The city of Hoboken is joining a nationwide lawsuit, which includes 73 cities and counties from 27 states and represents 43 million people, which is urging the immediate implementation of President Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration. 
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
As part of Cities United for Immigration Action, Mayor Dawn Zimmer announced yesterday that Hoboken will join 73 cities and counties to file a new friend-of-the-court brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Texas vs. United States lawsuit.
The brief demonstrates robust support from the country’s largest cities – as well as its suburbs and rural areas – for the President’s reforms, which will provide temporary relief from deportation to immigrants with longstanding ties to the U.S. who pass a background check and meet other criteria.
The cities and counties, representing 43 million people across the country, argue that the district court judge who temporarily blocked implementation of the programs failed to consider the significant harms to America’s local governments caused by this delay.
Yesterday’s brief more than doubles the number of local governments that had previously voiced opposition to the lawsuit brought by states seeking to block President Obama’s immigration reform efforts.
“We must do better to honor our country’s proud immigration tradition,†Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said in a statement. “Too many immigrants live in fear, afraid to become members of our society, while Congress fails to take any meaningful action to fix a broken immigration system.”
“Their inaction has real consequences for our communities, which is why I fully support President Obama’s leadership and common sense executive actions. I thank Mayor de Blasio for initiating this brief and building this important coalition of leaders.â€
As part of Cities United for Immigration Action, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti led the effort to organize more than 70 cities and counties, the National League of Cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in arguing that the national public interest is served clearly and overwhelmingly by implementing immigration relief by executive action without delay.
According to the city of Hoboken, here is the full list of cities and states getting involved with this litigation:
Alexandria, VA
Allentown, PA
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Bell, CA
Boston, MA
Bridgeport, CT
Buffalo, NY
Cambridge, MA
Central Falls, RI
Chapel Hill, NC
Charleston, SC
Chicago, IL
Coconino County, AZ
Columbia, SC
Columbus, OH
Dallas County, TX
Dayton, OH
Denver, CO
Dolton, IL
El Paso County, TX
Everett, MA
Gary, IN
Haledon, NJ
Hartford, CT
Highland Park, IL
Hoboken, NJ
Holyoke, MA
Houston, TX
Jersey City, NJ
Kansas City, MO
Little Rock, AR
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County, CA
Lucas County, OH
Madison, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Montgomery County, MD
Newark, NJ
New York, NY
Niagara Falls, NY
North Miami, FL
Oakland, CA
Paterson, NJ
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Plainfield, NJ
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
Racine, WI
Ramsey County, MN
Rochester, NY
Salt Lake City, UT
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Ana, CA
Santa Cruz County, AZ
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Monica, CA
Schenectady, NY
Seattle, WA
Skokie, IL
St. Louis, MO
State College, PA
Syracuse, NY
Tacoma, WA
Tampa, FL
Travis County, TX
Washington, D.C.
West Covina, CA
Yonkers, NY
National League of Cities
U.S. Conference of Mayors