Obama immigration amnesty—highlights and lowlights

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) warns that “the only way to be sure to get the facts is to get them directly from USCIS.” If you go to the USCIS website, you will not find the words “Obama amnesty” or “Obama executive order.” You will not even find the name “Obama” in its announcement on immigration reform. You will find “Executive Actions on Immigration” with a reference to the President’s announcement on November 20, 2014 on “executive actions”.

 

USCIS states that it and other agencies are responsible for implementing what it calls “executive initiatives”. But where is the executive order with the President’s signature on which these are based? Is USCIS implementing “executive initiatives” without a written executive order signed by the President but simply based on a speech?

Highlights

Here are the five initiatives in the USCIS’s own words with the link to the USCIS website so you can read them yourself instead of relying on misleading or slanted articles:

1) Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to young people who came to this country before turning 16 years old and have been present since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years | Details  http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction#1

2) Allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program, provided they pass required background checks | Details  http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction#2

3) Expanding the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens | Details  http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction#3

4) Modernizing, improving and clarifying immigrant and nonimmigrant programs to grow our economy and create jobs | Details  http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction#4

5) Promoting citizenship education and public awareness for lawful permanent residents and providing an option for naturalization applicants to use credit cards to pay the application fee | Details  http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction#5

Analysis

The Obama executive action or initiative has been criticized on two basic grounds: (1) policy, and (2) process.

Policy:  Immigration reform should be based on what is in the national interest. The “initiative” grants amnesty to about 5 million illegal aliens. This is not in the national interest. It rewards lawlessness. It punishes the law abiding because citizens and lawful permanent residents who have petitioned their alien relatives will have to wait longer as they are shunted aside. Remember the analogy we described of theater patrons with tickets waiting for the doors to open and then a lawless band breaks into the line and are allowed first inside the theater. It diverts immigration personnel from their regular duties of processing legitimate petitions in order to handle applications by amnestied aliens. It will demoralize USCIS personnel who have been working hard to uphold the law and grant benefits to the law abiding but now will have to work to grant benefits to the lawless.

America should be welcoming into the country the best and the brightest from around the world in order to make this country great. Are the amnestied aliens the best and the brightest? The amnestied aliens will compete with U.S. citizens and lawful permanent aliens for jobs. Since these aliens will generally accept lower wages than the prevailing wages, they will displace U.S. citizens and lawful permanent aliens. These amnestied aliens will demand health care benefits and social services.

As a newly-arrived immigrant wryly observed. We had to undergo a medical examination, submit an affidavit of support, birth certificate, police clearance, and other documents to prove that we had a bona fide relationship with the person who petitioned us, but these are not required of the aliens given amnesty.

Process: Making immigration laws is exclusively vested in Congress. The President’s duty is to enforce the laws passed by Congress, not make the laws himself. The excuse that previous Presidents, including Republicans, granted amnesty is a gross misrepresentation. The previous presidents simply implemented the amnesty laws enacted by previous Congresses. Assuming that previous presidents granted amnesty, two wrongs do not make a right. (Or as Mr. Wong, a Chinese I met in Las Vegas joked “Two Wongs do not make a right.”)

(Atty. Tipon has a Master of Laws degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He specializes in immigration law and criminal defense. Office: 900 Fort Street, Suite 1110, Honolulu, HI 96813. Tel. (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: filamlaw@yahoo.com. Websites:  www.MilitaryandCriminalLaw.com. He is from Laoag City and Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. He served as an Immigration Officer. He is co-author of “Immigration Law Service, 1^st ed.,” an 8-volume practice guide for immigration officers and lawyers. Listen to the most funny, interesting, and useful radio program in Hawaii on KNDI at 1270 AM dial every Thursday at 7:30 a.m. This article is a general overview of the subject matter discussed and is not intended as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established between the writer and readers relying upon and/or acting pursuant to the contents of this article.)