Barack Obama Repeatedly Says: I Cannot Suspend Deportations Through Executive Order
It’s Hypocrisy Day here at Patterico, and having skewered Politico, it’s now Obama’s turn.
Jazz Shaw has an excellent post collecting some quotes from Barack Obama on his inability to unilaterally suspend deportations through executive order. I thought I would do a post that quotes these more extensively and adds one new quote to the list, to show what an utter hypocrite this guy is. This is a post you will want to bookmark for future reference, as you’ll see in a moment.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, temporary protective status historically has been used for special circumstances where you have immigrants to this country who are fleeing persecution in their countries, or there is some emergency situation in their native land that required them to come to the United States. So it would not be appropriate to use that just for a particular group that came here primarily, for example, because they were looking for economic opportunity.
With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed — and I know that everybody here at Bell is studying hard so you know that we’ve got three branches of government. Congress passes the law. The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws.
There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.
MES: But why the deportations? Why is it necessary?
PBO: But, but, well, because that’s the law that’s on the books right now. And the way our system works, the president doesn’t have the authority to simply ignore Congress and say, we’re not going to enforce the laws that you’ve passed. What we do have the ability to do, and what we have systematically done, is to use our administrative authority to prioritize and say, let’s not focus on Dream Act kids. Let’s not focus on a law-abiding family that is out there trying to, you know, make their way. Let’s focus on folks who are engaged in criminal activity. Let’s focus on those that are breaking laws not just immigration laws. And in fact you’ve seen a steady increase in the percentage of those who are deported who have committed crimes. Now I can’t, again, just wave away the laws the Congress has put in place.
THE PRESIDENT: I just have to continue to say this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true.
Now, what we can do is to prioritize enforcement, since there are limited enforcement resources, and say we’re not going to go chasing after this young man or anybody else who’s been acting responsibly and would otherwise qualify for legal status if the DREAM Act passed.
But we live in a democracy. You have to pass bills through the legislature, and then I can sign it. And if all the attention is focused away from the legislative process, then that is going to lead to a constant dead-end. We have to recognize how the system works, and then apply pressure to those places where votes can be gotten and, ultimately, we can get this thing solved.
But what I’ve said in the past remains true, which is until Congress passes a new law, then I am constrained in terms of what I am able to do. What I’ve done is to use my prosecutorial discretion, because you can’t enforce the laws across the board for 11 or 12 million people, there aren’t the resources there. What we’ve said is focus on folks who are engaged in criminal activity, focus on people who are engaged in gang activity. Do not focus on young people, who we’re calling dreamers, who are studying, grow up here, who through no fault of their own find themselves suddenly under the threat of deportation. That already stretched my administrative capacity very far. But I was confident that that was the right thing to do. But at a certain point the reason that these deportations are taking place is, Congress said, you have to enforce these laws. They fund the hiring of officials at the department that’s charged with enforcing. And I cannot ignore those laws anymore than I could ignore, you know, any of the other laws that are on the books.
For example, there are those in the immigrants’ rights community who have argued passionately that we should simply provide those who are [here] illegally with legal status, or at least ignore the laws on the books and put an end to deportation until we have better laws. And often this argument is framed in moral terms: Why should we punish people who are just trying to earn a living?
I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument, but I believe such an indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair. It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration. And it would also ignore the millions of people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally.
Ultimately, our nation, like all nations, has the right and obligation to control its borders and set laws for residency and citizenship. And no matter how decent they are, no matter their reasons, the 11 million who broke these laws should be held accountable.
And now, we have the New York Times this past Thursday:
WASHINGTON — President Obama will ignore angry protests from Republicans and announce as soon as next week a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration enforcement system that will protect up to five million unauthorized immigrants from the threat of deportation and provide many of them with work permits, according to administration officials who have direct knowledge of the plan.
(Oddly, no hint of the above quotes makes it into the article.)
If you like your Constitutional respect for separation of powers, you can keep it.
Ding.
