We are now beyond Election Day. The excuses and delays for inaction on immigration are over. The president of the United States should act swiftly and use the powers he already has under existing law to address immigration and deportation – as soon as possible. Along with a lot of other people, I will hold President Obama to his promise on doing what he can towards “fixing our broken immigration system” after the elections. I hear he is crafting a series of executive actions, but I don’t know if it will amount to half-a-loaf, a full loaf or just a few slices.
I think there is only one path to success, and it will set the stage for future legislation to modernize our immigration system. Success on immigration means a full approach to reform, which to me means expanding protections to 5-8 million undocumented people currently living in this country. Go big, President Obama.
In a few weeks, a new do-nothing Congress will replace the current do-nothing Congress, but not much will change on the immigration issue. Nearly 500 days ago, the Senate passed bipartisan legislation that would have addressed a broad range of fixes for the nation’s immigration system, but that legislation will die once the new Congress is sworn in. In the House, despite a clear majority to pass similar legislation, Republican leaders did not allow a vote because it would have exposed deep divisions among Republicans – and risked President Obama actually getting some of the credit for fixing a priority national issue.
President Obama cannot do with executive actions all of the things that the comprehensive Senate bill would have done. But he can act – on a comparable scale – to improve our security and reduce the destruction that mass deportations have unleashed in America’s families.
So, let’s move forward, Mr President. Let’s take as many people out of the deportation queue as possible. With limited resources and 10.5 million immigrants who could be deported, the president and the Department of Homeland Security must prioritize. If you commit a serious crime, represent a danger to America, or if you are preying on your community, you should get deported first.
But for almost everyone else, it is in our national interest to get millions of immigrants to register with the government – to start living above board and working on-the-books. The first step is enrolling immigrants in a program that incorporates key requirements, including a criminal background check, full tax compliance and periodic review and renewal. This puts employers on notice that we intend to protect the legal rights of all employees, which will make it harder for them to exploit and undercut US-born workers.
The reality is simple: the vast majority of America’s undocumented immigrants have already lived here for more than a decade – they have children, families, mortgages and careers. If you have immediate family members who are citizens, who have legal status or who have received deferred action, a full-loaf approach would offer a way for you to live and work here, even if it is only temporarily until Congress takes legislative action.
Half-a-loaf or less would fail to reduce the stress that mass deportation is putting on federal and immigration courts, which have ground to a halt because of the detention caseload. The process of determining a child’s asylum claim should not take years, but we need resources and a change in priorities to more efficiently and humanely process cases instead of building privately-run detention centers for families to wait in limbo.
Democrats and the American people will support President Obama if he delivers on comprehensive fixes when defining who should have temporary reprieve from the threat of deportation – and therefore who should be allowed to stay here until a permanent fix is negotiated and meaningful legislation passes. Anything less would mute this support and, in fact, galvanize those left behind and their families to criticize the president. We should not be halfway committed to justice, prosecutorial discretion and taking definitive action.
Republicans will criticize whatever President Obama does because that is what they do. They will say that they would work with him – and with myself and my fellow Democrats in Congress – but not if he takes executive action. Those two paths, however, are not mutually exclusive. Congressional action has often followed presidential action to protect immigrants from deportation; Congress can still change what the president orders.
So while Republicans remain divided on whether to do anything about immigration, President Obama should not be expected to do nothing when he has the power to help and protect America.
What the president does – and how big he goes – will define where the country stands on immigration and deportation for some time to come. We must stand on principle and practicality, and we should be very clear that a policy aimed at driving out 10 or 11 million people is not a good one. We should be clear that we prefer a system that allows people to come to the US with visas, not in the hands of smugglers. We should encourage people who have lived here peacefully for years to earn legal status over time.
With the midterms behind us, taking action is the first step in restoring orderliness and lawfulness to our immigration system. And if it spurs the reincarnated do-nothing Congress to take action, all the better. Do as much good as you can do, Mr President, to save American families.