President Obama announced on Thursday evening a series of executive actions to grant up to five million unauthorized immigrants protection from deportation. The president is also planning actions to direct law enforcement priorities toward criminals, allow high-skilled workers to move or change jobs more easily, and streamline visa and and court procedures, among others.
The president’s plan is expected to affect up to five million of the nation’s unauthorized immigrant population, currently 11.4 million according to the Migration Policy Institute. It would create a new program of deferrals for approximately 3.7 undocumented parents of American citizens or legal permanent residents who have been in the country for at least five years. Deferrals would include authorization to work and would be granted for three years at a time.
It would also expand a program created by the administration in 2012 called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which allows young people who were brought into the country as children to apply for deportation deferrals and work permits. The plan would extend eligibility to people who entered the United States as children before January 2010 (the cutoff is currently June 15, 2007). It would also increase the deferral period to three years from two years and eliminate the requirement that applicants be under 31 years old. About 1.2 million young immigrants are currently eligible, and the new plan would expand eligibility to approximately 300,000 more.
It would not provide a path to full legal status or benefits under the Affordable Care Act. Officials have said that the president’s plan will not provide specific protection for farm workers or parents of DACA-eligible immigrants.
Perfect! President Obama hit a home run out of the ballpark! It’s time for Congress to get off its lazy ass and pass immigration legislation that is realistic and pragmatic. The President spelled out what his executive order would do and what it wouldn’t do. It will help those who have lived here for at least 5 years and who have American born children. It won’t help those who haven’t been here long nor those who want to come in the future. It will help those who have behaved and who have quietly living in the shadows. Those people will have to pass a criminal background check. It will help families not felons. Those who don’t meet the criteria will be deported. The Dream Act is included.
There will be those Americans who still see anything short of deportation as “amnesty.” That is absurd. The real amnesty is doing nothing because it simply isn’t possible to deport all the undocumented immigrants living in this country. It’s time to start dealing with the problem of immigration realistically rather than by knee-jerk political reactions.
King Barack I has spoken. Congress has displeased His Highness, and so Amnesty is hereby decreed. As for those millions of commoners who have dropped out of the labor force because they cannot find jobs, let them eat cake.
I see a disconnect. How many Americans who have dropped out have had their job taken by an immigrant? I don’t see any amnesty, not according to the definition of amnesty that I know.
I am willing to bet that most Americans don’t know the first thing about immigration laws, including the very steps. For instance, how does a person from say, Peru, immigrate to the United States legally? What are the steps?
Obama has done nothing that other presidents haven’t done over this and other issues. Congress is lame. Lowest approval rating ever.
About 10 years ago the number of border crossings exploded – and the sound from Congress since then has been silence. There were some grass roots attempts, like here in Manassas to deal with it – mostly failed and poorly implemented. The Senate passed a BiPartisan bill 500 days ago – and it has languished in the House – and will expire Jan 1. Because of the Hassert Rule, it will not see the light of day. Since day one of his Presidency, the Republicans have worked as one effort to make his Presidency a failed Presidency. He has asked Congress to send up a bill – nada. Note to Congress – send up a bill to fix immigration! Send up a bill to fix the tax code! No, they will not, they will send up yet another bill to defund ACA.
Congress doing Nothing has allowed the issue to fester, but it also has allowed these people to come here and start a life. Do they pay income tax – yes, in many cases they do. Do they own businesses – yes, in some cases they do. But, what they has also done is turned many careers into cash paying jobs and have reduced the wages. Painters, carpenters, landscapers – many of them have turned into cash paying jobs with no taxes being paid and into jobs where a typical American finds the wages below living levels.
We all saw it happened and Congress did nothing. We all saw the housing/mortgage crisis coming and Congress and the Regulators did nothing (except encourage more). Obama did not change the law – time for Congress to step up.
Honestly, I’m too depressed about this to debate it. Whatever the pros and cons of immigration reform are, it wasn’t worth this. He may have had the best of intentions, but our Leader has set an extremely dangerous precedent that will be abused in the future by both sides. Some future GOP president will simply instruct the IRS not to enforce certain provisions of tax law or not to enforce provisions of the Clean Air Act. While some future Democratic president will simply not enforce Taft-Hartley.
