--- title: 17 States Are Suing President Barack Obama Over Immigration Action description: 17 states are suing President Obama over his recent executive action on immigration, claiming he violated the Constitution. canonical: https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T17:50:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:15.804Z article:section: Politics og:title: 17 States Are Suing Obama Over Immigration Actions og:description: 17 states are suing President Obama over his recent executive actions on immigration, claiming he violated the Constitution. og:url: https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11c34ab13b7cc1ae/69876cae35ba6fa276c05c07/459896230.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1512 og:image:height: 851 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks during The White House Tribal Nations Conference, December 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 17 States Are Suing Obama Over Immigration Actions twitter:description: 17 states are suing President Obama over his recent executive actions on immigration, claiming he violated the Constitution. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11c34ab13b7cc1ae/69876cae35ba6fa276c05c07/459896230.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 17 States Are Suing President Obama Over Immigration Actions > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Obama Unveils Immigration Plan [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Unveils Immigration Plan](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vKh77Vpj.m3u8) (15:17)  _Published 2014-11-21. Presiden't Obama's announcement from the White House_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 4, 2014 5:50 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks during The White House Tribal Nations Conference, December 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama speaks during The White House Tribal Nations Conference, December 3, 2014 in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 4, 2014 5:50 PM UTC 17 states are suing President Barack Obama over his recent [executive actions on immigration](http://time.com/3598756/obama-immigration-action/), which shields from deportation up to 5 million people who are in the country illegally. [The lawsuit](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/20141203immigrationexecutiveorderlawsuit.pdf) claims that Obama violated the ‘Take Care Clause’ of the U.S. Constitution that limits presidential power, that the federal government violated rule-making procedures, and that the order will “exacerbate the humanitarian crisis along the southern border.” The lawsuit is led by Texas Attorney General and Governor-elect Greg Abbott, who said in a [statement](https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/oagnews/release.php?id=4902) that Obama’s executive action “tramples” the Constitution. Abbott is scheduled to meet with Obama in the White House tomorrow with other newly-elected governors. The states involved in the lawsuit are Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The House has also introduced a bill to restrict Obama’s power on immigration, but in a statement released today the White House said the bill “would have devastating consequences” and that Obama would likely veto it if it passes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/"},"headline":"17 States Are Suing President Obama Over Immigration Actions","datePublished":"2014-12-04T17:50:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:15.804Z","description":"The lawsuit says Obama violated the Constitution with his recent executive actions","url":"https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/","keywords":["Immigration","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11c34ab13b7cc1ae/69876cae35ba6fa276c05c07/459896230.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11c34ab13b7cc1ae/69876cae35ba6fa276c05c07/459896230.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks during The White House Tribal Nations Conference, December 3, 2014 in Washington, DC.","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks during The White House Tribal Nations Conference, December 3, 2014 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/","name":"17 States Are Suing President Obama Over Immigration Actions"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama Unveils Immigration Plan","description":"Presiden't Obama's announcement from the White House","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vKh77Vpj/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-21T01:29:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vKh77Vpj.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/","duration":"PT15M17S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3618378/obama-immigration-lawsuit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```