Obama says: Executive Actions ‘Not’ Amnesty; ‘Amnesty Is the Immigration System We Have Today’

Pajamas Media ^ | 11/21/2014 | Bridget Johnson

[SeekAndFind]

WASHINGTON — Republicans predictably came down hard on President Obama’s address announcing his immigration executive order, with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowing to “work with our members and protect the Constitution.”

How they were planning to funnel their outrage into legislative or judicial action was less clear.

“First, we’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings, and speed the return of those who do cross over,” Obama said in the White House’s Cross Hall during the primetime address.

“Second, I’ll make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders have proposed,” he said. “Third, we’ll take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented immigrants who already live in our country.”

According to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security will be establishing a new deferred action program for parents of U.S. Citizens or legal permanent residents “who are not enforcement priorities and have been in the country for more than 5 years.” His previous Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals order would be expanded to include all illegal immigrants brought to the country as children before Jan. 1, 2010, regardless of current age.

Obama elaborated on his third step “because it generates the most passion and controversy,” adding that “we’ll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day.”

“Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids,” he said of deportation targets. “…And let’s be honest -– tracking down, rounding up, and deporting millions of people isn’t realistic. Anyone who suggests otherwise isn’t being straight with you. It’s also not who we are as Americans. After all, most of these immigrants have been here a long time. They work hard, often in tough, low-paying jobs. They support their families. They worship at our churches.”

Obama acknowledged that “some of the critics of this action call it amnesty.”

“Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today -– millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time,” he said.

“That’s the real amnesty –- leaving this broken system the way it is. Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character. What I’m describing is accountability –- a common-sense, middle-ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.”

The president then stressed it’s “important that all of us have this debate without impugning each other’s character.”

“Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law? Or are we a nation that gives them a chance to make amends, take responsibility, and give their kids a better future?” he asked. “Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms? Or are we a nation that values families, and works together to keep them together?”

Republicans’ general reaction to the speech was that Obama is favoring a nation of lawlessness.

“Not long ago, President Obama said the unilateral action he just announced was ‘not an option’ and claimed he’d already ‘done everything that I can on my own.’ He said it would lead to a ‘surge in more illegal immigration.’ He said he was ‘not a king’ and ‘not the emperor’ and that he was ‘bound by the Constitution.’ He said an action like this would exceed his authority and be ‘difficult to justify legally,’” Boehner said. “He may have changed his position, but that doesn’t change the Constitution.”

The Speaker added that Obama “cemented his legacy of lawlessness and squandered what little credibility he had left.”

“This short-sighted view and these ill-advised actions will unfortunately have a host of unintended, negative consequences on an already strained immigration system. Attempting to justify his actions by harkening back to the 1986 immigration reform package is flat wrong – and ignores the fact that almost 30 years after 1986 our immigration system is more broken than ever,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said, referencing President Reagan’s actions.

“…America is both a compassionate nation and a nation of laws, and to keep that balance the White House must work with Congress, not, as the old phrase goes, take their ball and go home.”

Georgia GOP Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss vowed in a joint statement to “stop the president from executing bad policy” and stressed they “will consider all legislative and legal options when determining the best course of action to do so.”

Obama’s timing comes just as Congress has adjourned for the Thanksgiving recess, meaning options to counter or support the president won’t be weighed in a caucus room until December.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is heading to the Center for Latino Progress in Hartford tomorrow for a rally with immigration advocates.

“The president’s reforms are only a first step, and the nation still needs the comprehensive immigration overhaul that only legislative action can achieve,” Blumenthal said. “Having reviewed existing law, I am very well satisfied that the President’s actions are well within his authority.”

“One of the preeminent benefits of this action will be to keep families together, ending the prospect of deporting parents of U.S. citizens, and enabling them to seek jobs, pay taxes, and support their families,” he added. “These steps serve basic American values that make us the greatest country in the history of the world.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also urged congressional actions, underscoring fears that Obama’s actions could be overturned when he leaves office or sooner via lawsuit or legislation.

“Executive action is no substitute for legislation, and the President’s action does not absolve Congress of its own responsibility,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Democrats will continue to demand action on bipartisan immigration legislation that will provide lasting certainty to immigrant families, and secure the billions of dollars in economic benefits Republicans’ inaction has denied our country.”

Stressing that more than 16 percent of Texans are foreign-born, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) predicted that Obama’s actions “increase the chances that anyone attempting to cross the border illegally will be caught and sent back.”

“There is a very simple solution to the perception that somehow the President is exercising too much executive authority and that is for Congress to pass a bipartisan bill to permanently fix the system,” she said.

“This is a win-win for everybody,” Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) said. “If Republicans didn’t like what they heard tonight, they need to come up with a better plan in response.”

“Those who are unhappy with the president’s action need to direct their focus at the Speaker of the House,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

Republican said they needed to get firm details on Obama’s plan before arriving at firm strategy options to counter the executive order.

“We need to see details on exactly how he purports to do what he says he will do — the president said absolutely nothing about how he was going to implement his plan —before we can know the best way to resolve this constitutional challenge,” Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) said. “And I absolutely reject the concept floated by some that Congress simply cannot do anything.”