Prosecutorial discretion has never been abused to this degree before. To flatly state that you are using prosecutorial discretion to circumvent Congress is an abandonment of the very concept of representative government. To do so after previously stating the President lacks the legal authority to do it only flouts the fact that the Executive branch has no effective checks on its power.
The current Administration certainly didn’t start the trend towards the “Imperial Presidency” but when the history books are written, this is going to stand out as a watershed moment. This will be the event that Barack Obama will be remembered for. Everything else, ARRA, PPACA are all small potatoes. This was Historic.
So enjoy your great victory today, but I promise you that some day in the future you will understand the cost of this was too high.
The way I see it, Obama has done us all a favor. For well over a decade, Presidents Bush and Obama have deliberately made a joke out of the deportation process, holding it hostage to their notion of ‘comprehensive” “reform”. But they didn’t, until now, overtly claim that anyone was safe from deportation.
Now he’s done something that can be challenged in court. We can get an answer once and for all as to whether it’s okay for a President to choose not to enforce a law (and then brag about it on television, for political gain).
I think his action is reckless. He had to do it, because he backed himself into a corner politically. It’s counter-productive – no “comprehensive” reform anytime soon. I think and hope that this will provoke Congress to pass “non-comprehensive” bills that will actually chip away at illegal immigration. I think Obama basically took a badly broken piece of pottery here, put it in his bag and decided to own it.
“But they didn’t, until now, overtly claim that anyone was safe from deportation.”
Misspoke on this, but Obama has upped the ante.
Thank you Barack Obama, you reckless open borders dou*** bag.
Meanwhile, if you think about what he did last night, he consciously conferred second class living status on about 5 million people. They can’t become citizens – they would need to go to the back of the line first, according to what we heard. You can’t vote, and there are no plans for you to do so anytime soon. If you need health care, we’ll take care of you on an emergency basis, but as charity – you’re not eligible to enter our health care exchanges. You have no path to citizenship, but feel free to hang out and keep mopping those floors and cutting that grass and flipping those burgers.
They’re pawns in a game. Big picture, this keeps the issue alive and further decreases the likelihood of that great comprehensive solution.
democrats get a chance to keep Latino voters on their side in 2016. Business owners get lower wages all across America. Rich people get more value on land or businesses that they own, because there are more people in the U.S. trying to buy the same resources. Everybody wins except for working Americans.
Obama’s actions are within the executive power of the president. If repugs believe otherwise, I would challenge them to bring forth articles of impeachment.
Comprehensive immigration reform is still needed and will be in the best interests of the country.
I find it fascinating that republicans are such hypocrites, or maybe just collectively live in a state of cognitive dissonance. Where was their outrage over all the past presidents that have attempted to address our immigration system. Which by the way, has ALWAYS been a point of contention. For G-d’s sake Benjamin Franklin was concerned about “assimilation”.
Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of us Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs?”
– Benjamin Franklin, 1751
As Rick so eloquently pointed out, this supposed “amnesty” is not amnesty. Why don’t republicans get this? They aren’t citizens, they don’t have full rights, they can’t vote, they don’t qualify for health care subsidies. WTH? Republicans should be thrilled. They are just too fixated on their hate for Obama to realize that.
THEY have the power to fix this executive order. To what, “immigrate the right way”, are Republicans referring to? When you came through Ellis Island en masse and only had to have a sponsor? Oh, even better, when we were kind enough to the let the Chinese in to build our railroads and then kicked their asses out? Oh, best yet, allowed the KKK to push legislation called the Johnson-Reed act, passed in 1924, that for the first time, implemented quotas to keep our those dirty eastern Europeans out of America. And what was the result of that “rule of law” act, millions of Jews were shoved into ovens because immigration came to a screeching halt. It was so hard for Jews to emigrate that even though there were unmet quota’s, many were still denied entry, EVEN children.
