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GOP-led House backs legal challenge to Obama on immigration

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., left, confers with House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, as he holds a hearing on a plan by House Speaker Paul Ryan seeking the power to file an amicus brief on behalf of the House of Representatives opposing President Obama’s executive actions to shield up to five million undocumented immigrants from deportation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. While Democrats support the president’s unilateral immigration measure, Republicans in the GOP-contolled House believe Obama has overstepped his executive authority. The Supreme Court will hold arguments on the case, United States v. Texas, April 18. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., left, confers with House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, as he holds a hearing on a plan by House Speaker Paul Ryan seeking the power to file an amicus brief on behalf of the House of Representatives opposing President Obama’s executive actions to shield up to five million undocumented immigrants from deportation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. While Democrats support the president’s unilateral immigration measure, Republicans in the GOP-contolled House believe Obama has overstepped his executive authority. The Supreme Court will hold arguments on the case, United States v. Texas, April 18. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By Associated Press 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to embrace the legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s actions on immigration.

It’s part of an election-year fight over executive authority and the 11 million immigrants living in the United States that has roiled the Republican Party.

Republicans says Obama exceeded his constitutional authority in unilaterally expanding programs for immigrants. They prevailed on a 234-186 vote Thursday that authorizes Speaker Paul Ryan to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of United States v. Texas.

Texas and 25 states have challenged Obama’s actions.

Obama acted in late 2014 to allow people who have been in the United States more than five years and who have children who are in the country legally to “come out of the shadows and get right with the law.”