Hey guys! This post is probably going to be a little bit long, so if you're willing to read all of it and comment, kudos to you! Grab a hot cocoa (or cold cocoa, your choice), take a seat, relax, and read to your heart's content!
Key Terms
- Constitutional authority: The power that the President has to make executive decisions in regards to the Constitution.
- Prosecutorial discretion: The power that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency has to influence a deportation case.
- Bipartisan legislative process: A possible process by which both parties in Congress agree on a bill and pass it with majority votes from both party.
- Lame-duck session: The period in Congress in-between a midterm election and the beginning of the newly-elected Congressmen’s terms.
- Government assistance: Federal program, activity, or aid that supports an organization or individuals in terms of health, education, welfare, and similar attributes.
- Immigration Reform and Control Act (Simpson-Mazzoli Act): Bill enacted during the Reagan Administration in 1986 that: required employers to provide information about their employees’ immigration status; made it illegal to hire illegal immigrants knowingly; legalized the employment of illegal immigrants in regards to seasonal agricultural business; and legalized other illegal immigrants with certain specifications.
- Deportation: The expulsion of immigrants from the United States for illegal entry.
- Bipartisan support: Support on a bill, topic, or side of an issue from both the Democrats and Republicans.
- Amnesty: Granting legal status to immigrants who were in the United States illegally.
- Balanced comprehensive bill: A hypothetical Congressional bill that President Bush wanted to pass in 2007 regarding immigration.
- Edict: Another term for “executive action.”
- Provision: Part of a legal document, action, etc. that covers a certain topic.
- Reprieve: To postpone an action.
- Middle-ground: Area of compromise between two political sides.
- Direct contravention of law: The direct opposition of a certain law, in this case the Constitution.
- Think-tank: Organization, institute, or group of people who complete and present research to the public, many of which are political.
- Fiscal year: A 12-month period used to calculate how much money the government has earned, spent, and saved.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency: A government agency that enforces federal laws governing border control, customs, trade, and immigration to promote homeland security and safety.
- Visa: Affirmation that the owner of a passport is allowed to enter, leave, and or stay for a period of time in the United States.
- Constitutional orthodoxy: The close following of the Constitution.
Key Political Players
- President Barack Obama: Current president, whose term began in 2009 and ends in 2017. Recently announced an executive action regarding immigration, which stated: illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for 5 years or have legal children, and have no criminal records, are offered immediate legality.
- Representative Raul Labrador: A Republican Congressman who considers Obama’s executive action unconstitutional.
- President Ronald Reagan: Past president, whose term began in 1981 and ended in 1989. He signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, the effects of which created “amnesty” for many illegal immigrants; however, it did not balance out the legalization of immigrants with the illegals still entering the U.S. unlawfully.
- President H.W. Bush; Past president, whose term began in 1989 and ended in 1983. He amended the Immigration Reform and Control Act passed by Reagan to grant amnesty to more illegal immigrants than it did originally.
- Senator Mitch McConnell: The soon-to-be-appointed Senate Majority Leader and a Republican, who said that Obama’s executive action is akin to “waving a red flag in front of a bull,” before the executive action’s announcement. To get Congress’s support, Obama has to ally with McConnell and other Republicans.
Significant Takeaways
- President Obama’s executive action may very well not be constitutional, which concerns many Republicans in Congress.
- The reason for this action is that President Obama has tried to reach out to Republicans in Congress in the past to pass a bill on this issue, and that hasn’t worked.
- Republicans aren’t against the content of the executive action, but rather the means used to enforce that content.
- Question: What is the Supreme Court’s stance on President Obama’s executive action’s constitutionality, considering that it is the Court’s job to decide so?
- Former President Ronald Reagan enacted the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, which was a jumpstart to granting amnesty to illegal immigrants, and which President Obama is trying to build off of with his executive action.
- The amount of illegal immigrants in this country has increased significantly over the past 25 years, which means that the Immigration Reform and Control Act wasn’t effective over long periods of time. President Obama is trying to replicate said Act with his executive action.
- One reason Democrats support Obama’s action is the 1986 bill’s effect regarding the breakup of families, allowing illegal families with certain conditions to stay together, and that Obama’s action expands on this idea.
- Question: Why haven’t Republicans helped to pass an immigration bill in Congress when they clearly are in support of immigration reform?
- A major issue regarding Obama’s executive action is how it will be carried out; specifically, figuring out exactly when illegal immigrants entered the country.
- Obama is negating the concept of checks and balances with this executive action, thinking that because Congress disagrees with his ideas, he is allowed to enforce whatever he wants on his own.
- This situation is far different from what any other president had done, and comparing this with similar situations doesn’t work because it is an potentially-unconstitutional executive action.
- Question: How does the government plan to solve the problem stated in my first takeaway?
- The executive action may either be a disastrous mistake, possibly the cause of future government problems as extreme as another government shutdown or Obama’s impeachment because of the soon-to-be Republican Congress, or a clever political move, since it may inspire the soon-to-be Republican Congress to say things that will be detrimental to the party’s popularity.
- A positive effect of this action is that the money saved from not deporting as many people could be used in other ways, such as increasing border security, expanding the number of work visas, or making it more difficult for immigrants to overstay their visas.
- This action is seriously regressive in terms of the relationship between President Obama and Congress. With the overtaking of the majority by the Republican Party, it seemed that relations would be at an all-time low, but this executive action may really create problems between the two government branches.
- Question: As asked in the article, which is more important: following the Constitution by-the-book, or doing what’s ethically right and not separating families for the sake of constitutionality?
Final Takeaway
After reading all four articles (two from a liberal news source, one from a conservative news source, and one from a moderate news source), I have many more questions that I do answers, and many more worries regarding not only the conflict in our nation’s government, but also the fates of the people affected by this executive action. Is Obama’s action constitutional, and can it really be carried out? What response will it generate from the Republican Congress in the future, conflict or compromise? Will it work over time? I agree that this action is like none other and that it appears very, very risky. In reality, President Obama should’ve tried reasoning with Republicans in Congress more, before it was too late. Now it’s too late. Then again, maybe Republicans in Congress should have reaches out to the President more. In the end, the blame game doesn’t matter. Hopefully, if this action is successful, it will be a precedent for a possible future bill that will more formally (and more legally) fix this issue, for good. If this action is unsuccessful, perhaps it serves to teach future presidents: always connect with your Congress, no matter what party you’re on. It will make all the difference.
Thanks for reading! I hope you finished your hot (or cold) cocoa and your heart is fully content!
No comments:
Post a Comment