Obama Will Propose Executive Action to Fix 'Broken Immigration System' on Thursday

Wikimedia Commons

President Obama announced that he intends to use executive action to reform "our broken immigration system." He will clarify exactly what that means at a White House press conference on Thursday.

He made the announcement in a White House video:

Tomorrow night, I am going to be announcing here from the White House some steps that I can take to fix our broken immigration system.

He also criticized Congress for failing to address the issue and explained that legislative inaction has left him no choice. According to The Washington Post:

"Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long," Obama said. "So what' I'm going to be laying out is the things I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better even as I continue to work with Congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan, comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem."

Obama will travel to Del Sol High School in Las Vegas on Friday to build support for his immigration vision.

Stay tuned.

Comments

[BiMonSciFiCon]

So what' I'm going to be laying out is the things I can do with my lawful authority as president...

"As defined by me. 2014 me, not 2011 me. And definitely not candidate me."

[nema su]

Obama to the the working poor citizens of the US: drop dead. Millions of future Democratic voters (and the campaign checks of businesses that rely on cheap labor) are more important than you.

To Obama, ILLEGAL ALIENS are far more important than tax-paying law-abiding American citizens.

Already tens of millions unemployed.

Already tens of millions who can't afford to live. We must now purchase health insurance we cannot afford and do not want or need (mine is $450/month? contrast this to my $25/month auto insurance from Insurance Panda? or my $15/month renters insurance from Eagle? both private-enterprise!)

Border-hopping, law-breaking ILLEGAL ALIENS - that's what Obama wants as his legacy.

He will weaken the DIMicrat party for years if he tries this.

What a traitor - taking away jobs from US CITIZENS and giving them to ILLEGAL ALIENS.

[hatt9]

Seriously? You're sorely out of touch. They don't steal jobs from law abiding citizens, because they are doing jobs that Americans don't want to do.Employers that hire undocumented workers don't even pay a living wage.
Alabama passed the toughest immigration law in the country a couple years ago....after one growing season, where agri-business couldn't find enough workers, they quickly changed the law back, so employers could find illegals to work for dirt.

[Zunalter]

I am pretty sure nema su is actually a more clever version of the "my cousin's step-aunt twice removed" spam assholes that show up here all the time. Another news site I frequent has these people who rail against American Consumerism, but always make sure to mention the great deal on insurance they get from Insurance Panda.

[Zunalter]

Insurance Panda spam bot...

[hatt9]

Times change and so do the views of every president. Good for him. I'm glad someone has a pragmatic approach and it sure isn't clueless Repubs.

[Zunalter]

Yea, who needs laws when you have pragmatism, amirite?

[Michael S. Langston]

Checks and balances.

Congress.

Scotus.

Will of the people by leading and selling them these great ideas.

Yeah, who needs 'em when the only Nobel prize winning president with a kill list can just take dictatorial powers for themselves.

Dems called for Bush's head when he joked, "It would be better to be a king" and now are all too happy to openly and actively give the very next president king like powers.

Because the ends justify the means.

And as immoral and as bankrupt as that philosophy has been proven over time, they are openly pushing it daily now.

IRS? The kill list? Obama Care lies?

Ends justify.

[CE]

I'm all for unlimited immigration and freedom of association. Presidents ruling by decree, not so much.

[John]

I bet illegals think this is going to mean real legal status and a path to citizenship. When they find out that it is nothing but a "Big Daddy Obama promises not to deport you" card, I don't think they are going to be very happy. Meanwhile, the rest of the country will be just as pissed over this as they would have been had there been real amnesty.

Obama is going to stick the Democrats with all of the political costs of amnesty and none of the benefits.

[Restoras]

He does seem determined to hoist his own party on its own petard.

*wonders how much popcorn my orphan warehouse workers have stockpiled*

[Hyperion]

I can guarantee you that without any doubt this is what some of them think, and it's fairly typical with the kind of networks these folks form here, that if some of them think this, it spreads like wildfire and then they all think this.

I'm not sure what their reaction is going to be if the guy just says he's going to stop deportations. He'll announce this and they'll all be celebrating not even really knowing what was actually done, and then after a while they'll start asking when they're getting their residency cards. It will be like after Obamacare was passed and people starting looking for their 'free' healthcare.

Maybe they'll realize this guy is a pathological liar. Most of us have known that for a long time.

[kbolino]

"I can guarantee you that without any doubt this is what some of them think, and it's fairly typical with the kind of networks these folks form here, that if some of them think this, it spreads like wildfire and then they all think this."

PapayaSF is right that third-world peasants don't belong here, but he's right because of all the stupid and mendacious people already living here and running the show who not only enable but encourage the very same attitude that creates third-world peasantry in the first place.

