In response to Congress’ inaction towards immigration, President Obama issued a series of executive actions designed to reform the current immigration system. The president makes himself very clear: he will not back down on immigration.
The president’s executive actions contain many reforms. They include strengthening border security to ensure no more illegal immigration takes place over the border, deporting felons that have illegally crossed into the United States, and reducing immigration barriers to encourage legal immigrants to enter the country.
The president’s recent implementation of these laws has been greeted with disapproval from Republicans across the country. Many Republicans do not disagree with the actual immigration reform, but rather with the manner in which the president passed them. In fact, in a poll conducted by the New York Times, 72% of Republicans desire a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants as long as it comes with requirements. This is only eleven percent away from the eighty-three percent of Democrats who would like to see the same thing. Despite these numbers indicating clear support for the reforms among Republicans, there is still dissent and disapproval of President Obama’s executive actions. In an NBC poll asking whether voters supported or disagreed with President Obama’s executive actions, only eleven percent of Republicans supported his actions, while thirty-seven percent of Independents and sixty-three percent of Democrats voiced support for the president.
Many of these critics label the president’s executive actions as too partisan, believing that his unilateral passing of these reforms alienates his Congressional counterparts.
“Obama’s decisions to act on his own on immigration and other issues make bipartisan cooperation in Congress impossible,” states Albert Wu ’18.
Some Republicans, like Senator Ted Cruz, go so far to say that the president’s recent executive actions resemble the behavior of a monarch. Brandon Lu ’18, argues against this claim: “What he is doing is legal; it is not unconstitutional. Besides, Congress can’t seem to pass anything, so he is simply trying to pass laws without the gridlock in Congress standing in his way.”
In response to his critics, the president says that he has tried to work with Congress, but the polarization in Congress prevents any new essential legislation from being passed. He believed that the issue of immigration would become a costly one if inaction was allowed to continue. Therefore, he took action on it. Nevertheless, the president says he still welcomes Congressional cooperation if the members of Congress would be willing to compromise.