The Obama administration will seek a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court struck down the president’s program to protect more than four million immigrants from deportation. The ruling on Nov. 9 upheld a Texas-based federal judge’s injunction against President Obama’s executive order to protect immigrants who came to the United States as children or the immigrant parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents of this country from deportation. The order had expanded a 2012 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and creates the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents. Earlier this year, 19 faith-based organizations filed a friend of the court brief advocating for people seeking relief from deportation. “The United States has a legal interest and a moral duty to preserve the unity of families,” said Bill Kelly, S.J., secretary for social and international ministries at the Jesuit Conference.

This article appears in November 30 2015.