Immigration Executive Order Rumored For Next Week

Obama is considering an executive order,
Republicans are outraged, and immigration
advocates just want to see some movement
on reform.
Image:  Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

Rumors are flying fast around an executive order President Obama could pass as early as next week that would make significant changes to current US immigration policies.

According to reports from media outlets including the New York Times and Fox News, the order would prevent as many as 5 million people from being deported by allowing the parents of children who are American citizens stay in the country and enter the workforce.  In addition, the order would likely include expanding opportunities for immigrants with high-tech skills and increasing border security.

As for more specific details and legal ramifications, the Obama administration is still in talks.  White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest did confirm on Thursday that Obama met with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who will draft the official proposal for Obama’s approval.

Republicans, who will soon control both the House and the Senate, were upset by the rumors and immediately sprang into action.  Representative Matt Salmon, R-AZ, began circulating a petition to prevent the upcoming budget bill from including funding for any work permits or green cards.

Others, such as Senator John McCain, R-AZ, were more concerned with the idea of Obama using an executive order.  "If the president really wants immigration reform, he should know, that if he acts by executive order, it will be a tremendously serious blow to accomplishing it,” said McCain, who was the lead GOP negotiator of the bipartisan 2013 “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, long stalled in the House.

Immigrant rights advocates, for their part, seem to just want the back and forth to end with some real legal movement.  “We need less leaks and more action from within the White House,” said Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.  “As far as we’re concerned, the rumors reported in the Times and by Fox change nothing. They are rumors."