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Editorial: Obama right on immigration policy, wrong on approach and timing

 
President Barack Obama’s unilateral action on immigration is unsatisfying in every respect. The policy changes he announced Thursday night to enable perhaps 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in this country legally are sound, but they don’t go far enough. The timing and political calculations are worse.
President Barack Obama’s unilateral action on immigration is unsatisfying in every respect. The policy changes he announced Thursday night to enable perhaps 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in this country legally are sound, but they don’t go far enough. The timing and political calculations are worse.
Published Nov. 21, 2014

President Barack Obama's unilateral action on immigration is unsatisfying in every respect. The policy changes he announced Thursday night to enable perhaps 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in this country legally are sound, but they don't go far enough. The timing and political calculations are worse, angering Republicans who are poised to fully control Congress in January and dimming faint hopes of compromise on other issues. Immigration reform should be addressed and Obama is understandably frustrated by congressional Republicans who refuse to act, but this is not the time or the way to break the impasse.

There is nothing wrong with the direction outlined in Obama's executive actions. He sets appropriate priorities in focusing enforcement efforts on illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes or who have recently crossed the border. The expansion of his 2012 order offering deferred action to younger immigrants brought to this country illegally by their parents is smart. So is removing the threat of deportation to undocumented parents of American citizens or legal residents who have lived here more than five years.

"What I'm describing is accountability — a commonsense, middle-ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law,'' Obama said Thursday night. "If you're a criminal, you'll be deported.''

The president appears to be within his legal authority to take these actions, although he is bumping up close to the line. The executive branch has clear authority over immigration issues, and the administration notes that every president since Dwight Eisenhower has exercised that authority. The difference here is that Obama's orders affect more undocumented immigrants and that the political party taking control of Congress is opposed. This is not a straight line forward but an end run around the legislative branch.

By resorting to executive actions, Obama leaves even some of his allies unsatisfied with the limited scope of the reforms. Without congressional action, there is no path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants like there is in the bipartisan legislation passed last year by the Senate and blocked by the House. There is no specific program for all of the parents of hundreds of thousands of "Dreamers" who are now here legally, because the administration concluded that would exceed the president's authority. There is no specific expansion of programs to create a legal agricultural workforce, which would have benefited Florida. It is at best half a loaf that provides temporary relief to some and fully satisfies no one.

Obama complains he waited long enough for Congress to act on immigration, and he has a point. But taking executive action now only worsens his poor relationship with congressional Republicans. It unnecessarily adds fuel to the partisan, unfounded criticism that this president is too aloof and too dictatorial. The president is conceding the high political ground to the Republicans who are to blame for Washington's failure on immigration.

The House should have passed the Senate's comprehensive immigration legislation, and the president is right on the policy. But he is wrong on the politics and the timing of his actions. Obama should have given the new Republican-controlled Congress one more chance to negotiate an agreement by the spring. Instead he widened the political divide, and the modest gains in immigration policy may be overwhelmed by the collateral damage.