BREAKING: President Obama To Stop Deporting DREAM-Eligible Youth

[bigtree]

from ThinkProgress: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/15/500227/obama-to-protect-undocumented-students/


Jun 15, 2012 at 9:26 am

President Obama will announce a new immigration policy this morning that will allow some undocumented students to avoid deportation and receive work authorization.

Under the president’s “deferred action” executive order, students in the U.S. who are already in deportation proceedings or those who qualify for the DREAM Act and have yet to come forward to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, will not be deported and will be allowed to work in the United States.

An estimated 1 million young people could benefit from the deferral. To be eligible, applicants have to be between 15 and 30 years old, live in the U.S. for five years, and maintain continuous U.S. residency. People who have one felony, one serious misdemeanor, or three minor misdemeanors will be ineligible to apply. “Deferred action” will last for two years and can be renewed.

Obama is expected to speak about this new policy later today.

Obama’s announcement will create a smart policy to help protect young adults at risk of deportation who have spent years establishing their homes in the United States while boosting the U.S. economy.


read: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/15/500227/obama-to-protect-undocumented-students/

[pinto]

1. Good start on a rational and compassionate approach.

[bigtree]

2. great move

. . . so many young folks in limbo and just anguished over it. I can just hear the celebrations, and imagine the relief they and their families must feel.

[Volaris]

23. and the banshee-like, ear-splitting wails the Congressional Republicans will make this afternoon....

maybe we should mail them something to whip themselves with while they wander the halls of Congress in their grief-stricken state....

[flpoljunkie]

26. Telemundo's Jose Diaz Balart just said on MSNBC, 'This is a big (pause) deal!'

Definitely, a big deal.

[liberalnationalist]

3. i say its about time!

[bigtree]

4. I can see why they held back while trying to pass the Act

. . . but it's clear that there will be no movement in Congress on the bill, so it make sense to just go ahead and make a stand to keep these youth from being deported. I do appreciate and understand the position that it's overdue. Politics always seems to me like it should be a secondary concern to folks' lives, but I'm not a politician with the responsibility for advancing legislation.

[Igel]

22. Due process.

It's clear that due process is violated when there's a harsher application of the law for some groups and not for others. If I enforce traffic regs on African-Americans and let whites go unwarned and unticketed, I have problems. If I let richer people driving fancy cars go unticketed while hitting poorer people hard, mostly those driving old, cheap cars, then I have problems. Unless, of course, there's a good reason for it: I'd assume that most safety violations would be on old, cheap cars.

What about this? The law is clear, but an exception is being carved out for some groups. Some groups have the process enforced on them with greater severity and rigor; others are all but excluded from the process. This isn't because one group is more likely to violate the rules than the other--the old/cheap versus new/expensive car distinction I assumed in the previous paragraph. It's because one group is especially despised or another is especially liked.

We pitch a fit and cry "violation of due process" and "discrimination" when the law is actually color-blind: Most illegal immigrants to the US are Latinos, so any enforcement action that affects all groups equaly will wind up affecting--proportionately--mostly Latinos. (For "disproportionate" you'd need to know the relative percentages of ethnic groups in the illegal immigrant population and then compare that with enforcement percentages.)

[pinto]

5. Kick

[JTFrog]

6. k&DUrec

[spin]

7. Finally some commonsense. (n/t)

[w8liftinglady]

8. Awesome- I see these kids every day!

Their parents want the best for them,just like my great-grandparents did when they arrived at Ellis Island in 1906.

Positive reinforcement is the best tool for success.

[bigtree]

10. these youth are their best advocates

my hat's off to them . . . my heart is with them always

[SidDithers]

9. DU rec...nt

Sid

[morningfog]

11. Great to hear!

[Nanjing to Seoul]

12. There is nothing but good and wonderful in this action

It's long overdue and it's very welcome.

Now, legalize pot!

[Puzzledtraveller]

13. You think that many are actually deported?

In my office I see undocumented immigrants all the time, many with childen, born here and abroad, and we are not even allowed, nor are we supposed to alert INS. In all my years never has anyone of my clients faced deportation, them our their children.

[brer cat]

14. There was an article in WAPO last weekend

about a young woman in Virginia, I believe, who was to be deported days after her HS graduation. She had been in this country since childhood and was an excellent student. It was a very sad story. I hope she is one who will be eligible to stay now.

