WHEN will President Barack Obama fulfill his promise as a presidential candidate that he would reform America’s broken immigration system? This is the question many kababayans ask, along with the rest of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Many of them continue to be in hiding, fearful of being deported, hoping against all odds that the President will help them finally have legal status and be given a pathway to citizenship in this country they call home.
But more than half way through his second term, the promise remains to be a promise, hostaged by the political impasse in Washington between the Democrats and the Republicans.
The Senate had passed via a bipartisan vote an immigration reform bill more than a year ago, but the Republican-lead House of Representatives had other agenda in mind.
House Republicans continue to oppose giving pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants, and contend that they must be deported according to the provisions of immigration laws. They also oppose a comprehensive approach to fixing the system, insisting on a piece-meal approach. They contend that Obama’s approach and that of the Senate are tantamount to giving “amnesty” to those who broke the law.
From the promised timetable of fixing the broken immigration system in his first term, President Obama had moved his deadline to summer of this year. He said he would not hesitate to use his executive authority to get things done, but then had to delay it further to after the Midterm Elections for political reasons. Now reports show a decision on what he would do unilaterally to reshape US immigration law could come out by mid-December.
Through the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Obama spared children, who were brought to the United States illegally, from deportation. His administration has also used its discretionary powers to prioritize the removal of undocumented immigrants with criminal records and those who are a threat to national security.
However, immigrant advocates say these measures are too limited. They demand that the President should do more.
The prospect of the president finally fulfilling his promise became dim when the Republicans took control of the Senate, and won an even bigger majority in the House of Representatives.
Immigrant rights advocates fear that Obama might just cave in abandon their cause, just so he could work with the Republican-controlled Congress. They are aware that the American people want Washington to finally get more things done, especially on other pressing needs like job creation, national security, infrastructure and financial recovery. This is also important for Obama’s legacy.
Republicans minced no words in warning the President against issuing an executive order on immigration. House Speaker John Boehner said taking unilateral action on immigration would “poison the well.”
“When you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself,” Boehner said at a post-election press conference. “And he’s going to burn himself if he continues to go down this path.”
But before Obama left for Asia early this week, he gave undocumented immigrants and their advocates reason to continue hoping and believing he would fulfill his promise this time around. Despite pressure from the Republicans, Obama went on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday and said, “I’m going to do what I can do through executive action.”
Quoting President Obama:
“Number one, everybody agrees the immigration system is broken. And we’ve been talking about it for years now in terms of fixing it. We need to be able to secure our border. We need to make legal immigration system that is more efficient.
And we need to make sure that the millions of people, who are here, many have been here for a decade or more, and have American kids, and for all practical purposes are part of our community, that they pay a fine, they pay any penalties, they learn English, they get to the back of the line but they have a capacity to legalize themselves here because we’re not– we don’t have the capacity to deport eleven million people. Everybody agrees on that.
I presided over a process in which the Senate produced a bipartisan bill. I then said to John Boehner, John, let’s get this passed through the House. For a year I stood back and let him work on this. He decided not to call the Senate bill and he couldn’t produce his own bill. And I told him at the time, John, if you don’t do it, I’ve got legal authority to make improvements on the system.
I prefer and still prefer to see it done through Congress, but every day that I wait we’re misallocating resources. We’re deporting people that shouldn’t be deported. We’re not deporting folks that are dangerous and need to be deported. So, John, I’m going to give you some time, but if you can’t get it done before the end of the year, I’m going to have to take the steps that I can to improve the system.
What I am saying to them actually their time hasn’t run out. I am going to do what I can do through executive action. It’s not going to be everything that needs to get done. And it will take time to put that in place.
And in the interim, the minute they pass a bill that addresses the problems with immigration reform, I will sign it and it supersedes whatever actions I take. And I’m encouraging them to do so.
On parallel track, we’re going to be implementing an executive action. But if, in fact, a bill gets passed, nobody is going to be happier than me to sign it because that means it will be permanent rather than temporary.
So they have the ability, the authority, the control to supersede anything I do through my executive authority by simply carrying out their functions over there. And if, in fact, it’s true that they want to pass a bill, they’ve got good ideas, nobody is stopping them. And the minute they do it and the minute I sign that bill, then what I’ve done goes away.”
The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast Balitang America asked its viewers:
Should Obama risk alienating more Republicans by pushing through with his executive orders on immigration?
A majority of those who voted — 53 percent said YES. What do you say?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
