President Obama acts, fulfils a DREAM
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Steve Benen reports today that Obama moves on immigration, fulfils a DREAM:
President Obama will announce today one of the biggest moves of his presidency on immigration policy, and in the process, will offer needed relief to hundreds of thousands of families.
The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.
The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.
For all the talk about Obama's reluctance to take bold moves on key progressive policies, this is a major breakthrough. The president is going to face fierce condemnations from the right, but to his credit, it appears Obama is going to do it anyway.
Every year, tens of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants graduate from American high schools, but quickly find themselves stuck. They can't qualify for college aid, and they can't work legally. America is the only home they've ever known — in most cases, they were, at a very young age, brought into the country illegally by their parents — but at 18, they have few options. Many face deportation.
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How does this relate to Obama's new move? The president, no longer willing to wait for a dysfunctional and far-right Congress, will effectively implement the DREAM Act's goals on his own — which is arguably the boldest thing he's done since the 2010 midterms.
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Anti-immigrant Republicans will no doubt be apoplectic, but they live in a perpetual state of outrage anyway, and Obama wasn't getting anywhere waiting for them to strike a broader compromise.
The GOP pander to Hispanic voters continues to fail with blunders like this: the RNC Latino site features photos of Asian children. RNC Latino Site Features Stock Photo of Asian Children.
When you are living in a lily-white country club gated community, I guess people of color all look alike to them.
UPDATE: Greg Sargent writes Obama leapfrogs GOP DREAM Act:
This could have far-reaching implications for the presidential race, and could complicate GOP efforts to make inroads among Latinos, a crucial constituency in key states Obama needs[.]