The DREAM act and its impact on the 2012 election.

[LSN80]

What is the DREAM act, you ask? Good question. Let me explain.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/...ecision-legalize-young-illegal-165949610.html

The Dreamers are young people who were brought into the country illegally or overstayed their Visas. Under the DREAM act, permanent residency would be granted to a select group who met a certain criteria. In immigration law, there is a "good moral character" clause that all immigrants must abide by in order to stay in the country. The essence of it is that they must have a criminal record free from felonies, cannot earn their income through "questionable" behavior(gambling and pornography being chief among them), and cannot be an alcoholic or an addict. The bill also legislates that the "Dreamer" must be under 30 years of age, have been brought to the U.S. illegally as a minor, graduated from a U.S. high school, and have lived in the U.S. continuously for 5 years prior to the Bill's enactment. The Bill allows them to apply for temporary residency for 6 years, during which said period the Dreamer must complete at least 2 years of education at a school of higher learning, or serve 2 years in the military, and if discharged, it must be honorably.

This Bill was passed in the House in 2010, but was blocked by the Senate. Last week, however, President Obama passed a version of the Bill on his own. Obama explained his decision on Friday:

"They are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one--on paper. This does not provide them a path to citizenship and is not amnesty."

But if this Bill was blocked in the Senate, how can President Obama, who has been highly criticized during his first term for "ramping up" deportations of illegal immigrants, pass it himself? Prosecutorial discretion, which allows an officer of the law, in this case the President, to decide how to pursue charges against someone on a case by case basis. In this case, Obama is choosing to block deportation of the Dreamers who meet the above criteria. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolino explains further:

"Our Nation's immigration laws must be enforced in a strong and sensible manner. They are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Indeed, many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways. Prosecutorial discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here."

If nothing else, the timing of this being passed by President Obama is suspect. Obama has been heavily criticized by the Hispanic population in the United States for failing to deliver on previous campaign promises to pass a comprehensive immigration reform, and also for an overall increase in deportations during his first term. The DREAM act is a fairly comprehensive immigration policy, and a favorable one at that. In a recent poll taken, 87% of Latino voters said they support the legalization of young immigrants, so this Bill can't do anything but increase Obama support amongst the Hispanic community.

How did Mitt Romney respond to this? In an interview done with Fox News yesterday, Romney didn't give a definitive answer regarding the DREAM act. It was Senate Republicans who squashed this Bill back in 2010, but Romney didn't commit when asked if he would rescind this Bill upon taking office if elected during an appearance on FoxNews yesterday:

"You know, we will see kind of what the calendar looks like at that point and I am not going to tell which items will come first, second, or third. What I can tell you is that those people who come here by virtue of their parents bringing them here, who came in illegally, that’s something I don’t want to football with as a political matter."

FoxNews anchor Carl Cameron, who conducted the interview, pressed Romney further on the issue. He inquired of the Republican hopeful as to why he is forthright in that he will repeal Obama-care, but non-committal regarding this Bill. Romney replied:

"Well, when we talk about illegal immigration I think I want to start by saying we need to secure the border, we’ve got to have an employment verification system, and then with regards to these children who came here brought in by their parents who came in here illegally, how we deal with them is something I think that deserves a long term solution and I don’t think we go jumping from one solution to the other. The president I think made a mistake by putting out there what he called a stop-gap measure; I think that’s not the right way to go. I’m not going to be looking for stop gap-measures; I’m going to be looking for a permanent or a long-term solution that’s something I will start on day one. Actually, as soon as I get elected hopefully, I will start working on this issue and hopefully be ready to go immediately."

So it seems Romney is more critical of how Obama passed this measure, rather then the passing of this measure itself, at least in his response. He did add that the President's decision will make it more difficult to reach a long term solution. Major opponents to this Bill have stated that they believe the bill will encourage more immigrants to ome to the country illegally. Supporters of the bill say it allows those who were brought up in America illegally through no fault of their own to remain here and become full members of society. Republicans in Congress have been vocally critical of this, stating that this is a presidential overreach. Lindsay Graham, who is one of the few House Republicans to support immigration reform, said the following:

"This decision avoids dealing with Congress and the American people instead of fixing a broken immigration system once and for all".