[molson209]

Obama says: Executive Actions ‘Not’ Amnesty; ‘Amnesty Is the Immigration System We Have Today’

No Clue Obama has No Clue

[KeyLargo]

Clinton: Obama on ‘Pretty Firm Legal Ground’ with Immigration Order

by Evan McMurry | 10:28 am, November 20th, 2014

http://www.mediaite.com/online/clinton-obama-on-pretty-firm-legal-ground-with-immigration-order/

[kabar]

Any legislation or executive order that allows the lawbreakers to stay and work here is amnesty.

[cripplecreek]

In a sense he’s right. We’ve talked about amnesty for decades while little has been done and that is de-facto amnesty.

Personally I think we should concentrate on real border security and workplace immigration enforcement.

[Dqban22]

OBAMA’S WAR AGAINST THE AMERICAN WORKERS

Obama's Executive Amnesty Could REWARD MILLIONS OF IMMIGRANTS WHO VIOLATED OUR SOVEREIGNTY ENTERING ILEGALLY IN THE COUNTRY, BUT IT WILL PROFOUNDLY AFFECT THE LIVES OF MILLIONS OF UNEMPLOYED AMERICAN BLUE COLLAR WORKERS.

Blacks are going to be the main collateral victims of Obama's anti-Black amnesty.

OBAMA’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL AMNESTY TO MIGRANTS THAT ARE LIVING ILLEGALLY IN THE U.S.A.

After destroying the best health care system in the world, Obama is determined to grant wide amnesty to foreigners living illegally in U.S. If Obama wants to make the U.S. into another banana republic, it seems he is well underway to reaching his goal.

Obama’s Amnesty Will Add As Many Foreign Workers As New Jobs Since 2009

The Republicans must make it perfectly clear that Obama has declared a merciless war against the American workers and the middle class of America. There are 92 million of able Americans out of the work force because they cannot find employment and Obama wants to legalize and give work permits to over 11 million illegal aliens allowing them to bring here the rest of their families. In other words, another 25 or 30 million that either will compete with Americans and legal immigrants searching for scarce jobs or are going to be added to welfare, bankrupting Medicaid and the food stamp system as well as ruining even more the quality of the public schools with the massive infuse of hundreds of thousands of children without speaking English to already overburdened schools systems.

Blacks are going to be the main collateral victims of Obama's anti-Black amnesty. Black Americans are already suffering higher unemployment since Obama took power. Obama’s new class of protected immigrants will take over their jobs and Blacks will be forced to share their welfare checks and food stamps with them

http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21PR-Amnesty_Black_Employment_081114.html

[Nifster]

Lewis Carroll could not have written a more bizarre twist of language.

we are truly through the looking glass

[kabar]

And you must add the 500,000 tech workers that will be admitted under this executive order. These are skilled workers who will compete with US college grads who have incurred huge student debts. If we had a shortage of labor, wages would be going up, not down.

[kabar]

By the way, Cruz supports a huge increase in skilled foreign workers and legal immigration.

"Despite this, most conservatives don’t get it. Imbued with what I’ve termed “immigrationism” and Proposition Nation pap, they’re very diligent about conserving the Immigration and Nationality Act status quo. An example that will shock many is Senator Ted Cruz, who last year proposed not only increasing the number of “high-skilled temporary workers fivefold” -- as if there aren’t high-skilled Americans looking for jobs -- but, unbelievably, also the doubling of legal immigration (the relevant portion of the video starts at 3:27).

[posterchild]

ripping children from their parents’ arms

Has this ever happened?

[cripplecreek]

Hunter Javens, 9
Jesse Javens, 13
Emilee Olson, 9
Reed Stevens, 12
Killed by illegal alien Alianiss Nunez Morales who ran a stop sign hitting their school bus.

3 American families forever broken.

[Vaduz]

He sounds like deep rooted racism if you can’t beat the cracker flood them with people of color and you have a third world country.
Soros yells Ole.

[freekitty]

She is wrong beyond belief. This is what Congress is for. She should read the book “Inventing Freedom, How the English Speaking People Made the Modern World” by Daniel Hannan. People could benefit from reading this book. For example in England if the monarchy got out of hand like Obama; Parliament slapped him down which is exactly what they did. Maybe getting educated instead of just talking something will really get done for the benefit of America and it’s people.

[MeshugeMikey]

...Hillary Clinto Could Not Be Reached For Comment

[uncitizen]

He knows what he’s saying is all lies. He’s not clueless.

[stephenjohnbanker]

” And you must add the 500,000 tech workers that will be admitted under this executive order. These are skilled workers who will compete with US college grads who have incurred huge student debts.”

Big business must be hungover this morning. They got their candy.

[Moonman62]

Whatever happened to the enforcement promises from the 1986 amnesty?

[SeekAndFind]

We’ve Got to Legalize Illegal Aliens So They Can Receive Our Taxes

[Darksheare]

So actively NOT enforcing the law is amnesty, but waving his millimeter peter and magically declaring illegals to be legal is not?
What an [censored]/

[NTHockey]

Here’s my take on this:
1. The half-breed in the White House must go - either Nixon-like or perp-style.
2. If there was ever a time to fly the flag upside down, this is it.
3. Doing an end-around Congress by creating legislation, why are we still paying these people?
4. I’m issuing an executive order of my own (which has as much validity as the half-breeds), no more taxes.
5. Lock and load time.