Executive action essential for current and future immigration reform

When President Obama finally announced his policy reforms on immigration, there was no better feeling than seeing my 70-year-old mother thrilled that she would likely be one of the estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants who would qualify.

Earlier this week, instead of responding with legislation to replace the president’s action, Republicans voted to block the implementation of the executive order. If the 50-plus votes to repeal ObamaCare are any indication, this will not be the last time they attack immigration reform.

{mosads}Obama’s decision to flex more executive authority in the arena of prosecutorial discretion establishes an energetic model for future presidents to act on immigration when the mechanics — procedure, bipartisanship, leadership — that enable Congress to legislate degenerate and crumble; despite the backing of Republican and Democratic presidents and a broad coalition of the American people over the past decade, Congress hasn’t had the ability to pass legislation.

This Congress continues to be the least productive in history, failing to respond to the country’s most pressing challenges, barely able to keep the government’s lights on.

Of course, the Framers did not envision Congress to act with the speed of light; however, they certainly did not envision a complete breakdown of legislative responsibilities, resulting in damage to our economy (the delay in passing immigration legislation cost us $37 million per day) or damage to our values as a nation of immigrants.

Today, we see families broken apart by an arbitrary deportation machine that undermines our national security, keeping millions of people in the shadows. Executive action is not only warranted, but critical to keep our nation competitive and stable in this century.

Now Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are both capable leaders with the potential to move the needle to pass legislation through their chambers. Nevertheless, their unwillingness to stand up to the one or two fringe voices of their party has blunted any effort within the GOP conference.

Republican threats of a shutdown are undermining potential legislation next year, as are threats of impeachment and lawsuits on the president’s constitutional power. “I would not take a shutdown off the table,” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). “To me a constitutional question means that we have the option of impeachment,” said Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

Unlike members of Congress, the president of the United States is the duly elected representative of the entire country. As such, he or she has a mandate to act on behalf of the national interest when Congress cannot address a pressing need.

Obama has a long-established precedent of modern presidents having acted on immigration, such as President Reagan’s use of prosecutorial discretion to avoid splitting up families after the passage of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Significantly, enforcement of immigration laws must comply with the U.S. Constitution, regardless of what Congress dictates. The recent executive order will make some changes to a broken immigration system that deported over 2 million people, including 72,000 deportations of parents with U.S.-born children, which resulted in local police violating people’s Fourth Amendment constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizures with programs like Secure Communities (SCOMM).

There is criticism from the right, clamoring that Obama acted arbitrarily in violation of the laws. However, “the Immigration and Nationality Act and other laws are chock-full of huge grants of statutory authority to the [p]resident. Congress gave the [p]resident all these powers, and now they are upset because he wants to use them. Other [p]residents have used the same authority in the past without an outcry,” stated retired Lt. Col. Margaret Stock, an immigration law expert and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient.

“It’s not that it’s a long shot. I think it’s a no shot,” said American University law professor Steve Vladeck of the chances of the GOP getting an immigration executive order declared unconstitutional.

Indeed, the president hasn’t even acted broadly as Republicans claim. Two Arizona Dreamers — undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children — interrupted Obama last month in Las Vegas, asking him why he had left their mothers out of the order. While parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents would receive deportation relief, parents of Dreamers were excluded on political grounds.

Executive action will be a bold break from the bogged-down politics we’ve been suffering through, and that is something the public will accept as they see government work again.

Congress’s failure to legislate not only required President Obama to act this year, but will also warrant further executive action in 2015 and beyond. Now this is one of those instances where I hope fate — and Congress — can prove me wrong.

Vargas is codirector of the DREAM Action Coalition and a national activist for immigration reform.