White House pursuing plan to expand immigrant rights

freshh. · 07-26-2014, 10:17 AM

This article makes it seem like the EO will be either parents of USC minor children or parents of DACA beneficiaries. I've not seen that anywhere else, so take this with a grain of salt.

Quote:

Even as President Obama grapples with the crisis of immigrant children arriving at the Southwest border, White House officials are laying the groundwork for a large-scale expansion of immigrant rights that would come by executive action within weeks.

Officials signaled strongly Friday that Obama's move would shield from deportation large numbers of immigrants living in the country illegally, as advocacy groups have demanded.

Roughly 5 million of the estimated 11 million people who entered the country without legal authorization or overstayed their visas could be protected under a leading option the White House is considering, according to officials who discussed the proposals on condition of anonymity.

Obama said last month that because Congress had failed to act on comprehensive immigration reform, he would take executive action to "fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own."

That move will come by the end of the summer, White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer told reporters Friday. Some officials had advocated waiting until after the November midterm election.

Any such move would prompt a major clash with congressional Republicans, and at least some White House officials appeared to relish the prospect that the GOP might overreach in its response and act in a politically self-destructive manner.

When the decision is announced, it will "increase the angry reactions from Republicans," Pfeiffer said.

"I would not discount the possibility" that Republicans would seek to impeach Obama over his next immigration moves, he said, adding that House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) had "opened the door to impeachment" by his plans to sue Obama for allegedly exceeding his executive authority.

Pfeiffer made his comments at a breakfast for reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Boehner repeatedly has ruled out calls for impeachment proceedings, and his lawsuit against Obama has been widely seen as an effort to provide an alternative for Republicans infuriated by what they see as too much unilateral action by the president.

But the open references to impeachment at the White House on Friday suggest that administration officials are trying to shape the political battleground in advance — portraying Republicans as obstructionist before launching a broad-sweeping executive action on a front where conservative sensitivities are particularly keen: immigration policy.

The White House is entertaining a range of possibilities that would speed up deportations in some cases but forestall them in many others.

Obama could use his executive powers to expedite deportations in response to the current border crisis, in an effort to clear the large numbers of unaccompanied minors gathering daily in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas.

At the same time, he seems likely to act to prevent deportations of many of the immigrants already living, working and raising children in the U.S.

One option would allow immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens to apply for temporary legal status which would let them work legally in the U.S. Because children born in the country automatically receive U.S. citizenship, that option could affect about 5 million people, researchers estimate.

A second option would be to allow temporary legal status for the parents of young people already granted deportation deferrals by the Obama administration. That would affect a smaller, but still sizable, number of people.

So far, more than 520,000 people have received permits to stay and work in the U.S. under the administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created in 2012 for young people who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Leading Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, already have called for ending the deferred action program, and any move to expand it by including parents would be certain to draw a furious response from conservatives.

Wary of the president's potential course of action, Republicans were both irritated by Pfeiffer's threat and critical of what they saw as an effort to stir up Democratic voters and financial donors.

The campaign arm of the House Democratic leadership began a fundraising drive featuring Pfeiffer's impeachment forecast within hours of his making it.

"We have a humanitarian crisis at our border, and the White House is making matters worse with inattention and mixed signals," said Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel.

"It is telling, and sad, that a senior White House official is focused on political games, rather than helping these kids and securing the border," he said.

Source

Ianus · 07-26-2014, 01:41 PM

There appears to be some effort by the White House to lay the groundwork for something. According to Immigration-law.com:

Quote:

Without much publicity, there have been some developments in the USCIS leadership structure along with the new Director. The new Chief of Staff is Juliet K. Choi and the new Chief Counsel is Ur Mendoza Jaddou. The Chief of Staff appears to have served at the HHS Civil Right Division along with the current USCIS Director. The post of Chief Counsel has been vacant for quite a while and the new Director appointed Ms. Jaddou to assist him with the legal counsel. These changes may not bring with it any noticeable changes in management and policy of the USCIS, but along the way, the agency may witness some changes. We want to see some development towards more "open government" and active dialogue and feedback with consumers under the new leadership.

Why implement a new USCIS Chief of Councel now? USCIS seems to have functioned just fine without.

freshh. · 07-26-2014, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ianus

There appears to be some effort by the White House to lay the groundwork for something. According to Immigration-law.com:

Why implement a new USCIS Chief of Councel now? USCIS seems to have functioned just fine without.

I think you're right, Ianus. They are prepping for something and I think they have realized at least at the first of this year that the House would not take up immigration reform, much less the Senate bill.

I honestly think he's going to make the announcement while Congress is on recess in August. But, now we're hearing the end of Summer, which is in September.

IamAman · 07-26-2014, 03:17 PM

Whelp, it looks like the only way I'll get any kind of legal relief is to make an anchor baby.

vivace · 07-26-2014, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamAman

Whelp, it looks like the only way I'll get any kind of legal relief is to make an anchor baby.

Get on OkCupid and find a USC wife.

Nycgal111 · 07-26-2014, 03:46 PM

That's pretty dumb. That's gonna encourage a lot of idiots to breed. Like we don't have enough unfit parents.

g33k · 07-26-2014, 04:02 PM

We should breed among ourselves...

dtrt09 · 07-26-2014, 04:22 PM

Quote:

That move will come by the end of the summer, White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer told reporters Friday. Some officials had advocated waiting until after the November midterm election.

Any such move would prompt a major clash with congressional Republicans, and at least some White House officials appeared to relish the prospect that the GOP might overreach in its response and act in a politically self-destructive manner.

The campaign arm of the House Democratic leadership began a fundraising drive featuring Pfeiffer's impeachment forecast within hours of his making it.

The senior advisors to the Pres. on immigration are this idiot, Valerie Jarrett and Cecilia Munoz. Which of these three was the one cheering for more deportations by waiting until November??

Afraid about impeachment...yeah, right.

dtrt09 · 07-26-2014, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nycgal111

That's pretty dumb. That's gonna encourage a lot of idiots to breed. Like we don't have enough unfit parents.

I am a woman, progressive, advocate for women's health and women's rights; however, there are A LOT of irresponsible immigrant women who as soon as they arrive will have unprotected intercourse with the first horndog who smiles sweetly at them. 40 wks later, unplanned child arrives to unwed mother who doesn't have ANY resources. FOB (father of baby) gone AWOL because he only wanted sex, not a baby.

A year later, repeat the cycle above with a different man. I worked in healthcare; I witnessed it. The nutters are right on this one. I think politicians take for granted immigrants' beliefs; we are progressive, but believe in personal responsibility, too. The Republicans downfall is their racism.

Public health is also very much an issue at stake because *everyone* should be mandated, regardless of immigration status, to be screened for communicable diseases and vaccinated. All of the immigrant men who cannot keep it their pants, and gone awol after fathering children, should be tracked down by ICE and forced to assume their responsibility to their children.

Wait, DACA didn't require a health screening... permanent residents need to submit to this and for everyone's benefit, we have to do this, too.

Pianoswithoutfaith · 07-27-2014, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtrt09

Wait, DACA didn't require a health screening...

Yeah because DACA kids just, like the week before DACA was announce have just gotten here to the state. Nevermind the hospital bills and such most dacers used for their packages or anything like that

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White House pursuing plan to expand immigrant rights