Tuesday, April 15, 2014
As Deportations Top 2 Million, Should Activists Push for Executive Order or Congressional Action?
Democracy Now! reports that protesters took to the streets in more than 60 cities a week ago last on Saturday to call on President Obama to stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Some marked it as the date when the Obama administration likely reached its two millionth deportation. This comes as The New York Times reports that two-thirds of those deported under Obama had committed minor infractions, such as traffic violations, or had no criminal record at all. More than 5,000 children whose parents were removed from the country have ended up in foster care. But some activists say presidential action on deportations is not enough. They are focused instead on the passage of a bill in Congress that includes a path to citizenship.
The video shows a debate on this question: Should the immigrant rights movement push Obama to take executive action to immediately stop deportations, or should the focus remain on pressuring Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill? The two debaters are Pablo Alvarado, president of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and David Leopold, former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
KJ
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2014/04/as-deportations-top-2-million-should-activists-push-for-executive-order-or-congressional-action.html
Comments
Robert, I tend to agree with you about governmental concern with the numbers of Filipinos who might be eligible for TPS.
Posted by: Immigration Prof | Apr 15, 2014 8:50:41 AM
Granting the Philippine Government's request for TPS would be a step in the right direction. No rational explanation for the delays. Initially, I thought that the US government was using TPS as a bargaining chip in their efforts to reach certain military and security agreements with the Philippines, but those agreements were concluded last week. I'm now thinking that the U.S. Government is just freaked by the potential numbers of Filipino TPS beneficiaries.
Posted by: Robert Gard | Apr 15, 2014 8:00:15 AM