so many cities across the country, is stronger when all of our residents are secure in their ability to provide for their families and contribute to their community," de Blasio said. "Immigrants help make New York the best city in the world. We stand with our immigrant neighbors, co-workers, friends, and loved ones."
As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported, the mayor said the Supreme Court turned its back on undocumented immigrants, but he said New York City will not.
"And in the meantime, the City of New York will offer support and services to our immigrant brothers and sisters; to our fellow New Yorkers," de Blasio said.
The mayor said New York stands with people from everywhere.
"I share with them a sense of profound sense of disappointment and in fact, anger," he said.
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called it a "sad day."
"We need to get people out of the shadows, we know that the vast majority of immigrants -- those that are undocumented -- come to this country to work and to contribute positively to the economy and to our local communities," she told 1010 WINS.
Emmy Contos, 21, is a child of immigrants. She had a message for those opposing reform.
"We all came from somewhere else," she said. "We're all here striving for a better future."
The Supreme Court voted 4-4 and blocked President Barack Obama's immigration plan to shield millions living in the U.S. illegally from deportation.
The justices' one-sentence opinion on Thursday effectively kills the plan for the duration of Obama's presidency.
Obama said the decision sets the system back and "takes us further from the country we aspire to be.''
"I think it is heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who made their lives here, who have raised families here, who hope for the opportunity to work, pay taxes, serve in our military and more fully contribute to this country we all love in an open way," Obama said.
A tie vote sets no national precedent but leaves in place the ruling by the lower court. In this case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans said the Obama administration lacked the authority to shield up to 4 million immigrants from deportation and make them eligible for work permits without approval from Congress.