- An executive order is not an uncommon thing. Teddy Roosevelt issued more than 1000. FDR owns the record with 3500-plus. Both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton neared 400 apiece. Clinton even entered the war in Kosovo by executive order 15 years ago.
- Now President Obama reportedly will issue an executive order on immigration in September. I have never been shy about criticizing the Deporter in Chief. He had the majority of votes needed to push for immigration reform early on but failed to promote that agenda. Instead he broke deportation records.
- Still, an executive order by Obama might help millions of immigrants. There are many elements at work here. Labor unions favor executive action. So do large corporations, which need more visas issued to help their business.
- Of course, the most important part of an immigration executive order would involve deferring deportations of a massive group that could number into the millions.
(I have been visiting far too many noncriminal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico in detention centers and county jails lately)
- To stop many deportations would be the right thing. Moreover as everyone from Newt Gingrich to Rand Paul has stated again and again, you cannot deport 11 million people.
- The executive order would likely be announced on or around September 21, 2014.
- Two groups have been mentioned frequently and prominently:
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Undocumented PARENTS of United States Citizens. Estimates place this figure at five million people.
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PARENTS of Immigrants who Already are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that began in 2012.
THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER WOULD LIKELY RESULT IN A SIMILAR BENEFIT AS DACA:
WORK PERMITS THAT ALLOW PEOPLE TO SEEK LAWFUL EMPLOYMENT,
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS, DRIVER’S LICENSES AND TRAVEL PERMISSION.
We should know more in less than a month.
Until then – Please follow my blog posts and read other pages on our website.
I answer email at HYork@ImmigrationLawNJ.com 24/7 as well as on our immigration law Facebook page.
