"Without the approval of Congress, the Obama administration
announced Friday that it will stop deporting and start giving work permits to
younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. The extraordinary
decision, enacted by executive order and announced Friday by Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano, affects as many as 800,000 undocumented immigrants.
It partially fulfills the goals of the DREAM Act, and will undoubtedly be viewed
favorably by many Latino voters and immigrant rights groups who have been disappointed previously by Obama's record on
immigration. Illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they came to
the U.S. before age 16 and are currently under 30, if they are in school or
graduated from school or served in the military, if they have been in the
country for at least five years continuously, and if they have no criminal
history. Those who qualify would not be granted citizenship but would be spared
deportation and could work legally."
I noted here on June 18th that the President probably has the right to grant a reprieve that accomplishes the above. Foolish me I assumed that he had done so. That is apparently not the case. There was no reprieve. Just an announcement that the group defined above would no longer be prosecuted.
The President unilaterally ceased enforcing part of the law.
Why not grant a reprieve? Presumably it would upset some people because reprieve sounds like temporary amnesty which would make people unhappy.
So the President just announces that he will stop enforcing that law against some people!
Apparently, I owe Charles Krauthammer an apology.
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