Time to DREAM: Obama’s new move on immigration

In yet another historic and bold action, the Obama administration announced bold reforms on its immigration policy. The administration will now grant work VISAs to certain eligible youth and will cease deportations for those who qualify. Most persons affected by this policy change are younger illegal immigrants without a criminal record… those who have already lived in the US for most of their lives and were brought here by no fault of their own… commonly referred to as “DREAMers” because they are the ones who would benefit most from the DREAM Act.

The President gave a short and “impassioned” speech on the issue today, but was rudely interrupted by Neil Munro of the Daily Caller. Immediately, you could see President Obama become rife with anger at Munro’s lack of professionalism. The President pointed directly at him to make sure everyone present saw the interaction. This is next to unheard of in the press corps for a Rose Garden speech (here’s a link to the full remarks).

As you can see, Obama’s bold move has already ignited backlash from the right. Here’s the part of the official statement from Rep. Peter King

The Administration is overstepping its authority by weakening immigration laws without Congressional approval,” King said in an email. “I am very concerned about efforts to administratively implement amnesty for countless illegal aliens under the age of 30. It is vital that US borders are secure prior to any consideration of amnesty proposals.”

I find it interesting how Mr. King has phrased this, “without Congressional approval”. Here’s what is really important for anyone that supports the DREAM Act to know….

Simply put, Mr. King is lying. Congress did approve the DREAM Act back in 2010. It passed the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi 216-198. The bill also garnered a majority of votes in the Senate, 55-41 including Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Dick Lugar and Bob Bennett. Included in those “no” votes?? Senator John McCain, who actually co-sponsored the DREAM Act in 2001. The majority of Congress passed this bill, but because of the GOP filibuster, it died in the Senate. So if they want to accuse the President of “going too far” with this executive order, they should go right ahead. Republicans have been going too far since they decided to filibuster every major initiative of the Obama administration. It’s high time Obama and the Democrats fought fire with fire.

Leave a Reply