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Washington (CNN) -- Conventional political wisdom suggests that immigration reform in a midterm election year has a snowball's chance in July of getting any traction.

But maybe that wisdom isn't so conventional.

Some Republicans say they are warily preparing for the possibility that President Barack Obama could use executive action this summer to bypass congressional gridlock and act on immigration reform.

Those changes could include making noncriminals and minor offenders the lowest deportation priorities, a recommendation the Congressional Hispanic Caucus stressed in its meeting earlier this month with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Republicans have good reason to worry, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell University Law School.

"If I had to predict, I think the president will make some administrative fine tuning of his immigration policies in the hopes of pacifying the immigration activists," said Yale-Loehr.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, worries that day will come in August when lawmakers have headed home to their districts to campaign.

Diaz-Balart and his staff are cranking up the pace on crafting a measure that would help some undocumented immigrants gain their citizenship through currently existing channels, said Cesar Gonzalez, the congressman's chief of staff. He declined to say which existing channels the bill would use.

He added that the measure would also strengthen border security and try to address the backlog of green card applications for permanent status.

Excerpt from:
Immigration reform not dead after all?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington (CNN) -- Immigration champion Rep. Luis Gutierrez feels confident that President Barack Obama will use his executive powers to push through reform. House Speaker John Boehner feels confident that doing so will tank what little support the President has among Republicans on immigration reform.

They're both right, immigration law experts say.

After pushback from immigration activists and some members of his party, the President has directed his administration to reexamine its deportation policy.

The administration could shift noncriminals and minor offenders to the lowest deportation priorities.

"I think the President has a difficult decision to make here," said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell University Law School. "The courts have upheld wide discretion on immigration matters. He could make noncriminals the lowest deportation priorities. ... But there is a penalty he could pay through using executive action rather than waiting for Congress to act on immigration reform."

That political price, Boehner told Fox News last week, is "that will make it almost impossible to ever do immigration reform, because he will spoil the well to the point where no one will trust him by giving him a new law that he will implement the way the Congress intended."

"The American people want us to deal with immigration reform," Boehner said on Fox News' "Kelly File" during the same interview. "But every time the President ignores the law, like the 38 times he has on Obamacare, our members look up and go, 'Wait a minute: You can't have immigration reform without strong border security and internal enforcement. How can we trust the President to actually obey the law and enforce the law that we would write?'"

Legislation stuck in the House

Last year, the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform package -- which includes a citizenship path for an estimated 8 million of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

See original here:
Should Obama use the power of his pen?

Monday, April 21, 2014 - 4:35pm

Conventional political wisdom suggests that immigration reform in a midterm election year has a snowball's chance in July of getting any traction.

But maybe that wisdom isn't so conventional.

Some Republicans say they are warily preparing for the possibility that President Barack Obama could use executive action this summer to bypass congressional gridlock and act on immigration reform.

Those changes could include making noncriminals and minor offenders the lowest deportation priorities, a recommendation the Congressional Hispanic Caucus stressed in its meeting earlier this month with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Republicans have good reason to worry, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell University Law School.

"If I had to predict, I think the president will make some administrative fine tuning of his immigration policies in the hopes of pacifying the immigration activists," said Yale-Loehr.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, worries that day will come in August when lawmakers have headed home to their districts to campaign.

Diaz-Balart and his staff are cranking up the pace on crafting a measure that would help some undocumented immigrants gain their citizenship through currently existing channels, said Cesar Gonzalez, the congressman's chief of staff. He declined to say which existing channels the bill would use.

He added that the measure would also strengthen border security and try to address the backlog of green card applications for permanent status.

See the rest here:
Maybe immigration reform isn't dead after all

President Obama may be ready to ease up on deportations, following reported recommendations under consideration by the Homeland Security secretary. That would please key elements of the Democratic base, but infuriate Republicans.

President Obama has long insisted he does not have the power to waive deportations of illegal immigrants on his own.

