Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was particularly ecstatic to see a federal appeals court rule against President Obama’s executive order allowing up to 5 million illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. and work.
“I was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down,” Trump said Tuesday during the fourth Republican debate in Milwaukee. “That was an unbelievable decision and we don’t have enough of those decisions coming down.”
“That was a great day and frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration,” he added. “It’s hurting us economically, it’s hurting us from every standpoint. It’s causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many inner cities in particular.”
The billionaire candidate, whose incessant criticism of lax immigration laws has solidified his reputation as a hardliner on the issue, suggested Obama was able to get away with the executive order at first “because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats.”
“He just goes around signing executive orders,” Trump said.
The ruling, handed down by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, said a lower court in Texas “did not abuse its discretion” in February when it issued a temporary injunction against implementation of the executive order.
“It really was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have really not been ruling in our favor,” Trump said Tuesday evening. “It was a 2-1 decision, it was really a terrific thing that happened.”
Lawyers for the Obama administration are planning to appeal the federal appeals court ruling to the Supreme Court.
