By enacting an executive order to suspend the deportation of at least 800,000 young people – mostly brought illegally into the United States as children – President Barack Obama has endeared himself to hundreds of thousands of Latino voters who could be crucial to his reelection in key states such as Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado.
Aside from the obvious political expediency of this move, Obama should be praised for taking an important step to resolve a clearly inhumane situation over which Congress has repeatedly dragged its feet.
“These are young people who study in our schools, play in our neighborhoods, are friends with our kids, who pledge allegiance to our flag,” said President Obama. “They are Americans in their hearts and minds and in every single way but one: on paper.”
A watered-down version of the DREAM Act that Congress failed to pass in 2010, the executive order gives qualifying people aged from 16 to 30 a two-year deferral on deportation and the chance to apply for a work permit. It does not open the door to citizenship – something only Congress can decide.
This means – in the short-term, at least – that thousands of young people of Mexican and Latin American heritage will no longer have to worry about going back to countries they barely know or, in many cases, do not speak the language well.
Critics of Obama’s bold move argue that bypassing Congress might do more harm than good and hinder the task of finding a comprehensive, long-term solution to America’s immigration problem.
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