Rice political scientist available to comment on immigration ruling from Texas judge

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Rice political scientist available to comment on immigration ruling from Texas judge

HOUSTON – (Feb. 17, 2015) – Rice University political scientist Mark Jones is available to comment on a Texas federal judge’s decision to halt President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration.

Jones said the ruling leaves approximately 4-5 million beneficiaries of Obama’s November executive order wondering when, or even if, they will be able to emerge from the shadows and normalize their immigration status in the United States.  

“Over the past few months, many of these individuals have been putting together the documentation in support of their applications, which now will remain unsubmitted for at least the near future, if not considerably longer,” Jones said.

Jones said that the Democratic spin on the lawsuit is that this is another in a series of actions undertaken by Republicans that adversely affect Latinos, while the Republican spin on the lawsuit is that it was designed to block what they consider to be an unconstitutional abuse of executive authority by Obama.  

“This may very well be a case that will go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which means a full resolution could not take place until some point during the first half of 2016,” Jones said.

Jones, chair of Rice’s Political Science Department and a fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is a leading expert on Texas politics and has been quoted nationally. He is also an expert on Latin American politics and has authored guest columns on these topics in Texas Monthly and the Texas Tribune.

Media who want to interview Jones may contact him directly at 832-466-6535.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

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