{"id":1634,"date":"2015-01-23T13:55:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T18:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2015-01-23T13:55:07","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T18:55:07","slug":"the-impact-of-obamas-executive-action-on-immigration-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2015\/01\/23\/the-impact-of-obamas-executive-action-on-immigration-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The impact of Obama\u2019s executive action on immigration in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

By NICOLE POTTINGER – STAFF WRITER
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The United States, known as a \u201cmelting pot\u201d of ethnicities, races, and cultures, should theoretically have one of the strongest immigration policies of the Western world. However, in the three-branch structure of Congress, important pieces of legislature can be held up due to disagreements not only between the Senate and the House of Representatives, but also between Congress and the President. On Nov. 20, 2014, President Barack Obama publicly announced his use of executive action authority to offer legal status to illegal immigrants.\u00a0President Obama intends to increase accountability of immigrants using three primary actions: increasing security on illegal immigration at the border, deport felons rather than families, and to hold accountable undocumented immigrants by ensuring they pass a background check and pay taxes. <\/span><\/p>\n

This piece of legislature, namely the use of executive action, has been viewed as controversial by a number of major media outlets, including NBC, CBS, and FOX News. Pierce and Amelia Harrington Lively Professor of Politics and Law and Chair of the Politics Program Dr. Dan Stroup explained that it is important to keep everything in perspective. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the most dramatic use that\u2019s ever been made of executive power. Lincoln freed slaves as [an act of] executive order,\u201d Dr. Stroup said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Stroup explained that there is a \u201creal polarization\u201d on the question of immigration, and as of right now, \u201cthere is a sense that the system isn\u2019t working.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior Parker Lawson believes that Obama\u2019s use of executive action should not have been a surprise. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow I feel like President Obama has nothing to lose in his last two years in office, and he\u2019s starting to act on things that were resonant in his 2008 campaign, such as immigration,\u201d Lawson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the executive action taken by Obama is not the end-all-be-all of the immigration discussion in the American political sphere. There is a very real possibility that after the results of the midterm election, which gave Republicans a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, the discussion is just beginning. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the midterm elections suggest that there will be attempts to slow or halt the legislation put forth by the executive action\u201d Lawson said. \u201cWhether or not that will prove wholly successful remains to be seen.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Many news outlets are focusing their discussion on Obama\u2019s motivation for the use of executive action, rather than the policy itself. Assistant Professor of History Dr. Jonathon Earle feels that there are four main reasons for President Obama\u2019s use of executive action. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, the action was<\/span> politically self-serving. Latino voters have historically voted for the Democratic Party, so there is something to be said about being able to maintain political power. It is also a philosophical issue, because America is often seen as a nation of immigrants,\u201d Dr. Earle said. \u201c[Obama] is also doing this as a critique of congress and congress\u2019 unwillingness and reluctance to talk about immigration reform. Finally, the border challenges among youth that developed this past summer at the border of Texas and Mexico really raise the stakes regarding the issue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of the President\u2019s motivation, his action opens the door to further conversations regarding the nature of immigration in America. Dr. Stroup professed his concern regarding the way immigrants are labeled, and believes, \u201c\u2026we need to create new legal categories to cover people who don\u2019t really fit into any of the existing categories. They are people who have made contributions, and we need another legal status\/classification to regularize the relationship.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Lawson is more concerned about the impact these discussions will have on immigrants themselves. \u201cImmigration covers a broad variety of people, backgrounds, and to frame our conversation about immigration, we have to recognize the complexity and the tendency to cast immigration as a dualistic experience, either something that is great or something that is inherently evil,\u201d Lawson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Immigration is an important topic when it comes to not only the rights of people who reside in America, but also when election time rolls around. \u201cRepublican activists are increasingly aware that demographic trajectories are shifting, and if they\u2019re going to secure a presidential election, there has to be a similar shift in their political posture,\u201d Dr. Earle said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, it is important to recognize the impact President Obama\u2019s executive action has had on the topic of immigration. Only time will tell if the exact piece of legislation Obama passed will get enacted, but as for America\u2019s policy regarding immigration, many see this as a step in the right direction.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By NICOLE POTTINGER – STAFF WRITER The United States, known as a \u201cmelting pot\u201d of ethnicities, races, and cultures, should theoretically have one of the strongest immigration policies of the Western world. However, in the three-branch structure of Congress, important pieces of legislature can be held up due to disagreements not only between the Senate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}