Don’t cry me a river about the ‘”right way” to emigrate to this country. We haven’t figured it out yet and the first step would be to pass the CIR that the House has in its hands.
And Pa-Leez over Obama acted rashly! How effing long do we need to wait for comprehensive immigration reform? It stared under Bush jr and failed, with Republicans IN CHARGE!
Why doesn’t anyone talk about what brings in these waves of people? It’s under construction booms that have occurred under Republican Presidents. We go into a recession and the strategy is to bolster the housing market. Well, you do that, who builds is going to build the houses en masse? Well, our southern neighbors are more than happy to supply their labor. Then housing market busts, but many people have created homes, married, become a part of the American dream.
What I don’t get either, is the demographic change that is going to punch us all in the face financially when the baby boomer generation starts retiring in droves, it is now just beginning. Our birthrate has been declining for years. We NEED immigrants, we need their drive to find that American dream, not spit on them. Yes, we need a system, but clearly, we haven’t found it yet.
There’s always going to be a political issue that is too important it just can’t wait for Congress to act. And now, every time a future Administration wants to justify their actions, they have this precedent to cite. Enacted law is now subject to the political patience of the Executive.
Supporters apparently feel that this particular issue was worth the cost of establishing that precedent. History will be the judge of that, but it’s hard for me to see how this precedent is anything but disastrous. I’m really not trying to be melodramatic, but this was a very bad development for representative government in America.
The president’s actions are well within the powers of the executive branch and established precedent. There is no violation of the constitution here.
The United States accepts more legal and now illegal immigrants than any other nation on earth each and every year. So lets get off the Demigod’s high horse that this is about immigration. It is not. And where else are illegals treated as kindly – not in Mexico. And Elena is right, our history is full of actions taken to restrict immigration whenever we find ourselves deluged, flooded by any one group – and yes, those groups have changed and should continue to change over time. That is why we have had quotas from different parts of the world that are now being ignored and abused. But at least in the old days, it was not at taxpayer expense, so having a sponsor was key to show at somebody was taking responsibility for their care. Even Einstein needed a sponsor and got one from a non-relative – who I once met.
Obama’s plan will distribute five million work permits to illegal immigrants, which will clearly create a whole new set of incentives for both skilled and unskilled illegals to enter the country – the idea that this executive action or any amnesty law will result in the end or even slow the flow of illegal immigration is nuts. From high school classrooms to a new and expanded inflow of foreign college students, they will all be seeking seats, subsidies and jobs that might have otherwise been available to Americans. BTW, Obama has already provided almost one million extra-legal work permits to foreigners, not included in the 5 million, all while his economy has only added six million jobs since 2009. And what is the rush, currently less than one-percent of the nation’s estimated population of 12 million illegal immigrants are repatriated or otherwise deported each year and like other data from this Administration that includes illegals detained at the border so it is vastly overstated. No this about paying off special interest groups for votes and for money, from the teachers unions that seek to lower classroom size in order to have more teachers to the labor markets, keeping wages low. I loved Obama’s speech. All emotion, even “Bold” . Flagrantly flouting the law is another way to put it. Yet there has been barely a legal or economic murmur from Democrats. The socialist left has once again (history does repeat itself) chosen the ends over the means and its frightening. Conservatives care deeply about process, fairness, equality, legality and constitutionality while progressives care only about outcomes – to their advantage vice the country’s If they can achieve their goals through legislation, they will. If not, they will look to the courts or the federal agencies to implement their preferred policies.
Agree to disagree, but the bottom line is that the left is now prepared to expand the power of the executive by adding presidential fiat to the category of powers it will cheerfully accept if it produces outcomes they favor. This is not constitutional government. This is not separation of powers. This is strong-arming and It is not just the president — he and his entire party have surrendered to it. And then there is health care. We already have a net loss of those who have health insurance and higher costs for those do have it. Leaving these illegals outside of the health care mandate means that they end up using emergency care, but don’t end up paying for their insurance or their own bills — leaving the rest of the country to pick up those costs. Maybe that is real the agenda, to get the numbers up, but creating a new quasi-citizen with some rights and not others, but the right to stay indefinitely (like they are more likely to leave now than they were before) is not the answer..