Put another way, there isn't anything wrong with them per se, there is something wrong with us. Our society and its institutions should reinforce the sort of values and character traits that foster liberty and prosperity. Without that culture, unsurprisingly poor immigrants look (and often act) like looters. Yes, there is individual responsibility, but individuals respond to incentives.

This is the biggest reason why I've taken a indefinite departure from the open borders bandwagon. Only a fool and knave can think that what this administration has done and plans to do has enhanced or will enhance anyone's liberty. All we are doing is handing people who don't know how to build and keep wealth the spoils from those who do.

[Zeb]

I'm still on the open borders wagon, but I agree that whatever Obama does is unlikely to improve anything.

I'm still convinced that most poor immigrants are here to work (and many pay taxes that they never get back), so I worry much less about immigrants "looting" the country. But it is true that there are a lot of people who do seem to want to enable the ones who do come and try to live off the system.

[kbolino]

Yeah the "looting" is largely a matter of perspective. Make no mistake that there is a large segment of criminality among immigrant populations, though. The incentives as I said encourage it.

However, we are not (or at least endeavor not to be) collectivists. The issue here however is that the government never acts in a way that enhances individual liberty. It forces the collectivization of people.

I think there's a lot to be said for the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of government "policy". If you start with assumptions that the world is zero-sum, that people can be treated like cogs in a wheel, etc. and are granted a monopoly on force, then you invariably end up building a world that reflects your fantasy.

[PapayaSF]

Well, I wouldn't say that I'm in favor of some sort of total ban on peasants, but as Stalin said, quantity has a quality all its own. A few thousand would be inconsequential. However, we're a broke welfare state with high unemployment, particularly among the poor, and a poisonous "multicultural" attitude has infected the schools. Add millions of peasants to that, and the only winners are the statists.

[antisocial-ist]

You can either have open borders or the welfare state. Having both is inviting disaster.

[PapayaSF]

This is true. And while the fanatics like Cytotoxic say "Just eliminate the welfare state," yeah, well, do that first, and then get back to me.

[Zeb]

On the other hand, people like you say "close the border" or however you prefer to put it.

Do that first and get back to me.

I don't think it is possible to keep most people who currently come here illegally out without violating the rights of citizens and legal immigrants in unacceptable ways. And it's not possible to get rid of the ones already here without imposing a "papers please" police state on everyone.

[PapayaSF]

I would say "secure the border," which means legal passage is fine, illegal is not.

We could deport many people, the way Eisenhower did. I'd also cut off all federal law enforcement aid to any city or state that did not cooperate. I'd cut off education aid to universities that offered in-state tuition to illegals. I'd end all welfare to illegals. All that, plus self-deportations, would make a big difference, and greatly discourage further illegal immigration.

[RealCrankyYankee]

I agree with PapayaSF and would add that if employers were fined or penalized in some way for hiring illegals that would also decrease the incentive to come illegally.

[OneOut]

Operation Wetback disagrees with you.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/.....-coop.html

[kbolino]

Operation Wetback disagrees with you.

Yeah, having to enforce immigration rules with a "draconian police state" is a bit of a canard. A likely outcome, to be sure, but that's just a reflection of our system. It reminds me of the argument in favor of abolishing the death penalty based upon the high cost of administering the punishment. Well, that cost is almost entirely imposed, and not inherent (rope and bullets are pretty cheap).

You can almost always get what you want with the right application of violence. The real question is: when is violence justified, and to what extent?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You can either have open borders or the welfare state. Having both is inviting disaster.

Well, yeah--there's a reason that immigration is becoming increasingly controversial in Europe. Even they realize that the reason Scandanavian socialism tends to work is because it's run by, and largely for, Scandnanavian socialists.

Throw a bunch of non-native benficiaries into a society that places the value of "multiculturalism" over fiscal sustainability and eventually the system will become overwhelmed by people looking for a handout who have no stake in the actual stability of that society.

[CE]

You can either have open borders or the welfare state. Having both is inviting disaster.

Some of us welcome both, hoping that the welfare state will be permanently broken and open borders will return as they were in days of yore, when you didn't need a passport or a visa to go see some place.

[James Taggart]

And that's exactly what we have: a welfare state with porous, if not open, borders. Amnesty is OK in theory but it's gonna cause a "run for the border". The question is - how fast can we reasonably assimilate thousands or tens of thousands of non-English speaking immigrants?

[kbolino]

Indeed, there are likely some important qualifiers missing from what I wrote.

And indeed many people who start off as "third-world peasants" wind up living productive lives and even accomplishing great things.

