So what do you do? On the extremes you could simply give them all citizenship, or propose to round them all up and "send them back" (which is impossible, but we'll get back to that). Between those extremes are a plethora of options. I tend to lean towards one of these solutions over the other, though I fall within the plethora of other options. So why don't we just "round 'em up" and "send 'em back?"
First off, it's not practical to say we're going to round up over ten million people. Second off, we don't have the resources to do that. Third off, Congress would never appropriate the money to do that. Fourth off, I've made this point without even getting into the moral argument of why this is a terrible idea, but rounding up the parents of millions of children, somebody's mother, brother, son, niece, or best-friend is just not who we are. Finally, there's literally no benefits economically or societally to deporting all of these people.
So, if not that, then what? Well, the desirable plan is the plan that passed the Senate with 68 votes in 2013. It increased funding for border security. It provided a pathway to citizenship. It imposed legal penalties on those who broke our laws. It gave us the ability to give green cards to college graduates here in our nation. It was the desired plan, and it passed with bi-partisan support.
The problem is that the House simply refused to ever vote on that bill. They wouldn't even vote on it. They didn't like that it was comprehensive, so they wanted it piecemeal. The President said fine. They said they don't trust the President to actually do the border enforcement part. So there were overtures about funding even more border security. The reality is that the House Republicans simply did not want to pass this law, regardless of the terms. The legislation was dead. The legislation was even more dead after Republicans picked up more conservative members in the mid-term elections. The legislation is dead today, and has been for a while. So that Senate plan is not an option. No plan that has to pass Congress is possible.
So basically, the only thing the President can do is either accept the failed, terrible status quo, or do what he can do on his own. One of the key powers of the Presidency is actually running executive agencies. Presidents issue executive orders outlining the priorities and execution of executive actions all the time. If an agency has $10 billion, Presidents issue executive orders saying how the agency should prioritize that money. That's what executive orders are, and basically the President only has that as an option on immigration issues.
So the President is issuing an executive order telling our Border Patrol and immigration courts telling them who the priority people are to deport, by telling them who to not focus on. Deferred action, as laid out in the executive orders, simply means put the people who have lived here for five years, or have children here, or otherwise qualify, at the back of the line. He also is issuing an executive order increasing border security. His action will apply to five million people, leaving roughly seven million people still out there within the current system. No one is getting citizenship, amnesty, or any other benefits. They're getting a way to not get deported.
Given that a "round 'em up" policy is unworkable, and that we can't pass a bill that would settle this question further, and help our economy, what other options are there? The reality is, the President is doing what is possible on this issue, not all that we need.
By no means do I want to say that I'm for Executive Orders over legislation. By no means would I normally endorse this action. Given that the immigration bill can't even get a vote in the current House, there is no other option moving forward. The Republicans can't and won't pass a comprehensive bill, so this is the best course of action, even if it's hardly everything we need.
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