Obama Responds to Grand Jury Decision in Ferguson Shooting Case
President Obama spoke about the grand jury #39;s decision not to indict the police officer who shot Michael Brown, calling for peace among protesters and restraint among law enforcement. Produced...
By: The New York Times
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Obama Responds to Grand Jury Decision in Ferguson Shooting Case - Video
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is ordering the most sweeping overhaul of the immigration system in decades, despite Republican claims he is acting illegally by moving unilaterally to shield five million undocumented immigrants.
Obama rejected accusations by conservatives that he is offering a free pass to undocumented immigrants and warned in a prime-time address that he would bolster border security and make it harder for unauthorized outsiders to get into the country.
"Today our immigration system is broken and everybody knows it," Obama said. "It's been this way for decades and for decades we haven't done much about it."
Obama is pressing ahead and making broad changes to the immigration system without the consent of Congress, which has failed to pass a comprehensive reform bill. The announcement prompted an angry response from House Speaker John Boehner.
To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better... I have one answer: Pass a bill. Barack Obama
"By ignoring the will of the American people, President Obama has cemented his legacy of lawlessness and squandered what little credibility he had left," Boehner said. "Republicans are left with the serious responsibility of upholding our oath of office."
A key element of Obama's plan is to instruct immigration authorities to target those undocumented immigrants who are dangerous rather than law-abiding undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and residents and others.
He said they will go after "felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a Mom who's working hard to provide for her kids."
"We'll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day," he said.
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Obama weighs in on immigration
President Obama appealed for calm and restraint in Ferguson, Mo., on Monday night, saying distrust of police and racial discrimination cant be resolved by throwing bottles.
Obama spoke minutes after a prosecuting attorney in suburban St. Louis announced that a grand jury decided not to indict police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, in the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man.
Obama repeated pleas for peace from Browns parents, saying they have lost more than anyone.
We should be honoring their wishes, Obama said.
The president has made several calls for calm and restraint in Ferguson, both immediately after the shooting and in the weeks leading to the grand jury announcement.
The White House said Monday that Justice Department officials had been in touch with local law enforcement agencies across the country to try to prevent the sort of violent clashes between protesters and police that made the case a symbol of racial divisions.
Still, as Obama spoke, police in Ferguson released tear gas on the crowd as protesters grew violent.
Thoughsome black leaders and lawmakers have condemned Wilson and cast the case as a clear example of racial inequities in policing, Obama has walked a finer line, saying he did not want to prejudge the case.
On Monday, he tried to address the larger issues.
Obama suggested he sympathized with the anger, calling it an understandable reaction. He attributed it to a long history of deep distrust between police and communities of color and a legacy of racial discrimination.
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Obama urges restraint after Ferguson grand jury decision
The lifeline Barack Obama threw 5 million undocumented immigrants is seen as an exercise of discretion that historically only Congress can check, either through legislation or possibly impeachment.
Legal scholars say the president has strong arguments to deploy in defense of his executive order lifting the threat of deportation from millions of immigrants. And any lawsuits aimed at overturning it may not be resolved until after he leaves office.
Obama, a Democrat, said he will defer for three years the deportation of people who came to the U.S. as children, and of parents of children who are citizens or legal permanent residents.
The Swerving Path to Citizenship
The administrations legal rationale relies in part on priorities dictated by funding limits. It also looks to a decades-long tradition in immigration statutes and enforcement policies of favoring individuals with family ties and strong connections to the community.
The president always has discretion as to what laws to enforce, including who to deport, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California at Irvine. There is no question that this is within the presidents discretion to set priorities as to when to bring immigration deportation proceedings.
Texas Attorney General and Governor-elect Greg Abbott said President Obama has circumvented Congress and deliberately bypassed the will of the American people," following Obama's televised speech. Close
Texas Attorney General and Governor-elect Greg Abbott said President Obama has... Read More
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Texas Attorney General and Governor-elect Greg Abbott said President Obama has circumvented Congress and deliberately bypassed the will of the American people," following Obama's televised speech.
