Published on Thu, May 05, 2011
Nobody should question the importance of the Navy SEAL assault that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, nor President Barack Obama's authority to order the raid.
Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. question something else: an authority Obama says he does not have. He says he cannot by executive order modify the implementation of the laws under which a record number of undocumented immigrants have been deported in his first two years in office.
Obama has held countless meetings with Latino leaders to bring Hispanic voters to his side. Yet he always says that it is not his fault; that he has to obey the law; that Republicans are to blame. Some of this is true, but according to a legal memo from an American Immigration Council study, there are many things the president could and should do.
"The President and his cabinet have a wide range of choices available that can ameliorate some of the worst excesses of current law," the memo's cover letter said.
The memo mentions several options the administration has if the president is really serious. It says the Department of Homeland Security already has memos saying its agents should differentiate between deporting known criminals and those with no felonious criminal records. It should make sure the agents understand and apply the instructions given.
It also mentions that Homeland Security has the authority to grant "deferred action" to an otherwise "deportable" immigrant when it sees the presence of "sympathetic or compelling factors.'' This is already in use to grant exemptions for those who fall under the Violence Against Women Act.
The memo talks about temporary protected status granted to those after a determination is made that it is unsafe for foreign nationals to return home due to armed conflict, natural disasters or extraordinary conditions.
There is also the option of the issuing "humanitarian parole."
Granted this memo, couched in legal language, is more easily understood by lawyers than by undocumented immigrants. But it should not be a hard memo to understand for a president who used to teach constitutional law.
Obama has said many times that there is nothing he can do. That Republicans are to blame. That is easy, although he does not explain why he did nothing when the Democrats controlled Congress.
Now, lawyers, including two who were General Counsel of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, say that he is wrong. The president should listen. He has options and should use them. It is much too easy to blame Republicans for political expediency.
Published in the Sun Sentinel