Washington, DC – The District of Columbia has joined 12 states in asking a federal court to uphold President Obama’s executive actions on immigration that expand the program for unauthorized immigrants who entered the US as children and have been in the country since the beginning of 2010, DC Attorney General Karl A. Racine announced today.

In this case, the State of Texas and a number of other states filed suit urging a federal judge in Texas to block the President’s actions.

Under the President’s orders, which could help as many as 4.4 million people nationally, qualifying undocumented immigrants would be authorized to work for three years if they comply with US laws and pay their taxes. The brief contends that the program is “consistent with a long pattern of presidential exercises of enforcement discretion within the bounds of immigration law to protect families and defer deportation,” and that “past experience demonstrates that suspending deportation and providing work authorization benefits families and state economies by authorizing work, increasing earnings, and growing the tax base.”

Attorney General Racine said: “We are proud to support the President’s wise and lawful actions here to protect our immigrant families in the District and throughout the country.”