Patterico (9c670f) — 11/17/2014 @ 7:40 amHis words cease having meaning the moment they pass over his lying lips.
JD (159494) — 11/17/2014 @ 7:51 amWell, he will likely be able to slide with suspending deportations. It’s been the de facto situation as long as he’s been in office, anyway.
Giving out work permits and social security cards will be immigration fraud. Just like any other guy printing out fake papers. And anyone who participates in it will be guilty. That’s what I would say to the DOJ and immigration services employees he orders to enable him in this, if I were the Republicans. And to the states and to employers. And mention the statute of limitations on federal prosecutions in passing.
nk (dbc370) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:09 ami find it awkward that this lying whore is in such a powerful position to where he’s able to impact the lives of normal real Americans
we need to review how this happened
happyfeet (a037ad) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:24 amThe New York Times said they were lobbying him with legal briefs saying he does have the power. (And apparently “Judge” Obama was finally convinced)
Paragraph 23 of the article you quoted says:
The wall sgtreet notes today in an editorial that apparently Obama did not ask the Department of Justice for an opinion, although he has asked for an opinion that he has the authroity to do something in far less problematical matters, usually dealing with foreign or militarypolicy.
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:30 amThis isn’t about immigration, it’s about imperial ambition.
If presidents can rule by decree what is to stop a President Paul from telling the IRS to ignore capital gains taxes?
Kevin M (3f9054) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:31 amhttp://online.wsj.com/articles/the-missing-immigration-memo-1416180669
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:34 amI for one am glad Obama is taking action on immigration. Because according to the ads for the website, I need to date Russian women. It says I can “find my next love” if I only “chat free now.”
Based upon the picture in the ad when I do find my next love, she’ll already have her dress off. She’s halfway out of it now. So I need to hurry.
And the last thing I’m going to need is problems with immigration.
Steve57 (c4b0b3) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:44 amImpeach him, then, and more power to you if you do. Power talks; talk walks.
Leviticus (f9a067) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:45 am6. Kevin M (3f9054) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:31 am
Nothing, especially if Paul declares that, in his judgement, he believes taxes on capital gains the law is either unconstitutional or not within the law – at least if he said capital gains taxrd are illegal if inflation is not taken into account.
Now there are two things that would prevent this from being used in other issues:
1) Whatever action was taken would not last beyond the term of the president who did it – and in the case of taxes, would still be owed.
2) Congress could put a variety of pressures on the president to reverse it.
This does not apply here.
Where this case differs is that political considerations would make this highly unlikely to be reversed, and any attempt to do so would split and maybe destroy the Republican Party.
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:46 amI said some time ago that this issue is somewhere between the Vietnam wWar and slavery. It is heading toward the situation slavery was in in the 1840s and 1850s – it will replace every other issue.
Obama and the activists are convinced they can win (the 2016 Presidential election for one thing) because of the humanitarian aspects – the public actually favors amnesty and opposes deportation – they only are stuck on this “condirion” of border control as a possible prerequisite. But that’s because they believe it’s possible to do more and Obama is prepared to say: “Hey, I’ll do everything you say on border control.”
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:47 amAbout ten years ago, this would have made a thrilling political novel.
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:48 amhttp://online.wsj.com/articles/obamas-immigration-temptation-1415750649
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:51 amJust out of curiosity, is anyone taking anything Prom Queen says seriously anymore?
I think you have to have gone to journalism school to be sufficiently dumbed down to where any of the words spilling out of his mouth kinda sorta make sense. But his proclamations about his legal authority as Preezy are in a category beyond the usual stupidity of his utterances. He’s got, what, 12 unanimous SCOTUS opinions slapping him down? That’s got to be record.
Steve57 (c4b0b3) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:53 amThink about this:
Twenty years from Now:
American history text books will talk about Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation…
And maybe Barack Obama and his Executive Order.
His portrait will be on the wall in countless homes…
And he can feel he did something.
