This is fantastic news.
The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.
The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.It’s cruel and immoral to deport kids who were brought to this country as small children and have grown up as Americans. Alternatively, if you can’t bring yourself to sympathize with children being shipped to a country they’ve no memory of, consider that it’s also economically stupid to deport hundreds of thousands of educated, contributing members of society.
Congress still needs to pass the DREAM Act to offer these kids a path to citizenship, but this is a fantastic start. Way to go, President Obama!
2 comments:
I have mixed feelings about this. I agree that we shouldn’t be deporting immigrant children, and Congress really should pass the DREAM act. On the other hand, it really disturbs me that the president can effectively enact legislation that Congress refused to pass.
The President has discretion over enforcement priorities. The Dept. of Homeland Security has issued a directive (or whatever) that they are putting the deportation of children at a very low priority. Making different enforcement priorities happens all the time and is necessary with limited budgets and personnel.
In fact, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush II all did the same thing with regards to immigration and different groups. It's hypocritical and inaccurate for the Republicans to claim this is some unprecedented, illegal move. It's actually not that unusual.
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