Federal judges in Texas are unlikely to overturn a lower court's decision blocking the execution of President Obama's recent immigration policy initiatives, Professor Anil Kalhan told Law360 in a April 20 article. 

The case before the Texas federal appeals court involves two new policies executed by President Obama that seek to defer deportation for child immigrants and their parents, Law360 reported. Kalhan was not optimistic that the court would overturn an existing court decision to stay the execution of those policies but questioned the rationality of such a decision.  "The thing that struck me about [Judge Elrod of the 5th circuit] was the extent to which she seemed inclined to defer to what I regard as deeply flawed fact-finding — if that's the right word to describe it — that [the lower court] engaged in," Kalhan said. 

Professor Kalhan is an expert on immigration law, criminal law, U.S. and comparative constitutional law, privacy and surveillance, and international human rights law. Before coming to Drexel, he was a litigation associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where he served as co-coordinator of the firm’s immigration and international human rights pro bono practice group.