Well, The issue must not be important enough to address as Congress has left DC until Dec 2.
The same as the border crisis and other times – Congress always feel there is something more important to do than the people’s business. Have they voted on anything meaningful since the election – border, ISIS, etc.
Haha! The republicans are all talk and no action. For all their wailing and hollering about “imperial presidency”, they’re not going to do anything about it.
BARACK OBAMA: “The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America.” That Senator Obama seemed like a sensible fellow. I wish he were President now.
I would support the right of Governors opposed to this illegal act of legalizing these illegal aliens by giving them work permits….by setting up laws that a) ID them and record their residences. B) arrest them for breaking the law when they seek work in violation of federal and state law. C) if B) doesn’t work, find them and deport them using the info on their illegal work permits.
Just because Obama is not going to enforce a law, does NOT make it legal. Every action taken in using those illegal work permits is STILL illegal. The law has not been changed.
It is up to the President to determine how the laws are enforced.
How do you propose arresting and deporting 15 million people?
By the way….comments are closed on open thread.
I will fix it.
Fixed. Thanks for telling me. I have been very distracted lately.
We were all strangers once, as the Good Book says. Immigrations reform ‘s the Christian thing to do.
The average Republican voter may be upset, but let’s not forget that the people behind the party are thrilled at this. Obama is basically doing something that benefits big money, at the expense of working people, but putting his name and the democratic imprint to it.
The people who really run the GOP are having their cake and eating it too.
Since someone raised the name of Benjamin Franklin…….
Philadelphia 1787:
A lady: “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a Republic or a Monarchy?”
B. Franklin: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
@Rick Bentley
Obama clearly stated that everyone wasn’t safe from deportation. Lots of folks are still very vulnerable. It was a start.
@blue
Blue, the expression “Illegals” is not permitted on this blog. Please don’t make me explain why.
Why?
Too bad His Majesty lacked the courage to issue his glorious royal immigration decree, aka home run out of the ball park, BEFORE the midterm elections.
@Wolve
It is ignorant and rude.
Same reason we don’t use the N word or the S word.
Furthermore, it’s grammatically incorrect. It’s an adjective being used as a noun.
Some things shouldn’t need to be spelled out.
@Wolve
I wish he had. I don’t think it was a matter of courage.
against Obama’s immigration order
Here’s a paradox worth pondering: Could President Obama’s executive action on immigration actually make it easier to enact comprehensive reform?
The invective pouring forth from Republicans last week would seem to suggest not: “deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms . . . trying to pick a bar fight . . . throwing this nation into a crisis . . . anarchy.” Mitt Romney, the failed 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told CBS’s Bob Schieffer that Obama was “poking an eye of the Republican leaders in Congress.”
Dana Milbank writes about political theater in the nation’s capital. He joined the Post as a political reporter in 2000. View Archive
The natural instinct is to poke back — an eye for an eye. But one Republican, at least, has a better idea. “Rather than poke him in the eye, I’d rather put legislation on his desk,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) told me Thursday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-how-the-gop-can-poke-back-against-obamas-immigration-order/2014/11/21/681f13e4-717e-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html?hpid=z5
Imagine that, a red-state republican senator who wants to advance legislation. I hope we can work eith him to get a permanent solution.
Two significant reality checks that severely undercut some arguments here:
1. Obama’s action did NOT set precedent. King Bush 1, King Bush 2, King Reagan (to use Kelly’s terminology), pretty much all the presidents of the past 50 years have used executive orders for similar actions, more recently for precisely for the same reason Obama did this week- immigration issues.
2. Obama did NOT impose second class status on anyone. Obama simply suspended deportations on family members, which gives at least some comfort that families won’t be broken up while he’s president. The idea that Obama eliminated their path to citizenship is particularly laughable- they never had one!
