President Obama: "Pass a Bill"

Thursday evening President Barack Obama addressed the nation to announce an executive order to deal with some of the eleven million undocumented immigrants that live among us in the shadows out of fear of discovery. The action uses the part of the immigration law that provides for deferred action. In this case, applicants for work status, if approved, may avoid deportation for 3 years. He did not give them citizenship, amnesty or green cards. He gave them temporary relief from deportation.

A year and a half ago the Senate, with a bipartisan vote of 68-32, passed a comprehensive immigration bill. The House of Representatives has refused to even vote on that bill. Until the House ends the gridlock and passes that law, or writes its own, the President has the legal authority, as Democratic and Republican presidents have done in the past, to use his discretion so that the law is enforced in a way that it is less harmful to immigrants.

The President announced that he has authorized government agencies to:

(1) Provide additional resources for border agents

(2) Make it easier for skilled immigrants, graduates and businessmen to remain and contribute to our economy

(3) Continue to deport criminals- felons and gang members

(4) Allow immigrants here for more than 5 years, who have children who were born here, who register and pass a criminal background check and are willing to pay their fair share of taxes to apply to stay in our country temporarily.

The change in the way the immigration laws are enforced does not apply to recent immigrants or to those who come in the future. It does not grant citizenship, the right to stay here permanently or the right to receive the same benefits as citizens. Only Congress can do that.

After describing the contents of the action, President Obama spoke to the moral reasons for fixing our system. He pointed out that those more than eleven million illegal immigrants fled to America in a desperate attempt to find a better life- just as most of our forefathers did. They did not want a free ride. They worked hard, studied and served in the military. Ripping families apart by deportation is not consistent with our values.

This is an important step to fix our broken immigration system where those who enter our country and follow the rules watch as others go around the system and break the law. Business owners who pay their workers fair wages and benefits have to compete with others who pay their undocumented workers far less.

But, in the end, Congress must make a law to reform the system permanently. If they want to prevent this executive order from becoming effective January 1st, 2015, they need to pass a bill to deal with the problem.

In an interview last night, Nicolle Wallace, who served as communications chief for President George Bush, said “Republicans are on the wrong side of this issue.” Listen and pass a bill, Congress!