There are still segments of our culture that aren't completely deluded. However, they are niche subcultures and the common themes of our culture at large are anti-capitalist at heart.

[hatt9]

They do have personal responsibility! Why do you think these people, risk their lives to get to a country that actually has jobs, choosing to live in bad conditions, in a country that doesn't want them, where they can maybe make enough money working their ass off, in order to send some home to help their family. If that's not personal responsibility then i don't know what is.

[kbolino]

And some of them have lots of kids for the sole purpose of collecting welfare, some of them join gangs and commit criminal acts, etc.

My point was that there was nothing especially deficient about them as human beings but rather that the incentives do not encourage responsible behavior.

[Faceless Commenter]

I bet illegals think this is going to mean real legal status and a path to citizenship.

Effectively, it is. Take away whatever Obama gives them? Politically impossible.

Then, once they've got their SSNs, work permits, and tax obligations, how on EARTH do you defend dooming these people to "second-class citizenship" with no voting rights and no access to welfare? Ten million people in our midst who have all the obligations of citizenship but none of the rights. I dare you to defend that status.

[John]

No its not. You have to take it back or they don't stop coming. If it was just these people, you would be right. But its not. It is going to be everyone who comes after them. It is going to create a giant humanitarian crisis in this country that will force the government to take back the status and start deporting them. Deporting them will be the only way to stop the flow.

You guys need to stop smelling your own farts and thinking everyone in the country but you is stupid and will happily sign on to living in a third world country. This country will happily deport them or worse if people get angry enough. And they are about to get angry enough for a lot.

[Faceless Commenter]

Your faith is touching, John. The people of this country elected Obama TWICE. His favorables are 30 points higher than they should be. Hillary polls above every Republican. White guilt is the strongest force in politics right now. 67% of Blacks support current or expanded immigration policy http://www.gallup.com/poll/163.....-past.aspx

The trouble is, people see no connection between their voting habits and their misery. They will sign on to living in a third world country without being aware of it.

[John]

The trouble is, people see no connection between their voting habits and their misery.

I know. All of America is stupid but you. God that shit gets old.

And again, if this is such a painless winner for the Democrats, why did Obama wait so long to do it?

[Faceless Commenter]

I never said it's painless, or that it's a winner. They'll have to fight a bit for it, but they'll carry the day.

[James Taggart]

Face it: most Americans vote for whoever will give them the most shit. On foreign policy they vote for whoever promises to kill the people that scare them the most.

[Rich]

Confusion between title and text, Robby.

Is Obama actually *issuing* the order tomorrow, or just "clarifying" what he intends to do?

[lap83]

He intends to issue a clarification, then he'll read about it the next day in the paper.

[Rich]

"Jonathan Gruber: President 'Misspoke'"

[R C Dean]

The timing on this is odd. Doing it now, it seems, will poison the well for any kind of lame duck shenanigans the temporarily Democratic Senate may want to try.

Why not wait until after Congress adjourns? The next (Repub) Congress will have fit whether he does it now or later, and there seem to be opportunity costs to doing it now.

[DesigNate]

Because Obama is a narcissist?

[PapayaSF]

One theory is that he's trolling Republicans, wanting them to go nuts and do something stupid.

[Kelldog]

My theory is that this is timed to coincide with the lack of a grand jury indictment in Ferguson on Friday. The shit hits the fan there and this gets lost in that news cycle.

[ColonelEngineer]

Times like this are when I want to round up every proggy who has ever said "He can't act alone! What about Congress!?" Because of shit like this, dumbass!

But if you oppose whatever he does, you're a racist. You cannot win with these people. Absolutely cannot.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

That's exactly what a racist would say.

[ColonelEngineer]

sigh you caught me...

[OneOut]

Are you Ron "Tater Salad" White ?

[Andrew S.]

I'm an open borders guy. I think our immigration system is asinine and is colossally broken. I think that's a result of shameful failures over the years on the part of both the executive and legislative branches.

That all being said, fuck this imperial presidency bullshit. If we're at the point where the President's allowed to make policy like that because FYTW and because he doesn't like what Congress is doing, what the fark is the point of having Congress?

[ColonelEngineer]

^ THIS

[John]

If you are an open borders guy, you should especially be angry about this. First, he is not giving them real legal status. He is just leaving them in legal limbo and at the whims of the political process.

Second, he is totally poisoning the well for any actual immigration reform. After he does this, no one who is not full on open borders is going to want to compromise on immigration or do anything but close down the border.

If you care about the issue of immigration and are not Tony level stupid, you should see this as a disaster for the long term prospects of opening the borders more.

[Andrew S.]