Most importantly, none of what Obama did is permanent-congress could supersede Obama any time by actually passing a bill- maybe the one with overwhelming bi-partisan (and public) support that’s sitting on Boehner’s desk? Who is REALLY responsible for keeping these people in second-class status, Rick?
Standing ovation, Middleman!
“Who is REALLY responsible for keeping these people in second-class status, Rick?”
If they entered here illegally, they are responsible for that. If they engage in identity fraud, they are responsible for that also.
I don’t think we’re closer to this “comprehensive” “solution”. Closest we have been to such a thing becoming law was 2007, when it was a few votes away, with a Republican President pushing it. We’re further away now. And Obama’s action will take it further yet.
Identity fraud is a whole other matter. That is criminal. Being here without documentation, civil crime.
Ignorant and rude? Oh, you mean like “repugs” and things like that? I see. Well, if one is going to dictate speech in that way on the blog, I would recommend an evenhanded application across the board. Just a suggestion. Oh, I also suggest the proscribed list should include “old White men.” That one really hurts.
Old white men (and old white women) is probably impolite vs just plain rude. Neither you nor I probably like being reminded of our ancient and wise status.
As for repug, I have heard equally descriptive nomenclature for democrats on this blog.
Seriously, Elena and I just both dislike the term “illegals”. It is never flattering and it is grammatically incorrect since “illegal” is an adjective.
Official Black unemployment rate October 2014: 10.9%
Official unemployment rate for Blacks 16-19: 32.6%
Wolve and Kelly, when you talk about our economy and unemployment I think it’s important to keep in mind that while we still have work to do, our economy recovered from the great recession better than most any other country in the world. Our growth rate, unemployment level, stock market, all indicators are better than other developed nations. You can argue whether or not the president’s policies helped make that happen, but you can’t argue that our economy is envied by the rest of the world.
The problems with our middle class workers and entry level workers are a longer term trend dating back at least 30 years. Those in the middle and lower end of the jobs spectrum have not shared in the increase in productivity in recent decades. That is ANOTHER issue congress refuses to address…
I agree that “illegals” is rude or can be taken as dehumanizing. I feel that “illegal immigrants” is the most correct term.
I am comfortable with illegal immigrant or undocumented immigrant.
So, the solution for contemporary Black unemployment is to bring in more competition for still too scarce employment opportunities? Sit back and listen to the “anti” voices now rising from the Black community.
I am not sure how to take what you are saying. Are you saying blacks and undocumented immigrants are vying for the same jobs?
You mean he was told that the voters might be about to give him a rejection notice, and he made a blatant political decision to try to limit the damage? I agree. Looks to me like he thought the voters were all Gruberized and wouldn’t notice. Another misjudgement on his part. Plus ca change……….
Perhaps he felt his supporters would feel that he didn’t go far enough.
Into the late 1990’s, the private trash company trucks which serviced our development were manned mostly by Black workers (and some White college students in summer). Since the demographic wave hit our slice of the county in the last decade, all those workers are now Latino. Winners and losers.
My trash trucks have whites and blacks. I have never seen an Hispanic on the route.
Obama cares about the politics of this issue moreso than the issue. If you want some evidence to that fact, reflect on how people saw him in 2007 – http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/politics/obama-immigration-flashback/
For those of you who vote Republican, your party controls Congress. If you oppose illegal immigration, I suggest that you need to start pressuring the slipper f***ers who run that party, to fight Obama’s order.
For those who vote Democrat, I think that you should reflect on what Wolve is talking about. Don’t support letting tens of millions of uneducated poor in, and then cry afterwards about wage stagnation and how hard it is for working people to make a living. or the gap between rich and poor.
For those of you who think that “comprehensive reform” is the way forward, here’s why you’re idiots – http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/30/in-1986-congress-tried-to-solve-immigration-why-didnt-it-work/
I’m slack-jawed at how stupid most Democrats are, how incapable of critical thinking. Legitimizing illegal immigration is a path towards wage degradation and furthering the gap between rich and poor, but you hop on the train and support it. because your smiling leader tells you to. And you lack the critical thinking facility to discern what’s going on here.
