President Obama is facing another immigration dilemma exacerbated by his efforts to spare up to 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation: how to address the roughly 6 million who were not covered by his executive action.
Soon after he announced his unilateral move, the most sweeping overhaul to the immigration system in decades, Obama heard complaints from immigration rights advocates that he hadn’t gone far enough. They urged him to grant protections to millions of additional illegal immigrants.
That isn’t so simple for the White House, which already is being accused by conservatives of extending benefits to those who don’t even qualify for a deportation deferral. And if deportations plummet among those not covered by his executive action, Republicans will have even more ammunition to argue Obama is ignoring laws.
While trying to find the middle ground on the contentious issue, Obama is in danger of simultaneously angering the far Left and far Right.
Both sides of the debate have already established battle lines.
“I think there’s a reason you’ve heard so many of us call this a ‘first step,’” said one immigration rights advocate who has met numerous times with White House officials. “If legislation fails, there’s still plenty left for the president to do on his own. He deserves credit for what he’s done, but the job is not finished — and we’re going to make sure that’s not forgotten.”
That political reality played out not long after Obama announced his immigration plan.
Championing the reforms at an event in Chicago in late November, Obama was heckled by immigration activists who accused him of deporting too many people.
“The way the change in the law works is that we’re re-prioritizing how we enforce our immigration laws generally,” Obama replied. “So not everybody qualifies for being able to sign up and register, but the change in priorities applies to everybody.”
Obama’s answer immediately set off alarm bells for Republicans.
Obama’s action “only encouraged more people to come here illegally, and [puts] their lives at risk,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “ We saw the humanitarian crisis at our border last summer, how horrific it was. Well, next summer it could be worse. And this action also punishes those who have obeyed the law and have waited their turn.”
Conservatives argue that the administration has already started ignoring illegal border crossings.
Of the 30,467 families and unaccompanied children caught between July and October, only 22 percent of their cases have been completed, according to documents obtained by KPRC in Houston. The news organization also found that of the 15,614 families caught but not detained, just 4,197 have been ordered removed from the U.S.
The administration counters that it is simply reallocating resources to ensure the most hardened criminals are removed from the country.
But deportations are expected to decrease even more in the wake of Obama’s action.
The president also eliminated the Secure Communities program, in which the fingerprints of all inmates in local prisons were shared with the federal government. Once the prints were identified, Immigration and Customs Enforcement would ask local police to keep the illegal immigrants in custody for transfer to federal prison.
Two dozen states have filed a lawsuit to block Obama’s immigration order, and Republicans are vowing to roll it back with a funding fight for the Department of Homeland Security in February.
Even if Obama wins that argument, he still will be pressured to address the millions of illegal immigrants who say they’re stuck in limbo.
Since Obama’s plan was announced, demographers have worked to identify the people who have no new legal protections in 2015.
The Pew Research Center found that 85 percent of illegal immigrants not covered by Obama’s executive action have lived in the United States for five years or more. Most of those granted deportation relief have children who are citizens or legal residents and have lived in the country since Jan. 1, 2010.
Pew also found that 73 percent of those not covered by Obama’s executive action are employed.
Such data is why immigration advocates are pledging to pressure the White House for additional executive action.
A recent Latino Decisions poll of Hispanic voters nationwide found that 73 percent of respondents said they wanted to see additional executive action from Obama to “protect the remaining undocumented immigrant workers.”
“There has to be more relief,” the veteran immigrant-rights leader told the Washington Examiner. “We’re not going to stop until we get it. I can promise you that.”
