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Monday, September 22, 2014

OBAMA AND IMMIGRATION: HIGH HOPES, A MIXED RECORD

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- There were about 30, all Mexican nationals desperate to avoid deportations that would separate them from their families. Living in Illinois, they appealed for help from their new U.S. senator, Barack Obama.
He turned them down.
It was one of the first times Obama could have used the power of his office to help defer the removal of immigrants who were in the United States illegally. Eight years later, with his powers magnified as president, such a decision is upon him again, this time with the status of millions of immigrants at stake.

-In 2012, as he campaigned for re-election, his administration announced a plan to defer deportation for certain immigrants who entered the country illegally as children. Since then, the program has deferred deportation and provided work permits for nearly 600,000 immigrants.

-He backed bipartisan comprehensive immigration legislation passed in the Senate in 2013 and held out hope the Republican-controlled House would follow. This past June, Obama was finally convinced the House would not vote, and he promised to act on his own shortly after summer's end.

This month, Obama decided to wait until after the elections, saying he worried his actions would be undermined by campaign politics and damage any prospects of future legislation.
For Obama's executive actions to be embraced by Latino and immigrant advocates, Murguia said, the number of people helped must far surpass the number of deportations under his administration - 2 million-plus, already.
"If he does 3 million or less, then years from now it could be said he deported as many people as he protected," Murguia said.
White House officials caution that without a change in the law, Obama's actions are limited.
"Whatever we do is going to be imperfect," Palmieri said, "and is not going to be as big as we need."

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