The Department of Homeland Security announced this morning that it will no longer deport young illegal immigrants, and instead grant them work permits. This decision was made without input from Congress. They couldn’t pass the Dream Act, so they’ll implement it by fiat.
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, announced Friday by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, 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.
The extraordinary step comes one week before President Barack Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to the group on Thursday. (Read More)
I wonder if they’ll try to also grant them the right to vote before the November election.
Michelle Malkin notes “Whine and ye shall receive.”
This is a purely political move.
The move comes in an election year in which the Hispanic vote could be critical in swing states such as Colorado, Nevada and Florida. While Mr. Obama enjoys support from a majority of Hispanic voters, Latino enthusiasm for the president has been tempered by the slow economic recovery, his inability to win congressional support for a broad overhaul of immigration laws and by his administration’s aggressive deportation policy.
Also in the news this morning is a memo outlining how the administration will have border agents catch and release what they believe to be “low priority” illegals entering the US.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with guarding the U.S. borders, has written a secret draft policy that would let its agents catch and release low-priority illegal immigrants rather than bring them in for processing and prosecution.
The policy, which has not been signed off on, would be the latest move by the Obama administration to set new priorities for the nation’s immigration services, and would bring CBP in line with other Homeland Security Department agencies that already use such “prosecutorial discretion.”
The policy was detailed in an internal memo obtained by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith and reviewed by The Washington Times, which confirmed the document.
According to the memo, the draft policy “provides circumstances when to pursue enforcement actions … and includes detailed discussion of several factors CBP personnel should consider when exercising discretion.”
Why go to the trouble and expense of catching them if they’re just going to be let go?
Linked by The Pirate’s Cove – thanks!
The Temple of MUT also linked – thanks!
Laws,….we don’t need any stinking laws! That’s what Obama says everyday,…when he wakes up in the morning.
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does obama have a work permit ? guess not – he never does any work .
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Obama just stated on the steps of the White House that illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents when children should not be punished for the actions of their parents. Yet he and his ilk continually suggest white America still owe blacks for the actions of a few white people hundreds of years ago. Obama’s war on white America is insidious. Obama is a walking personality disorder.
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What Obama is doing with his new immigration policy reminds me of the old bait- and -switch. If you’re not familiar with the term, Wikipedia defines it as the following: Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud, most commonly used in retail stores but also applicable to other contexts.
It seems mighty ironic that Obama all of a sudden came up with this unilateral policy. First of all immigration law should comes from the legislative branch of government and not the executive. What he has effectively done is bypassed the House and Senate and made his decision without either of their support or knowledge. This move in itself says much about Obama’s character. Does he think he is better than Congress? Does he believe he knows what is best while the rest of the country is too stupid to formulate their own opinion? The answer is yes to them both. His whole philosophy is that government, or most importantly he, knows best. His belief is that without government, the individual is nothing. Only through government can the individual become a better person and rise to a higher level of living. Without government the individual is nothing.
Obama’s philosophy sound familiar? Well it should. It’s the same mantra of thought exercised by such 20th century regimes such as the Nazis. Isn’t it amazing, yet unfortunate, how history repeats itself?
Now here’s the bait-and-switch. With unemployment up to 8.2%, almost 25% of teenagers unemployed, an economy that has lost 1.37 million jobs in the past 3 years, and ongoing scandals such as fast and furious, Obama needs something to take the media coverage away from his crumbling presidency. His goal is to bait everyone into to reading or listening to something different such as his new immigration policy. As the media and everyone in the country are baited into this story he gives us the switch. What is the switch? Well, now the news is no longer centered upon Obama’s failed tenure as president and are instead focused on his new change in American policy. It’s almost like the misdirection illusionists use to play a trick in the audience. Plus, with this new policy he can now pander to the Latino vote- a vote he desperately needs to stay in office. It’s like a 2 for one with this new policy. He can take attention off of his failed leadership and attempt to garner more votes from a specific population all with one policy change. Isn’t politics grand?
Well Obama, no matter how much you try to bait-and-switch or misdirect us, the problems you have created are still here. There’s no magic or political spin which can disguise the pitiful economic numbers you’ve put up since you’re tenure in office.
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If we are going to have the president rule by fiat, I mean executive orders then if am I am elected, I promise as my first executive order will be to bypass the 16th Amendment and suspend all income taxes. This will be a short term solution for hard working Americans who are burdened by excessive taxes. I will continue this until Congress passes tax reform to make taxes fair to all taxpayers.
Obama may get the Latino vote but he will lose a lot more of the Independents who don’t like Obama’s latest policy.
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[...] The Lonely Conservative also wonders if the ability to suddenly vote in November is next. [...]
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“I Barack Obama, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Fail.
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MASSIVE FAIL! I like that one, Michigan….I have decided to vote for Bazaibob.
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“homeland security” – just the opposite of what it says. Either they are sticking their filthy fingers down your pants, or they are inviting illegals into the country. We ought to abolish this dept and go back to what existed before. And since the Media is on board and celebrating this unconstitutional garbage, they need to be exposed. It is not just bias.
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[...] balance during these turbulent times, I find little to joke about today. President Obama, in an exceedingly cynical and politically-motivated move, has forgotten the basic tenants of the US Constitution and legislated by executive [...]
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