Activists React Cautiously to Obama Immigration Plans

National Journal

By Rachel Roubein

November 13, 2014

Activists React Cautiously to Obama Immigration Plans 

President Obama will reportedly launch an executive action plan in the coming days to help as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants, granting them work authorization and temporary relief from deportation.

 

While administration officials told The New York Times the plan was not set in stone, it falls short of the benchmark—8 million—that immigration advocates had hoped for, using the widely supported bipartisan Senate bill as a metric for "big and bold" reforms.

 

Republicans will fight the president "tooth and nail," House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday, and all options are on the table for how to deliver on this promise. It's one that could pave the path for a battle over budget negotiations and the attorney general nomination. Obama could act as soon as next week; he returns from his trip to Asia on Sunday night.

 

A crucial component of Obama's executive action plan, as reported in The Times, centers around parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents. It would allow parents to apply for work authorization and allay the fear of deportation.

 

This would affect at least 3.3 million people who had been in the country for as many as five years, or more than 2.5 million if the plan is contingent on at least 10 years of residency, according to a Migration Policy Institute report.

 

About 1 million more undocumented immigrants could receive temporary stays of removal if the plan extends protections to more children who came to the country illegally when they were young, as well as to their parents, according to The Times.

 

"We don't know who's in and we don't know who's out," said Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America's Voice, "but five million is certainly less than what we needed." She added that the organization, which supports comprehensive immigration reform, hadn't heard specifics on the plan but was hoping for deferred action for 8 million undocumented immigrants.

 

The deferred-action programs discussed in the leaked plans resemble scenarios the Migration Policy Institute has analyzed, tying eligibility requirements to length of residency and a relationship to an American family member. The 5 million number makes sense if this is the case, said Marc Rosenblum, the MPI U.S. Immigration Policy Program deputy director.

 

"If the president was aiming for eight million, you could design a program that could do that," Rosenblum said, "but you couldn't do that very easily based strictly on family relationships."

 

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Rep. Luis Gutierrez urged Obama to act swiftly and boldly. Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, hadn't heard information regarding the details of executive action or the timing of such an announcement, he told the room of reporters and nearly two dozen House Democrats.

 

But he did provide a personal benchmark for what the word "bold" means: "I [previously] said the minimum that I thought that could be acted upon was five million," referring to the number of deportations deferred under executive action.

 

Enforcement reforms are also reported to be in the mix.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com