The back-and-forth, extremely elongated debate over what the United States should do to tackle immigration reform hasn’t come to a close yet, but President Barack Obama did take some steps to push the discussion into an even higher gear on Nov. 19.
That night, he announced executive actions that could potentially give millions of illegal immigrants temporary legal status. Hazel Davalos, a community organizer for Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, said in a press release that the announcement was greeted warmly by local immigrants’ rights advocates and called it a “major step” to keep families together.
“Every day over 1,000 families lose a loved one to deportation,” Davalos said in the release. “While we still want to see Congress come together to pass a comprehensive immigration reform that offers a real path to full citizenship, we’re not going to hold our breath.”
Opponents to the action say that Obama has overstepped the bounds of the Constitution, but U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) said in a release that the executive actions are critical for Central Coast families that have lived in the shadows for too long.
“The President’s announcement does not mean that Congress can or should continue to shirk its responsibility to address the problems and gaps in our current immigration system through comprehensive reprehensive reform,” Capps said in the release. “While this executive action is an important step forward, what we really need is a long-term solution that includes enhanced border security measures, an earned path to citizenship, a reformed and improved visa systems, an expedited path to citizenship for DREAMERS and ag workers, and a new employer verification system.”
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2014.