Immigration

Dear Friends,

One thing that President Obama could do that would greatly improve his legacy is to take fast, bold executive action on immigration.  He put off taking executive action until after the elections which was a great disappointment to many of us.  Now the elections are over.  The only impediment to Congressional action on immigration reform is Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans.  The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill, but Speaker Boehner has refused to bring it to a vote in the House.  He has the votes to pass it, and it would quickly become law and then President Obama would not have to take executive action.  Unfortunately, immigration is not on the immediate agenda set forth by Speaker Boehner.  Indeed all that Speaker Boehner has to say about immigration reform is that President Obama will "poison the well" and burn himself if he takes action.  Not even a brief mention that immigration reform is anywhere on his agenda.

As the editorial board of The New York Times said in an editorial published yesterday about immigration reform (here), "Now the election is over, and the only thing to say to the president is: Do it. Take executive action. Make it big."  The editorial gives three major reasons for its position:  It honors the law, it helps the country and it cuts to the heart of the debate.

Those are all very good reasons but in my view the most important reason for stopping the unnecessary deportations is that it is the morally right thing to do.  Most of the people being deported are people who work hard and contribute to the society.  Deporting them and breaking up their families is immoral.  

Please join me in writing to President Obama (here) and urging him to act quickly and boldly.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal