Government by Waiver—Immigration Edition

Published June 28, 2011 6:49pm ET



By now it is well known that President Obama’s big government model disproportionately relies on “waivers” to exempt certain companies and unions—disproportionately located in friendly political districts—from the generally applicable requirements of Obamacare. Whether or not the president’s new “government by waiver” effort is unconstitutional—as law professor Philip Hamburger argues—it certainly is pernicious. As professor Richard Epstein urged in his excellent National Affairs essay, “government by waiver” is “among the most serious challenges to the rule of law in our time.”

Until now, President Obama’s abuse of discretion has been largely limited (at least in public debate) to the infamous Obamacare waivers. But no longer. Fox News reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is promoting its own version of government by waiver, with respect to the enforcement of immigration laws.  

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