I believe this to be an interesting topic, and a story I'm eager to see how it's played out, especially come election time.

Do you support or oppose the DREAM act? Why?

Do you believe Obama overstepped his authority in passing this Bill, despite it's previous denial in the Senate?

Will this ultimately help or hurt President Obama come election time?

Any other thoughts or discussion on the story are more then welcome.

 

[klunderbunker]

This is one of those situations that isn't pleasant but something had to be done. It's very clear that Republicans flat out are not going to let ANYTHING that Obama supports pass through Congress at least until after the elections. They've shattered records for most filibusters on pretty much anything other than naming post offices and seem to be trying to make sure that things go through as slowly as possible.

That being said, no Obama did not overstep his authority. This is something that he has the legal right to do as President, no matter how much the GOP doesn't like it. Bush did a lot of things as President that were unpopular but that he had every legal right to do. This is a very common thing and no it isn't overstepping authority.

As for the DREAM Act, I'm not sure if I support it or not. On one hand, Obama is absolutely right: a lot of the people these changes affect have lived here for the majority of their lives, are beneficial to their communities, and are causing no problems for us. They had no say in coming here and didn't willingly break any laws.

That being said, they are in fact here illegally. At the end of the day, it's hard to validate changing the laws to accommodate people because there are so many of them that broke the law that the laws can't be enforced. I think I'm ok with the DREAM Act though, because it isn't amnesty and it isn't a get out of jail free card. It's laying down ground rules for how to earn something. How many times did your parents say you could work off a debt to them when you were young? I'm ok with people that are in trouble through no fault of their own having to earn their way out of trouble, so yeah I guess I could say I support the DREAM Act.

There's almost no way this hurts him. People that are offended by this weren't going to vote for him in the first place. From the other perspective, the Latino population in this country is over 50 million people, or about 16%. At the end of the day, offering a large amount of those people a path to citizenship while the GOP is known as the old white people party is going to give you a boost.

 

[Mustang Sally]

....have been brought to the U.S. illegally as a minor

.... a lot of the people these changes affect have lived here for the majority of their lives, are beneficial to their communities, and are causing no problems for us. They had no say in coming here and didn't willingly break any laws.

That's the key; these folks didn't make the decision to illegally enter the U.S.; their parents or whomever was taking care of them did. The Republicans needn't worry; there are still tons of other people to deport and the President is well within his authority to do this, whether we agree or not.

I'm still bothered by the Republicans opposition to every-damn-thing Obama proposes. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner, has gone on record saying he plans to oppose every measure put forth by the Democrats .....which, presumably, includes initiatives that would benefit the country as a whole. Yes, you can argue that Democrats oppose Republican initiatives too, and you'd be right.....but it seems the balance to these measures is completely out of whack. Obama and his party can't paint a bathroom in the White House and not get clobbered for it by Congress.

Meanwhile, the immigration problem simmers on. The Dream Act is but one small fix in the logjam of figuring whom to throw the hell out of the country. At least those people it encompasses are blameless; which makes it more palatable.

Isn't it something that, while a good portion of the people in the world detest the U.S., they've always swarmed to us in droves to escape the oppression of their own countries? Many of them are fierce nationalists when living in their native land, yet run to our shores in order to live free.

Ironic, that.

 

[AndThat'sTheBottomLine]

I've never been a fan of Obama but I do support this. These people didn't ask to come here they were brought here not knowing what was going on. The Democrats and the Republicans are going to oppose each other no matter what the bill is. I don't think he overstepped his bounds. There's not much a President can do without Congress over turning it so it is nice to see that the President has the ability to do something. Now if only it was a different president........