Circumventing an obstinate Congress, Obama has ordered his administration to stop deporting illegal immigrants under the age of 30 if they meet certain requirements.
Effective immediately, undocumented persons who came to the States under the age of 16 will be allowed to stay and apply for work permits, provided they have lived in the country continuously for at least five years, pose no national security threat, have a clean criminal record, and be either enrolled in school, hold a diploma or GED, or serve or have served in the military.
| Related: Does America Have An Illegal Immigration Crisis? |
Sayeth Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano:
Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner. But they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.
The move is similar to what would happen under the DREAM Act, which the adminsitration has been pushing, but which has not been able to clear Congress. The DREAM Act would allow undocumented immigrants who came to the States as children to apply for citizenship if they earn degrees or serve in the military. The Act is designed to encourage immigrants to assimilate and gain economic mobility, though some fear it will become a back door amnesty program that will encourage further illegal immigration, which has recently dropped to zero.
There is, of course, politics to all this. Obama remains popular with Hispanic voters, but they are extremely unhappy with him over a) the lack of comprehensive immigration reform under his administration (and I want a pony), and b) the increased deportations since 2009. The deportations have been part of Obama's strategy to show he's tough on the issue of national security and immigration. Today's move is an attempt to thread thar needle, keeping children, college students and military members in the country while still deporting others.
| Related: Evangelical Group Endorses Immigration Reform, Romney Totally Does Or Does Not Agree |
Obama's move cuts against the grain of Mitt Awkwardstein Romney's primary pledge to make life so difficult for immigrants that they would self-deport. Of course that was like, two months ago, which is a lifetime in the evolution of Romney's position on an issue. PoliticOlogy reported the other day that Romney was getting pushback from evangelicals of all people, when Focus on the Family came out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. Romney's also been appearing a lot with Marco Rubio, who's been pushing a vague, wishy-washy DREAM Act of his own. If Romney was hoping to move to the center on immigration, Obama just moved that center to the left.
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