On Thursday night, President Barack Obama is set to announce sweeping executive action that will essentially grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
The idea of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants is not a new one. In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which granted illegal immigrants that had been in the country four years amnesty provided they pay fines, back taxes and take a citizenship and language test. The act sought to prevent future illegal immigration by increasing border security and deportation.
However, a problem arose. Not only did illegal immigration keep growing, but families were also being ripped apart. One member of the family may have had legal status, but the others were still being deported. President Reagan signed an executive order, based on proposed legislation, granting undocumented children of parents with legal status the same amnesty.
What about spouses? President George H.W. Bush signed another executive order granting spouses of those with amnesty legal status in 1989, which was followed by legislation expanding this program, also including children 18 to 21 years old.
Obama now cites these executive orders as precedent for his proposed program, which would expand his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to include parents of those children granted reprieve. This would give semi-legal status to millions of people, essentially by fiat.
Executive orders themselves are controversial, as there is no mention of them in the constitution. However, presidents have long used them to make sure laws are executed.
However, Obama is making his own law with this action because he isn’t satisfied with Congress’s refusal to pass immigration reform. Rather than enforcing law, this action rejects enforcement of current law by letting lawbreakers off the hook.
Obama already did this with the DACA program, essentially acting as if Congress had not rejected the DREAM Act that the program was based on. However, his action there mirrored Reagan’s, as well as impacting a much smaller number of people who did not necessarily choose to break the law.
I recognize, like most people, that illegal immigration and undocumented immigrants are problems that need to be solved. I’m as frustrated as the president that Congress refuses to pass immigration reform. I, like most people, have sympathy for those illegal immigrants who just seek a better life for themselves or their family.
However, all of these things don’t give the president the right to flaunt the law.
Republicans have promised to fight this action. I hope they do, because if the president is allowed to make his own laws because he doesn’t agree with Congress that sets a very bad precedent.
One could say it’s illegal.