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Obama Foes Seen Getting No Court Help on Immigration
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Buzz Cut: Obama finds midterm scapegoat in Hagel Warren in Tel Aviv with Bibi on Iran deadline day Obama: Voters want new car smell in candidate, but Hillary would be great Four Pinocchios for Obama immigration claims Your selfie stick is jamming my signal
OBAMA FINDS MIDTERM SCAPEGOAT IN HAGELIn another strong sign of President Obamas hard tack left in the wake of a midterm drubbing, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is heading for the exits. First reported by the NYT, the cashiering of the Pentagon boss comes after the two men mutually agreed that it was time for the highest profile Republican in Obamas cabinet to go. But given the fact that the White House was the one pushing out the story, it seems more likely that the president had grown tired of the ongoing pressure from Hagel and members of the top brass to take a more aggressive stance on national security threats abroad. The conflict went public back in August when Hagel openly contradicted White House talking points on the threat posed by Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. While Obama succumbed to the pressure, Hagels ouster shows the president seeking to reassert control over his foundering foreign policy.
[Who will replace? - NYT: At the top of the list are Michele Flournoy, the former undersecretary of defense; Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former officer with the Armys 82nd Airborne; and Ashton Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense.]
Fault finding - Democrats blame disaffection among base voters for the partys historic defeat earlier this month. And, to be sure, there has not been much for liberals to cheer in Obamas foreign policy of late. Not only has the president begrudgingly escalated the war against Islamists, the administration has quietly accepted defeat in the presidents bid to get all fighting forces out of Afghanistan. The endless war foreign policy combined with stunning revelations about Obamas expansion of domestic surveillance sent the presidents approval ratings on national security once stratospheric after the killing of Usama bin Laden to a series of new lows. And among no group was the decline more evident than with Democrats. Given the centrality of Obamas dovish foreign policy to the building of his coalition, even the reluctant, half-hearted hawkishness of 2014 might be seen as a key culprit by Democrats in the partys losses.
[The good times - Obama often touted his friendship with Hagel as evidence of bipartisan bent, with the right kind of Republican.]
That was then - Hagel, who became a hero to Democrats for his relentless criticism of fellow Republican President George W. Bush during the Iraq war, apparently still proved too hawkish for the president and his supporters. That Hagels team was recently expressing confidence that he would serve through the end of the presidents term suggests that this reordering came as something of a surprise. Given the harsh critiques of Obamas other top foreign policy advisers, Hagels replacement will be a fraught business. And with the ongoing struggles of Obamas foreign policy, the debate could further divide Democrats on the most volatile issue for the party and its hawkish 2016 frontrunner.
IRAN NUKE TALKS MISS DEADLINEAP: Nuclear negotiators have failed to meet a Monday deadline for a deal that would ease international concerns about Irans atomic program and are poised to extend the negotiations for a comprehensive agreement until July 2015, diplomats said. Under the terms of limited agreements reached after a frenetic six days of talks in Vienna, a political accord is to be completed by March 1, with final details contained in annexes to be sealed by July 1, the diplomats said.British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was not possible to meet the deadline due to wide gaps on well-known points of contention, including levels of uranium enrichment and the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to operate.
[Jerusalem Post: Israel has issued a stark, public warning to its allies with a clear argument: Current proposals guarantee the perpetuation of a crisis, backing Israel into a corner from which military force against Iran provides the only logical exit.]
Warren in Tel Aviv with Bibi on deadline day - Jerusalem Post: While it is two full years before the 2016 US presidential race, the parade of possible candidates to Israel began Monday afternoon with a meeting by Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Warren, whose name has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Hillary Clinton for the democratic nomination, arrived Saturday in Tel Aviv, and will also visit Ramallah and Amman. This is the first trip abroad for the senator, elected in 2012 and who has so-far concentrated largely on US domestic issues.
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Obama finds midterm scapegoat in Hagel