President Barack Obama's move to prioritize the deportation of criminal immigrants, while giving exemplary undocumented immigrants the ability to remain in the country through deferred action, is smart and fair enforcement policy.
In the face of increasingly clogged deportation courts, constrained budgets and pressure to fix our broken immigration system, the Department of Homeland Security and the President have come to a sensible middle ground with their Deferred Action policy. This bold policy move achieves the rarest of feats in modern politics: a compromise.
Yes, the President's action does allow a finite number of the best and brightest undocumented immigrants to remain in the country. Yes, it gives these Americans, in every sense of the word but their citizenship status, the ability to continue to contribute to the country. Deferred action also creates a streamlined system of immigration enforcement which will help unclog our deportation courts and allows this administration to better target high priority criminal immigrants.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),
Deferred action is a form of prosecutorial discretion created to ensure that enforcement resources are not expended on low priority cases, such as individuals who came to the United States as children and meet other key guidelines.
Deferred action does not in any way provide lawful permanent resident status or a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Moreover, it does not excuse undocumented immigrants on American soil of any previous or subsequent periods of unlawful presence.
According to UCSIS, to apply for deferred action immigrants must be younger than 31 as of the June 15th announcement, and must have entered the U.S. before the age of 16. Applicants must also have resided continuously in the country since June 15th, 2007, and must have been in country at the time of the June 15th announcement and when submitting their application. To be eligible, applicants must have entered the U.S. without inspection OR have lost their lawful immigration status before June 15th of this year.
In addition, candidates must be currently enrolled in or recently graduated from school. Alternately, applicants may provide a certificate of completion from high school or a general education development (GED) certificate. Honorably discharged veterans of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States are also eligible for deferred action. Immigrants who have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, three or more other misdemeanors, or pose a threat to national security or public safety are disqualified from the program.
Individuals may request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals for a period of two years, subject to renewal, beginning August 15th. Applicants may be eligible for employment authorization for the period of deferred action provided they can demonstrate "an economic necessity for employment."
For those wondering how deferred action can possibly strengthen and streamline the enforcement capabilities of the Department of Homeland Security, consider this: our immigration court back logs are completely overwhelmed. Today's immigration courts simply cannot focus their efforts on deporting actual criminal immigrants while also struggling to handle the deportation proceedings of low priority undocumented individuals.
According to Reuters, under the Obama Administration deportations have risen to a record 400,000 individuals each year. This increase has directly impacted our immigration courts. The University of Syracuse's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) states that more than 314,000 deportation cases awaited a resolution in the month of June, a 5.6 percent increase from 2011 and a 20 percent increase from 2010.
In light of the House GOP's recent efforts to cut DHS enforcement by $484 million, a 1.2 percent cut for the 2013 budget year, the Obama Administration has had to work to streamline DHS enforcement capabilities. While actual immigration legislation remains stalled in the House, Deferred Action is a step forward in fixing our broke immigration system. At the very least it provides a way to allow the best and brightest undocumented immigrants to remain here while enhancing the enforcement capabilities of the the federal government. In an era when partisanship is at an all-time high, Deferred Action is a compromise and that is not such a bad thing.
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WRONG. The bare minimum requirement is only having a GED, or being enrolled in a program to obtain a GED. It is ludicrous to refer to these people as "exemplary" or "the best and brightest".
All the Rightsies can stop whining until the courts and system is cleaned out of the nasty ones. Come talk to me again, then.
According to GAO, border apprehension rates are around 28%. Extrapolating the current rate of border apprehensions shows us that last year more than a million illegals entered the US.
Yet we are being told that the illegal population is static!?
The ONLY way that this is remotely possible is if an equal number of illegals left of their own accord. So self deportation is not only possible but happening as we speak on a grand scale - at the illegal's own expense, so costs us very little.
And if by nasty ones you mean those criminals that commit felonies like fraud and perjury, (which is what got Bernie Madoff put in jail) why would we want them? But then entering the country on a non resident visa with the intent to stay is visa fraud, using false ID is fraud, any illegal who signs an I-9 is committing perjury and anyone working as an independent contractor to get around the fact that they do not have permission to work is in violation of federal immigration law!
While 12.8 million Americans are out of work ~ While the National Debt reaches $16 trillion
1.4 million illegals added to Unemployment lines ~ $585 million, first year, costs of ObamaDREAMer tomato picker work permits added to the $16 trillion Nat'l Debt
Compromise? A political compromise is an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing positions, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands. It is, by definition, mutual. In this case, Obama acted unilaterally and, some constitutional scholars say, in violation of the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine.
"our immigration court back logs are completely overwhelmed"
How about deterring a lot of the illegal presence through deterrent policies like E-Verify rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater and, in effect, going to de facto unlimited immigration? Obama is against deterring illegal immigration--his Morton memo guideline is literally an invitation for even more unlawful presence (so long as you are not a terrorist, gangbanger, etc.)
A fair compromise would be offering amnesty to every non-criminal illegal in the country today and give them 30 days to physically present themselves to register at any police station or federal facility, but to automatically deport, without questions or reprieve ANY illegal found anywhere in the country thereafter.
All the bitching and moaning from the ACLU, MALDEF or especially not La Raza about the plight of illegals in the US have not ever included any plan to shut the door even part way.
Intent is judged by actions not words and from that their intention is clear. They have absolutely no interest in laws or justice - just open borders and then it seems only for Hispanics. And they have the bald faced audacity to call everyone else bigots?
Compromise indicates a decision that both sides agree on and can live with. This was a one sided, ramed through (possibly unconstitutional) edict by a president who was not happy with the other branch of government.
A better title would be "President Obama's Deferred Action: An Unfair & Costly Mandate by a President Which Will Allow the Next Republican President Carte Blanche to do ANYTHING they Want to Irregardless of Congress."
I think the mere fact that he is making these moves now is a Hail Mary move to try to drum up some votes and a tacit admission that his reign is over.
Those who would decry it should appreciate and understand that both budget and bed-space limit the government from removing more than 400K a year.
Yes, they are Americans in every sense of the word except for their citizenship status in much the same way that the majority of Americans are millionaires except for their financial status.
Why would we possibly want people in our country who have demonstrated on a daily basis that they have absolutely no respect for our laws and our government?
They should all be forced to leave.
"Why would we possibly want people in our country who have demonstrated on a daily basis that they have absolutely no respect for our laws and our government?"
sounds like you blame 100% of all immigrants! not all of them are the same. think about it...
Illegal aliens on the other have clearly have no respect for our laws or our government otherwise they would not be here.
Illogical, impossible, and downright evil- which is easy when you choose to see someone as an "other."
I hope these commentors are just blowing hot air, else how the heck do you get through a day with such illogical, impossible thinking?