Sammy Finkelman (ae0b12) — 11/17/2014 @ 8:53 amI don’t think legalizing millions of illegals is as simple, or as a popular, as Obama thinks. This story from Oregon seems instructive: Even as Oregon voters were legalizing recreational marijuana and expanding Democratic majorities in state government, they decided by a margin of 66-34 to cancel a new state law that would have provided driver’s licenses to people who are in the United States illegally….The state law had seemed to be popular. It easily passed last year with bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Legislature and was signed Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who was re-elected Nov. 4.
Opponents barely gathered enough signatures to put the repeal question on the ballot. Immigrant rights groups outspent their opponents 10-1.
Still, the measure failed in every county but the state’s most liberal one, Multnomah, home to Portland. Even there it trailed significantly behind other Democratic candidates and causes. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20141116/us-immigration-oregon-3fe495c4ab.html
Walter Cronanty (f48cd5) — 11/17/2014 @ 9:03 amOf course, Obama doesn’t care what the stupid bitter clingers think, because it’ll be a fait accompli before anyone can do anything about it. See, Obamacare: As the Affordable Care Act’s second open enrollment period begins, 37% of Americans say they approve of the law, one percentage point below the previous low in January. Fifty-six percent disapprove, the high in disapproval by one point. http://www.gallup.com/poll/179426/new-enrollment-period-starts-aca-approval.aspx
From Hot Air
“In his 2006 book, “The Audacity of Hope”, then Senator Barack Obama laid out the argument against illegal immigration:
“[T]here’s no denying that many blacks share the same anxieties as many whites about the wave of illegal immigration flooding our Southern border—a sense that what’s happening now is fundamentally different from what has gone on before.”
”Not all these fears are irrational,” he wrote.
“The number of immigrants added to the labor force every year is of a magnitude not seen in this country for over a century,” Obama noted. “If this huge influx of mostly low-skill workers provides some benefits to the economy as a whole—especially by keeping our workforce young, in contrast to an increasingly geriatric Europe and Japan—it also threatens to depress further the wages of blue-collar Americans and put strains on an already overburdened safety net.”
JD (285732) — 11/17/2014 @ 9:15 amAnother hysterical lying quote from Teh Won
“But then, let us not forget that this is the guy who condemned George W. Bush for his use of executive orders and executive overreach and promised not to do it if he were elected to the presidency:
“I taught constitutional law for ten years. I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that were facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all, and that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m President of the United States of America.”
JD (285732) — 11/17/2014 @ 9:20 amThis is actually something Barack Obama said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-defends-executive-authority-immigration/story?id=26949251
I didn’t make that up. It’s the kind of thing I would make up to mock Tiger Beat. Especially the last part about getting legal advice from a gun runner (is Kali State Senator Leland Yee on the short list to replace holder in case the chick from NYC doesn’t pass go?). But Tiger Beat got this bit of mendouchary in ahead of me.
Charles C. W. Cooke over at NRO called this “almost self-parody.” Almost?
Steve57 (c4b0b3) — 11/17/2014 @ 9:28 amHe hates not being an actual dictator. Democracy is beneath him.
JD (285732) — 11/17/2014 @ 9:32 amwe are not worthy…
redc1c4 (cf3b04) — 11/17/2014 @ 9:35 am16. http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2014/11/meet-jill-upson.html
DNF (7e0641) — 11/17/2014 @ 10:03 amR.I.P. Glen A. Larson, the creator of the television series Battlestar Galactica, Quincy, M.E., The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy, Magnum, P.I. and Knight Rider.
Icy (d5731d) — 11/17/2014 @ 10:04 amJD – That is pure CRAZY TALK even though Obama (or a ghost writer) penned it himself. The new Krugman/Finkelman Smart Take is that legalization will result in wages increasing, unemployment decreasing and solidification of our safety net programs.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 11/17/2014 @ 10:05 amDNF – Jill Upson does not appear to be an Authentic Black Woman.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 11/17/2014 @ 10:09 amI read the article. Jill Upson absolutely reeks of white privilege.
She’s nowhere near as black as Bill Clinton.
