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CNN
Obama: 'You can
come out of the shadows'
By Jim Acosta and Stephen Collinson, CNN
Fri November 21, 2014
Editor Note: A CBS poll indicates Americans were opposed to the
action 60 to 40 percent.
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is ordering the most
sweeping overhaul of the immigration system in decades, despite
Republican claims he is acting illegally by moving unilaterally to
shield five million undocumented immigrants.
Obama rejected accusations by conservatives that he is offering a free
pass to undocumented immigrants and warned in a prime-time address that
he would bolster border security and make it harder for unauthorized
outsiders to get into the country.
"Today our immigration system is broken and everybody knows it," Obama
said. "It's been this way for decades and for decades we haven't done
much about it."
Obama is pressing ahead and making broad changes to the immigration
system without the consent of Congress, which has failed to pass a
comprehensive reform bill. The announcement prompted an angry response
from House Speaker John Boehner.
"By ignoring the will of the American people, President Obama has
cemented his legacy of lawlessness and squandered what little
credibility he had left," Boehner said. "Republicans are left with the
serious responsibility of upholding our oath of office."
A key element of Obama's plan is to instruct immigration authorities to
target those undocumented immigrants who are dangerous rather than
law-abiding undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and residents and
others.
He said they will go after "felons, not families. Criminals, not
children. Gang members, not a Mom who's working hard to provide for her
kids."
"We'll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day," he said.
The changes will offer those who qualify the chance to stay temporarily
in the country for three years, as long as they pass background checks
and pay back taxes. But they will not be offered a path to eventual
citizenship or be eligible for federal benefits or health care
programs. And, in theory, the measures could be reversed by a future
president.
"If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get
right with the law. If you're a criminal, you'll be deported. If you
plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and
sent back just went up," Obama said.
The President argued that ordering a mass amnesty would be unfair but
mass deportation would "be both impossible and contrary to our
character."
Republicans are slamming Obama's use of executive authority as a
mammoth presidential power grab. But Obama said he was acting in a
manner consistent with action taken by Republican and Democratic
presidents.
"To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our
immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting
where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill."
Officials insist that Obama's moves are deeply grounded in law and
constitutional precedent, despite claims by Republicans that they
represent an unlawful overreach of his authority as president and his
oath of office.
"The actions you see here reasonably sit within his powers," one senior
administration official said. "I think that they are bold and they are
aggressive but they are in keeping with precedent."
Congressional Republicans are weighing their response, juggling ideas
that range from a government shutdown to holding up Obama's nominees in
the Senate.
And in the states, some Republican officials had already raised the
possibility of lawsuits against the president.
The most far-reaching changes in Obama's order will offer papers and
work authorization to up to four million people who are undocumented
parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, as long as they
have lived in the U.S. for five years or longer.
Obama will also remove the upper age limit of 30 years old from a
program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or
Dreamers that allows those brought illegally to the country as children
to stay, offering relief to thousands more people.
The program will cover anyone who arrived in the country before 2010
and will extend a previous two-year guarantee of relief to three years.
But White House lawyers concluded the president did not have the power
to offer parents of those covered under DACA permits to stay in the
country and work, a move that will disappoint some immigration reform
lobby groups.
In one concession however, parents of the so-called "Dreamers" will be
removed from priority lists for deportation.
Officials said that the broad sweep of the immigration measures were
within Obama's powers because he was directing authorities to
prioritize which groups of the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants in
the country should be deported.
"Deferred action is not a pathway to citizenship. It is not legal
status. It simply says that for three years, you are not a law
enforcement priority and are not going to go after you," said one
senior official. "It is temporary and it is revocable."
Officials said law enforcement officials made similar decisions each
day about which categories of offenders to target with prosecution and
the president was simply charting a new way to apply existing
immigration laws.
The new approach, which will begin to be phased in next spring, will
include a more robust effort to target gang members, suspected
terrorists, and felons.
It will also focus more sharply on undocumented immigrants who have
recently crossed U.S. borders. This is a bid to slow the flow of
illegal immigration, the officials said. New resources are also
expected to be announced to secure borders, following claims that
enforcement is lax and contributed to the flow of thousands of
undocumented child migrants into the U.S. earlier this year, which
sparked a hot political controversy.
In moves likely be applauded by the business community, the
administration will also reform immigration rules to make it easier for
science and technology students to study in the U.S. There will also be
a new program to attract entrepreneurs to come to the U.S. if they can
show they have sufficient investors.
But the president got mixed reviews among leaders in border states.
"In the face of Washington gridlock, the president stepped up for
hard-working families across America. This is the right thing to do,
and it's time for Congress to finish the job," said California Gov.
Edmund G. Brown Jr., a Democrat.
But Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Obama should have sought a bipartisan
solution.
"He is once again taking brazen, unilateral action that will only
further exacerbate the border problem," the Republican said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the president's action will lead to more
illegal immigration.
"It is time for the president and Congress to secure our border,
followed by meaningful reforms. There is no more time for political
grandstanding," he said.
The changes that Obama announced, however, fall far short of the
reforms that could be enacted were Congress to pass a comprehensive
immigration bill.
The president has no power to put undocumented immigrants on the long
road to citizenship. He cannot grant permanent residence permits known
as Green Cards, and all of his changes could be struck down by a future
president.
Officials insisted that Obama's moves were consistent with immigration
actions ordered by presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George H.W.
Bush, for decades. The magnitude of the numbers involved here, however,
surpass anything any president had done before.
See the video at CNN
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