“Mass amnesty would be unfair,” he said from the White House. “Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character. What I’m describing is accountability — a common sense, middle-ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.”
The president’s latest proposal received mixed reviews from Missouri’s members of Congress, drawing particular ire from Rep. Billy Long, the Springfield Republican who represents Joplin in the House.
Long, who will be part of Congress when Republicans regain control of the Senate in January, said he believed the president was wrong to take action on his own without first gaining support from Congress.
“It is unconscionable President Obama took this divisive and unilateral action on immigration,” Long said in a written statement. “President Obama refused to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and now he thinks it is OK to give those who came to our country illegally a pass. The people I represent want to see the border secured and our nation’s current immigration laws enforced. Border enforcement should be and must be the first concrete step our nation takes when it comes to immigration reform.”
It was not just the Republicans who were unhappy about Obama’s decision to move forward without support from Congress.
“Our immigration system is broken, and I support a comprehensive plan to fix it, but executive orders aren’t the way to do it,” said U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., in a written statement. “The system can only be truly fixed through legislation by Congress.”
Even while distancing herself from Obama’s position, McCaskill also took a swipe at Long and other House Republicans.
“Republicans in the U.S. House have sat on their hands for a year-and-a-half, refusing to even consider that bill,” she said. “They should quit stalling, get to work, and do their jobs — debate the comprehensive plan that passed the Senate with a two-thirds margin.”
Obama’s announcement of executive action came 17 months after a bill passed the U.S. Senate with support from 68 senators, including McCaskill. Her counterpart, Republican Roy Blunt, opposed the bill. The bill, which has not been considered by the House, would create a path to citizenship for those in the United States illegally and boost the border patrol by adding thousands of new agents.
For immigrant activists like Vanessa Crawford Aragón, executive director of the Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, Obama’s announcement was seen as a long awaited start, but still a “temporary solution.”
“Our coalition has been working toward this since Congress failed to pass immigration reform earlier this year,” she said. “This is a welcome relief for thousands of Missourians, we will not rest until all 11 million undocumented Americans have an opportunity for citizenship.”
While activists are expressing cautious joy, others are expressing legal concerns. Joshua Hawley, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said the president’s action “very seriously upsets the separation of powers” between the executive branch of government and the Congress.
“Because the Constitution doesn’t mention executive orders, it has traditionally been a gray area,” he said in an interview. “Traditionally, they use them to direct support to conduct official business in a certain way or to reorganize portions of the branch. They also use them to direct their subordinates to execute the laws in a certain fashion. What President Obama has tried to do both with this and the Affordable Care Act, he’s tried to change the substance of laws passed by Congress with an executive order.”
Obama, once a former constitutional law professor himself, must have anticipated the criticism. Near the beginning of his address, he attempted to play down the notion.
“I continue to believe that the best way to solve this problem is by working together to pass that kind of common sense law,” he said. “But until that happens, there are actions I have the legal authority to take as president — the same kinds of actions taken by Democratic and Republican presidents before me — that will help make our immigration system more fair and more just.”
In Missouri
Missouri is home to an estimated 65,000 illegal immigrants, according to a Pew Research report citing data from 2012. Before President Obama’s announcement, only about 10 percent were eligible for deferred deportation relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program. Under the new executive order, an additional 20,000 people will be eligible for relief.