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President Barack Obama recently directed the Department of Homeland Security to review all of the approximately 300,000 pending illegal immigration cases and exempt certain low priority individuals from deportation.

The new policy portrays a lack of respect for Congress, blatant politicking and bad policy judgment.

The criteria are very similar to those spelled out in the DREAM Act — legislation that would provide a conditional path to citizenship for young immigration offenders who arrived in the country before the age of 16 and either enlist in the military or are accepted into college.

Despite support from the administration, the DREAM Act was defeated in the Senate in December of last year.

Speaking a month ago to the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy organization, President Obama said, “Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting.  I promise you. Not just on immigration reform.  But that's not how our system works. That’s not how our democracy functions.  That's not how our Constitution is written.”

It is so far unclear what epiphany led to the president’s altered understanding of how our democracy functions.

According to a recent press release from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, “the Obama administration cannot get its amnesty schemes through Congress, so now it has resorted to implementing its plans via executive fiat.”

Wasn’t President Bush supposed to be the unilateralist? The loose cannon?

In all fairness, the president's performance on immigration up until now has been a lot stronger than his own rhetoric often suggests.

The Obama administration expanded the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Secure Communities campaign, an effort aimed at focusing resources on criminal aliens and repeat immigration offenders.

Many immigrants’ rights groups, like the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, have criticized Secure Communities for being heavy handed.  The program requires local governments to share fingerprint records with the FBI who then turns them over to immigration officials to identify individuals eligible for deportation.

Some claim that the true scope of Secure Communities has not been limited to criminals, as advertised, but has also hurt victims of crimes who may also be fingerprinted under police custody.

In a recent statement, Chris Newman, legal director for the NDLON called Obama the "Deporter in Chief."

He went on to say, "To date, the administration has pursued policies that are sowing fear and devastation among immigrant communities, and it must reverse course to stop the Arizonification of the country."

But despite the criticism, Secure Communities has one thing going for it — results.

In 2010, ICE reports that almost 196,000 of the 393,000 total illegal immigrants deported were criminals; a marked improvement over the 114,000 of 369,000 deported in 2008.

This is good progress, but one look at the sheer enormity of the problem belies the need for a more comprehensive plan.

According to a 2010 Pew Research poll, 11.1 million people currently reside in the United States illegally. An average of 300,000 more entered annually between 2007 and 2009.

We simply don't have the resources to deport everybody, so prioritization makes sense in the short term.

What doesn't make sense is effectively declaring amnesty for thousands of illegal immigrants while the border remains practically wide open.

On the other hand, it may make good political sense.

As the 2012 presidential campaign cycle ratchets up, Obama needs to court Hispanic voters, who supported him over 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain by more than two to one in the 2008 election.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, the president's popularity among Hispanics has dropped significantly, from 73 percent in January 2009 to 54 percent in March of this year.

As an incumbent president with a weak economy that doesn't appear to be getting better any time soon, the last thing Obama needs are angry activist groups shouting about Secure Communities.  He will no doubt try his best to make political hay out of both his new policy and the Republican opposition to it.

Good politics maybe, but Obama is sending a terrible message that only provides additional incentives to would-be illegal border crossers.

Doubtless, the vast majority of those who would risk everything to break the law and come to America are decent human beings who simply want to make a better life for themselves and their families.

But so are those currently patiently waiting their turn to enter the country legally. According to the State Department, in 2009 over 2.5 million people were waiting on family-sponsored preference visas alone.

Aren't they the ones we should be encouraging and incentivizing?  We should be providing more reasons for people to abide by our laws, not fewer.

A successful immigration policy will be one that increases security at our porous borders, continues to deport dangerous criminal aliens, puts rule of law before politics, honors those who submit to the legal naturalization process then establishes a path to citizenship for those who truly desire the benefits and responsibilities that come with being American.

A guy can DREAM, can't he?

 

Question David’s intelligence and/or character at dcolthar@asu.edu


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