"with the stroke of a pen"

http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/a...Immigration%29



Obama urged to sign immigration reform order


AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama signs the health insurance reform bill as 11-year old Marcelas Owens of Seattle, Wash., looks on with Vice President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House.
The most powerful pen in the world belongs to a U.S. president.

Beyond signing landmark laws, such as the Civil Rights Act or health care reform, the president can with the stroke of a pen enact executive orders that have sweeping impact on all Americans.

It's with that unique power in mind that a coalition of immigrant and faith groups have announced this week the launch of the New York Immigration Coalition's "With the Stroke of a Pen" campaign.

Leaders of the campaign say they will send thousands of letters -- and pens -- to President Barack Obama so he can can take executive action "to move our nation toward a fairer and smarter immigration system."

Here's what the coalition of groups say about their campaign:

Under the Obama administration, deportations have reached an all time high, surpassing the records set by the Bush administration: nearly 400,000 people thus far this year, and the continued expansion of enlisting local law enforcement officers as immigration agents.

Despite the claims of the Department of Homeland Security, these broad-based enforcement tactics are as likely to target hard-working immigrants as those who pose a threat to public safety: a recent review of one such program, Secure Communities, found that 79% of those deported under the program either had no criminal record or only low-level offenses such as traffic violations.

The NYIC's pen campaign builds upon a campaign organized by civil rights leaders in 1962 to pressure President Kennedy to deliver on his promise to end housing discrimination. Then, civil rights leaders organized the "Ink for Jack" campaign and flooded the White House with pens, leading the President to sign the anti-discrimination policy.

Today, sponsors of the "With the Stroke of a Pen" campaign urge President Obama to take urgent administrative action to justly fix our broken immigration system.

executive orders can be overturned.

How many times has this been asked and answered.

Damn right OBAMA!

He should just do the DA EO for now.