Chronology of recent news about Executive Orders to come
Two days ago, Fox News predicted that the Obama Administration will soon issue a 10 point plan for immigrants by executive order. The plan will include deferred deportation for young persons and protection plus work permits for undocumented adults who are parents or citizens or legal permanent residents.
Yesterday the NY Times predicted that President Obama will issue executive orders in a very few days to protect millions of undocumented parents of children:
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.
Asserting his authority as president to enforce the nation’s laws with discretion, Mr. Obama intends to order changes that will significantly refocus the activities of the government’s 12,000 immigration agents. One key piece of the order, officials said, will allow many parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents to obtain legal work documents and no longer worry about being discovered, separated from their families and sent away.
That part of Mr. Obama’s plan alone could affect as many as 3.3 million people who have been living in the United States illegally for at least five years, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, an immigration research organization in Washington. But the White House is also considering a stricter policy that would limit the benefits to people who have lived in the country for at least 10 years, or about 2.5 million people.
NY Times today profiles big foundations as having funded the livelihood of immigrant advocacy groups:
Over the last decade those donors [Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, and others] have invested more than $300 million in immigrant organizations, including many fighting for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
The philanthropies helped the groups rebound after setbacks and financed the infrastructure of a network in constant motion, with marches, rallies, vigils, fasts, bus tours and voter drives. The donors maintained their support as the immigration issue became intensely partisan on Capitol Hill and the activists grew more militant, engaging in civil disobedience and brash confrontations with lawmakers and enforcement authorities.
Also today, the Washington Post profiles GOP positioning for a stand-off:
Congressional Republicans said Friday they are considering a series of showdowns over funding the government if President Obama goes ahead with his expected plans to unilaterally overhaul the nation’s immigration system.
When Congress reconvenes in the new year, Republicans would then pass other short-term bills, each designed to create a forum to push back against the president and, possibly, to gain concessions. Republicans are also planning to file a lawsuit against the president over his use of executive authority, according to the lawmakers and aides.
The efforts are seen as ways to pressure the president to relent and pull back his expected executive orders to change immigration policy, which are likely to include protecting millions from being deported. They are also designed to placate conservatives, who have urged an aggressive response against what they see as an unconstitutional overreach by the president.
By floating the ideas, senior Republicans said they hoped the president understood that if he moves forward he would face a climate of fiscal standoffs over immigration in the new year