The rich people who run this country WANT illegal immigration. Republican leaders want this. What’s in it for Democrats? What’s in it for working-class Americans?
Then there are those who voted for Obama in the first place because they wanted the immigration situation to change.
What we currently have now is unregulated amnesty. People living in the shadows under lots of different enforcements.
I know two American women married to Latino men. One of those men is a legal resident. The other is in limbo and could face deportation at any time. Both men came here illegally in the 90’s. What determines their difference in status? Timing. That’s pretty much the nuts and bolts of it.
Both parties suck a **** on this one.
Hillary Clinton back this … guess I won’t be voting for her. Thanks Hillary for letting me know years in advance that I won’t need to pay much attention to you, because I would never vote for you.
Yep.
Not sure why you are saying that. I don’t see them jockeying for the same jobs at all. The immigrants that will benefit from Obama’s executive order haven’t had the same exposure to American schools that most American blacks have had. They, for the most part, have a totally different skill set.
Additionally, many companies won’t risk hiring illegal immigrants. It’s illegal to hire those who don’t have the proper credentials.
Immigration reform is the right thing to do. Obama’s actions are within the executive powers of his office as the constitution defines such powers.
“I don’t see them jockeying for the same jobs at all.”
OMG … deep denial here. You don’t think that non-college educated Americans used to work as cooks, landscapers, janitors?
Zero sum game on jobs? There is not a limited number of jobs that must be rationed to Americans. Each worker creates economic activity for other workers which grows the economy. Having more workers paying SS taxes and medical premiums helps old people. The baby boomers need immigrants to provide services as they retire. The threat to unskilled American workers is automation, not immigrants.
Rick, since people who don’t agree with you are “idiots” and “stupid” and “incapable of critical thinking,” why don’t you enlighten them with the benefit of your vast knowledge and intelligence- what would YOU do with the 11 million people who are undocumented in this country? The vast majority are working, paying taxes, part of a family here and not criminals. Would you deport all of them? Jail them? Continue to break apart families? Negatively affect the economy? What’s the answer you’ve come up with using your superior brain?
I’m sure all the stupid, idiotic individuals reading this would love to have the benefit of your vastly superior intellect…
“The threat to unskilled American workers is automation, not immigrants.”
How does that become either/or?
“what would YOU do with the 11 million people who are undocumented in this country” – guest worker program, limited to maybe a million or two. No citizenship for sneaking in, no reward for lawbreaking. Guest worker slots given first to people who are lawfully in their home country. Implement real deportations, and many will self-deport. Those who work here will have to go touch base in their home country first – a clear signal that we have laws and they are real.
I say that not because I’m a bigot, or heartless. i say it out of a sense of realism that “Amnesty” or something like it, as with the grand 1986 bargain, is a false solution. (For idiots, incapable of critical thinking).
There you go middleman, and you’re welcome.
As yo your assertion that illegal immigrants are not criminals, they have indeed violated our laws.\
The thing that infuriates me about this issue is watching the strings get pulled on the American people. If illegal immigration somehow inflated wages, somehow cost wealthy people instead of helping them to retain wealth, every single illegal immigrant the US government could identify would have been deported with no hesitation. Because the net effect is to suppress wages, this line of thinking became empowered that we need a comprehensive solution before we dare engage in law enforcement. And then the Democrats smelled the chance to profit from a racially polarized electorate, and now we’re at the place that we are. An issue where roughly half of us, a bit more actually, want the problem handled law-enforcement first but neither party sees it in their interest. The two party system broke down for us on this issue – the problem’s only “intractable” because of the low behavior of each party.
Since the year 2000, the number of native-born Americans who are employed has actually declined, even though the population of native-born Americans has increased. Job growth for immigrants has been robust during that period.
It would be interesting compare the rates of job growth for illegal aliens and legal immigrants, but the government data conflates the two groups, making such a comparison difficult.
http://cis.org/all-employment-growth-since-2000-went-to-immigrants
I am not sure how the two could ever be compared since many immigrants work and live in the shadows. There is no way to obtain accurate information.