Steve57 (c4b0b3) — 11/17/2014 @ 10:30 amYou want comprehensive immigration reform? Here it is:
1. Announce that all illegal immigrants who leave the country within 6 months can take all their accumulated property with them and have no obligations outstanding.
2. Any illegals still in the country after the deadline will forfeit all property, be subject to incarceration, and be required to repay all money and benefits received from the federal or state governments, plus be required to satisfy any outstanding criminal or civil liabilities.
3. After the deadline, any illegal found to be in possession of a concealed weapon or of false identification will be subject to incarceration for a period of 5 years to 15 years and then be deported.
4. Any citizen who identifies an illegal still in the US after the deadline will receive a $10,00 cash award and be allocated 75% of the value of said illegal’s property, the remaining value to be split between federal and state government.
ropelight (fc6fbb) — 11/17/2014 @ 1:16 pm15-Sammy
mg (31009b) — 11/17/2014 @ 1:48 pmNothing says obama worship more than having your house wallpapered with prezzy s.f.b.
So, Sammy, do you think that anything a president isn’t impeached for is legal, if not laudable?
Kevin M (d91a9f) — 11/17/2014 @ 2:06 pmJust because someone says something doesn’t make it true! When a republican says he she it is not racist that doesn’t mean they are not a racist! The president does have the legal power to amnesty and pardon it is in the constitution just like when bed time for bonzo did it!
rank and file progressive (5a8a4e) — 11/17/2014 @ 3:56 pmYes, Perry, we all remember when “bed time for bonzo” did an end run around Congress and used executive action to amnesty millions of illegal aliens.
Just when Gruber seemed to lower the bar to impossible levels in the category of “How can progressives make complete idiots of themselves while trying and epically failing to ridicule other people’s stupidity” along comes Perry to demonstrate we haven’t seen anything yet.
The forecast for the next two years? Blustering a$$-hattery out of the east at five to ten miles an hour, with large drifts of stupidity piling up in some areas to depths of 10 to 12 feet, with a with a very progressive wintery mix of towering self-unawareness, arrogance and sheer idiocy on and off throughout the remainder of the Obama presidency.
Steve57 (c4b0b3) — 11/17/2014 @ 4:45 pmDon’t know if you caught the transcript of Rush Limbaugh’s show from 11/13:
http://tinyurl.com/nxtazoz
He posits that the “surge of unaccompanied minors” from this summer (they were Other Than Mexicans, remember, and the USA has a specific policy NOT to deport them) means that THE PARENTS WILL BE AUTHORIZED TO COME HERE IN ORDER TO “REUNITE” THEIR FAMILIES. Because it’s the “humanitarian” thing to do, natch.
Rush also notes that there’s NO WAY this massive influx of UAC’s (unaccompanied children) could have “just happened to happen”; too many beyond-the-realm-of-coincidence things occurred:
(1) US Govt agencies put out requests for bids to handle a huge influx of minor children last January.
(2) Mexico –which has QUITE stringent sanctions on aliens who cross ITS southern border– for some unknown reason just waved the thousands of children coming from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, etc., right on through to the US border
(3) There’s no way the loving parents of 50- to 60- thousand children would risk letting them take a “45-day trek through hell” as Rush describes the trip to our border, unless there was some SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT to doing so
(4) Biden has just this last week been down to Guatemala; one thing he mentioned was sort-of-the-inverse of Rush’s supposition: He was saying that if PARENTS are here, legally, the US would allow their unmarried minor children to join them here. (A different flavor of “Reunite the Families”.)
No, we don’t yet have verification that this is what our Post-American President intends to do, but it certainly sounds plausible.
Since everything Choom-Dude has done so far seems to be in accordance with the Cloward-Piven Strategy, I’ll assume the worst here, too.
A_Nonny_Mouse (22e55b) — 11/17/2014 @ 5:24 pmAmnesty is Obama’s Zelaya gambit.
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id badges (f920a6) — 11/20/2014 @ 6:22 am