Few Happy With Expected Immigration Move
Some say the expected action does not go far enough, while other say it spoils the chance for broader reform.
President Barack Obama could act as soon as next week to stop some deportations of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
President Barack Obama’s expected move to overhaul the immigration system through executive order faces criticisms from those on all sides of the immigration debate even before it is officially unveiled.
[READ: Dems Warn GOP Against Threatening Obama on Immigration]
Obama is expected to to instruct immigration agents to cease seeking to deport up to 5 million people, such as parents of children who are legal citizens, as early as next week, according to The New York Times. The move, which would amount to the president asking law enforcement to exercise prosecutorial discretion, was first publicized by Fox News when a source leaked a memo outlining Obama's 10-point plan. The tactic mirrors one Obama took in 2012, when he instructed the Department of Homeland Security to stop deporting young people brought into the country illegally through no fault of their own.
Obama’s new plan, which he could announce as early as next week, will also give undocumented parents of citizens or legal residents the opportunity to seek legal work permits, a measure that could affect as many as 3.3 million immigrants. Some immigration activists say that if such a measure only weighs family ties, it does not go far enough.
“We’ve been for advocating for the program to be based on strong ties to the U.S., not just family ties,” says Don Lyster, director of the National Immigration Law Center's Washington office. He would like to see a broader move, one that would protect illegal immigrants with jobs or who participate in other forms community involvement as well, he added.
But the bulk of criticism for Obama's impending move will come from Republicans, who, as House Speaker John Boehner put it, say the action will “poison the well” of comprehensive legislative reform. While the incoming GOP-controlled Congress says it deserves a chance to craft it's own immigration solution, Obama has said Congress has had long enough time to act on its own, especially after the Democratically-controlled Senate passed a bipartisan bill that House Republican leadership refused to even bring up for a vote.
The president has promised, however, to revoke his unilateral action if Congress passes immigration legislation he approves of.
Just last week, Boehner reportedly asked the president to give Congress “one more chance to pass an immigration bill,” a stance with which even some pro-immigration groups agree.
“The president’s order treats the symptoms and it treats the symptoms poorly, but it doesn’t address the underlying cause,” says Tamar Jacoby, president of the pro-immigration reform business group Immigration Works, who says without action by Congress, the situation for undocumented immigrants remains “tenuous” and “uncertain.”
[REPORT: New Immigrant Detention Centers Have Old Problems]
Obama’s move will also put GOP leadership in the hot seat, particularly after Obama’s 2012 immigration executive action did not inspire a substantial response from GOP lawmakers, says Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that seeks to reduce immigration to the United States.
“The fight is not against Obama. The fight is within the Republican Party,” Beck says.
Those who oppose pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants are already calling for Congress to respond, with Sen. Ted Cruz’s spokeswoman telling The New York Times that he is ready to act. One move would be to use a spending bill to undercut the funding of the action, but that would also risk another government shutdown.
For immigration groups who were angered by Obama’s decision to delay the action until after the midterm election, the decision to act now, rather than wait until mid-December when such a possibility could have been averted, will at least be welcomed.
“Everyday 1,100 families are torn apart by our broken deportation system,” Lyster says.