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But under pressure from political allies, Mr. Obama may be headed for some changes of immigration policy via the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson is considering limiting deportations of undocumented immigrants who do not have serious criminal records, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Obama set the stage for the reported recommendations last month, when he ordered Secretary Johnson to review how current immigration law is implemented, with an eye toward conducting enforcement more humanely, as the White House put it.

The change of policy, if adopted, could shield tens of thousands of immigrants now removed each year solely because they committed repeat immigration violations, such as reentering the country illegally after having been deported, failing to comply with a deportation order, or missing an immigration court date, the AP reported.

Such a move would fall short of the larger changes pro-immigrant activists are hoping for, such as granting work permits to the illegal-immigrant parents of American-born children. At the same time, any unilateral move by the administration that grants new rights to certain illegal immigrants would likely anger Republicans, who accuse Obama of abusing his executive powers.

The president has long said the only way to achieve comprehensive immigration reform is to go through Congress. But almost a year after the Senate passed reform legislation on a bipartisan vote, the Republican-controlled House has yet to act.

Earlier this month, House Speaker John Boehner warned Obama not to act on his own, saying it would make it almost impossible to earn the trust needed to pass a new law.

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Immigration reform: If Obama moves on his own, how big a political risk? (+video)

President Barack Obama meets with faith leaders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press

Enlarge photo

After meeting at the While House with other faith leaders, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the church supported the idea of immigration reform. For some, this re-ignited the debate on the issue. I do not write to defend President Uchtdorf he is more than capable of doing that himself but simply to provide a few facts.

To those who say he advocates breaking the law, I say, No. What he favors is changing it. Seeking to change a law with which one disagrees is an age-old American custom, fully protected indeed, encouraged by our Constitution. Utah is filled with people who are currently seeking to do that to Obamacare.

To those who insist that there must be no changes in immigration law until after we secure the border, I say, Check the record. Start with 2007, the year when President George W. Bush first proposed immigration reform. I voted for it because I recognized that Bush, as governor of the state with our longest border with Mexico, had lived and wrestled with the problem throughout his entire term of office. In my eyes, that made him more qualified to deal with the subject than the talk show hosts who had observed it from the isolation of their broadcast booths. Nonetheless, the cry of secure the border first carried the day and the bill was defeated. The federal government then started pouring money into increased border security.

When I left the Senate in 2010, we had spent more than $4 billion on it and much more has been added since. This is one of the reasons why border violations are now a trickle of what they once were. That may be why Orrin Hatch, who voted against immigration reform in 2007, was willing to support it in 2013. Those advocating a step by step approach should acknowledge the fact that the first step they are demanding has already been successfully taken.

To those who insist that we can eliminate all the illegal aliens currently here if we just enforce the law, I say, Really? No one knows the exact number of foreign nationals living here without proper status, but most estimates are in the range of 12 to 13 million. Thats four times the population of the state of Utah and eight times the population of all state and federal prisons combined. With all the other challenges and demands on our tax dollars that we have in our country, do you really believe we could create a police force large enough to round up, interrogate and deport over 4 percent of our population?

To those who oppose immigration reform because they believe in the rule of law, I say, So do I. Thats why I am for reform. Any law that is unenforceable, as this one obviously is, breeds contempt for all laws. If we replace it with a system that requires foreign nationals who entered the U.S. illegally to pay fines for having done so and then, if they have broken no other laws, allows them to stay in a legal capacity thereafter, the law would be far easier to enforce and thus breed respect for it. Most illegal aliens currently here are not murderers, drug dealers or welfare cheats; they are productive members of society. We should allow them to make amends for the past misdemeanor either they or their parents committed when they came.

In addition to being good policy, such a system would also demonstrate the love of neighbor of which President Uchtdorf spoke so eloquently when visiting President Barack Obama.

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Robert Bennett: Immigration reform should demonstrate 'love of neighbor'