So what? Our system was designed for gridlock, that only ideas that were so good that both houses of Congress would pass and the President would sign it. It's not meant for action and radical change. Our system ceased to exist tonight. We now have the presidency about which Richard Nixon always dreamed, and done by a man of the Left.
So you'd claim all these people broke the law and are therefore criminals, right? If so, can't Obama just pardon them all, seeing how the power of the pardon is explicitly in the constitution. Why is this "crime" any worse than jaywalking? Do you want the cops to arrest every jaywalker and throw the book at them?
I would. And President Obama could pardon them all. You and I have very different ideas about illegal immigration. I see it as an extremely serious crime, and any illegal immigrant should be deported immediately. If they have children that are citizens, they can take them back with them or leave them. No matter.
The police chief decides it's a waste of time and not really for any good purpose to not arrest and prosecute jaywalkers. The chief and his policemen are not technically upholding the law. Obama is doing no less or more or worse, or whatever.
The police chief decides it's a waste of time and not really for any good purpose to not arrest and prosecute home invaders, squatters and forgers. The chief and his policemen are not technically upholding the law. Obama is doing no less or more or worse, or whatever.
The police try in a small fraction of cases. Obama is still going to try in a small fraction of cases. Or whatever.
This is a really dangerous precedent. Using an executive order not just to interpret and resolve wrinkles in existing legislation, but instead to effectively negate the law with respect to a broad class of people is a major assault on the separation of powers. The fact that he's doing something that is popular for progressives seemingly makes it okay with them for this power grab to occur. I wonder what the response would be if in 2016 a Republican were to be elected president, but the Democrats took back the Senate and the Republican president were to do something similar to undermine Obamacare. Say he came out and made an impassioned plea about how the existing law places an unfair burden on young people by forcing them to buy more expensive plans than their risk-level would warrant. He talks about how the law places restrictions on employers that are suppressing job creation to the detriment of the working class. And then say that he announces that he is issuing an executive order instructing the IRS not to enforce penalties against young people for refusing to sign up for Obamacare plans and, further, that he is exempting corporations from the penalties for failing to provide plans in compliance with the law. By executive order, he could effectively knock out the financial foundation of the law so that the whole thing implodes without ever getting Congress to repeal the thing. I see little, if any, difference in what Obama is doing here. I support immigration reforms and, with some adjustments to secure the borders so that we don't have on-going illegal immigration, would support what Obama proposed tonight. I think that he could have sold something like that to the new Congress by laying out the same points he did tonight and offering to work with them on a reasonable border security measure. Instead, he played this whole thing for political advantage....as usual.
When John Roberts cast the deciding vote in SCOTUS for Obamacare, he wrote, "elections have consequences." If it were up to me, Obama would work with the new congress to get something passed without resorting to pardon or promulgation. What Obama is doing is very good for millions of people, but it may not be the best solution for those people, nor does it fix any underlying problems with our immigration policies. Policies that both sides of the aisle seem to agree need to be fixed.
Hey, here are some words that mean absolutely nothing "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
I feel sorry for unskilled American citizens. They were already in trouble, now they have 5MM new competitors for scarce jobs. Most voted for Obama. Smart move.
It's unbelievable that people don't see how this shreds the Constitution. It's not about illegal immigration, it's about presidential power. Congress is now irrelevant. We now have an elected dictatorship.
Who started all this? Was it Bush back in 03 when he elected to invade Iraq without the support of the majority of the country and of course the Dems?
The future Latino vote. Those are a lot of anchor babies. Mostly, it's trolling his political opposition hoping to provoke them into a politically unwise response. I agree with Moe Lane on this one: https://twitter.com/moelane/status/535604081407311872?refsrc=email
Not like this but Bush acted unilaterally with the Iraq invasion. Which caused division and no doubt disgust by the dems. This President has spent his entire time being divisive and acting unilaterrally. And I'm just wondering if all this is their to what gone on the decade before.
