 |
| 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."
إرسال تعليق