New York Caribbean Institute says President Obama should implement immigration reform by executive action despite republican intransigence.
BROOKLYN: The nation’s immigration system is broken. There are over twelve million undocumented immigrants living in the US. An overwhelming majority has US born children, lead crime-free, productive lives and pay taxes. This includes millions of Caribbean and South American nationals. It is imperative that President Obama immediately implements bold, far-reaching and fair changes to the nation’s immigration policies. Under the Constitution he has extant authority, as head of the executive branch of government, to use prosecutorial discretion to prioritize and or defer deportations, and to issue employment authorization to eligible foreign nationals. Everyday that passes, thousands of hard-working, otherwise law abiding immigrants are deported for being out of status. Consequently, thousands of minor children are tempestuously separated from their parents and thousands of families are recklessly disbanded or destroyed without justification. It appears that immigrants who have lived here for an extended period as well as those with US born children are potential categories who will receive relief under the measures being contemplated by the White House, according to sources. This would be a win, win situation for the United States. Millions of families will remain united and millions of individuals will become tax payers. This will undoubtedly boost the US economy. A 2013 White House study showed that “Immigration Reform” would boost GDP by $1.4 trillion dollars.
Such relief will however be temporary. Ultimately, meaningful and permanent reform will have to be enacted via the legislative process. Republicans cannot hope to deport their way out of the nation’s immigration morass. Clearly extremist Republicans in Congress believe immigration reform would not be beneficial to the Republican Party. This is why they continue to refuse to put the bipartisan bill that was passed by the Senate to a simple up or down vote in the House and some Republican State and national leaders continue to make a plethora of racist comments about immigrants. There must therefore be massive, nation-wide mobilization to force Republicans in Congress to act. Republicans are protecting their political interest. President Obama must now act in the nation’s best interest.
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