Obama’s immigration back door
Editorial
The Washington Times
8/2/2010
The Obama administration’s way to deal with the problem of illegal immigration is to declare it legal. This is the upshot of an 11-page memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) about “Administrative alternatives to comprehensive immigration reform.” As the title suggests, it is a compendium of backdoor measures the executive branch claims it can take without having to deal with pesky things like congressional authorization.
The Obama administration is seeking to “reduce the threat of removal” for “individuals present in the United States without authorization,” employing the latest euphemism for illegal aliens. The fact that the government considers removal of people who have crossed the border illegally a “threat” is noteworthy; USCIS apparently considers its statutory obligation to take action against illegal immigration more of a menace than the outlaw migrants themselves.
The memo goes into great detail regarding the numerous ways USCIS could “legally” keep illegals inside the country, including “parole in place,” “notices to appear” and “deferred action.” Such actions are usually employed on a case-by-case basis, not en masse. “Deferred action” – or simply not doing anything, as the name suggests – has gained the most attention, since the memo states it is “theoretically possible to grant deferred action to an unrestricted number of unlawfully present individuals” and that this may be “extended indefinitely.” However, bureaucrats also suggest that the use of deferred action on this scale “would likely be controversial.” That’s an understatement.
This op-ed continues at The Washington Times.