[bigtree]

16. while it's clear that you can't realistically remove the millions of students from the country

. . . the answer is yes, many youth have been deported and many others were at risk before today. This should clarify and enhance an earlier order by the president to deport only those undocumented students "who pose a threat to public safety and national security." We'll get a clearer picture of the order later today.

When Republicans in Congress filibustered the most recent attempt to pass the DREAM Act in the summer of 2010, President Obama responded by instructing his administration’s Department of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to adjust its criteria for pursuing the deportation of undocumented students in an attempt to curb what had become a string of very public attempts to expel students from the country.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/05/438041/another-undocumented-student-faces-possible-deportation-despite-new-directive-from-president-obama/

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I've taught in an immigrant community for 3 decades. Yes, deportations happen daily.

Any time the immigrants have an encounter with law enforcement, deportation is a possibility. I can't count the number of times a student has been absent for several days and comes back to tell us his dad or mom or grandpa or grandma is in jail and the family was involved in trying to prevent a deportation. We also have an increase in kids who are gone for weeks at a time because the family went to Mexico or Dominican Republic or some other Central American country to visit a recently deported relative.

Here's how it works - the immigrant is picked up by local cops who turn him over to ICE. They incarcerate him at a facility close to the airport (very far from the community where our immigrants live) and hold them for 10 days. If the family is able to raise $3000 bail, the immigrant is released and has 30 days to leave the country voluntarily. He is allowed to come back legally in the future. If they are not able to raise the bail, the immigrant is deported and banned from ever again coming to the US.

[Enrique]

20. yes, they have been deported at a very high rate

the overall situation in the country doesn't match what you are seeing in your office.

[Luminous Animal]

27. I work across the street from ICE. I see 2-4 huge bus loads of human beings

brought in every day.

[EFerrari]

29. Yes, I get several emails a week about a student facing deportation.

This sounds like a good plan. However, we've seen this promise before. I hope it gets done this time.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Awesome news!

[YvonneCa]

24. I agree. This is wonderful news...

...from the Obama Administration. As a retired California teacher, so many bright, hard-working students I taught were caught up in this trap through no fault of their own. Facing a future where...no matter how hard they studied and worked and succeeded in the school system...their dreams of jobs, college and living the American Dream were blocked which often led to dropping out from school and/or just giving up on education. Motivation suffered. As a teacher, there was little I could do other than promise them that one day things would get better.

Now these students will see a clear path to success and their dreams for the future. That motivation will carry over into the classroom and propel more kids into college. Teachers won't have to just promise, they will be able to help students reach their goals.

This is FANTASTIC news! This is a PROMISE KEPT.

[steve2470]

18. This is great news nt

[Slit Skirt]

19. congratulations dreamers!!!

I met some of the dream walkers...I am so proud of them

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. This is great news, and most welcome! n/t

[JDPriestly]

25. Good. As long as the kids don't get into trouble with the law for some other reason,

they will be able to stay. Here in California, we have so many children who are Americans by culture and language, but foreigners by place of birth and parentage. Let's keep them here where they belong.

[Luminous Animal]

28. Congratulations to the activists WHO VOTE who wouldn't let go of this issue.

[Scurrilous]

30. K & R

[Liberal_in_LA]

31. kick. Freeperland must be going crazy.

[w8liftinglady]

32. For the record,The readers of The Dallas Morning News would love to see mass deportation

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20120615-obama-administration-to-offer-immunity-to-certain-illegal-immigrants.ece

[Major Hogwash]

33. And with this announcement, the race is over before it even got started.

Bye-bye, Mitt.

President Obama is going to beat Romney by a wider margin than he beat McCain just 4 short years ago.
Incredible.

[AJTheMan]

34. I was forced to watch Dylan Ratigan today.

While i was working out at 24 hour fitness, i turned on MSNBC on the treadmill. Now normally I get to the gym at 2:00pm, in perfect time to watch Martin Bashir. This time I was running late so I tried watching Dylan Ratigan. He said that the President's plan to help out young immigrants was "pandering" and that both he and Mitt Romney are pandering. Dylan needs to have his head checked. He should be working for Fox News.