Now, John. I may have left something out there, but calling me Tony-level stupid? That's a bridge too far, man.

Yes. Along with the asinine imperial presidency stuff, it's stupid anyways. Like was said above: It's a "Daddy Obama promises you he won't deport you!" letter. It means nothing, which makes it especially dumb. And it poisons the well for actual future positive change.

[John]

I wasn't calling you stupid. I assume you see this stunt for what it is. I was saying you would have to be that stupid to see this as a good thing if you actually care about immigration.

[Andrew S.]

I know, I know.

But you're right. This is the worst of all worlds, even ignoring the demise of separation of powers. It doesn't fix anything and it means that it's even less likely it's going to get fixed in the future.

[antisocial-ist]

" This is the worst of all worlds"

Obama has managed to accomplish this so many times in six years that we should really think about naming the concept after him.

[Lady Bertrum]

With each of his major "accomplishments" I think there has to be some well thought-out strategery at play - but no. He's just a narcissistic fucker.

[PapayaSF]

I don't know. The "It's the Cloward-Piven strategy!!" conspiracy types seem to have more evidence on their side all the time.

[Faceless Commenter]

With each of his major "accomplishments" I think there has to be some well thought-out strategery at play

It is amazing how he's probably also destroyed nationalized health care for another 40 years or so.

[DarrenM]

I thought that was what an "Obamanation" was?

[Zeb]

This is the worst of all worlds

Leibniz really has some explaining to do.

[Hyperion]

You are right, he's poisoning the well.

I know plenty of legal immigrants here as well as many, including myself who would like to streamline the immigration process and make it easier and not even one of these people are happy about Obama giving any amnesty to illegals. The legal immigrants are the ones who seem to be most pissed off about it. Who can blame them after what they've went through to be here.

[Sam Haysom]

No I assure you the American citizens who have said again and again no amnesty only to be completlely ignored are more angry about this than the legal immigrants who came to this nation to make money.

[Sam Haysom]

This point view requires one to think that the next Republican president will rescind the order. He will not; neither, for that matter would President Clinton. This is de facto amnesty. This above the law status will never be removed and these llegal aliens will remain in the United States for as long as they want.

The legislative amnesty you want will never happen. The senior, amnesty supporting members of congress in the Republican Party are all aging and near retirement or terrified of a primary challenge. There are maybe ten states, almost entirely in the Northeast, where a Republcian member of congress could support and amnesty bill that actually becomes law and survive a primary challenge. Open borders supporter are almost entirely correct in supporting the amnesty because it is the only way they will get the coolie bottom dollar labor they crave and encourage more illegal immigrants to defy our immigration laws. You are expecting a semi-literate peasant from Central America to understand the intricacies of executive orders. All they will see is the caudillo says Jose doesn't have to go home maybe that means I get to stay too if I get to America.

[John]

You are wrong about this not being reascended. You totally under estimate the border crisis this is going to create. See Fluffy's point below regarding medicaide. It will also totally overwhelm the public schools.

The public is not going to stand for this. The next President be he R or D will have to recend this status and start deporting people again. There will be no alternative. The resulting border crisis and refugee crisis will demand it.

The fallout of this is going to be, this status will be reascended and the political climate will be poisoned against any real immigration reform for a very long time. The Rush Limbaugh right who are feeling sorry for themselves thinking this won't be reversed are dead wrong.

[Sam Haysom]

How are they feeling sorry for themselves. They are doing nothing more than extrapolating from a long line of hispandering attempts by both parties. Everyone was sure Guantanomo was going to get closed and the ACA was going to be ruled unconstitutional. You are vastly underestimating politcal inertia and the fear of being called a racist,

I'm not underestimating the crisis this will generate on the border. That's exactly my point Juan is going to see Jose's law breaking rewarded and want in. How many of the children from the last wave of border rushing this summer were sent home. ICE literally dispersed then all across the nation so they would be harder to send home.

[John]

And apparently you think the American public is so stupid they are going to go along with that and do nothing to stop it because they don't want to be called "racist". That is just dumb. First, the blacks and the Mexicans who already here don't' worry about being called racist and they are going to freak. Second, the race card only works if playing it doesn't require any sacrifice. Once people see their interests actually being harmed, they wont' give a fuck about being called a racist anymore.

If you have so little respect for the people of this country that you think they will stand idly by and let the country be overwhelmed by refugees from Central America, you need to leave the country and just give up. Meanwhile in the real world, the country isn't as suicidal and stupid as you and people like you think it is.

[Colonel Slanders]

"Meanwhile in the real world, the country isn't as suicidal and stupid as you and people like you think it is."
...... I'm far from convinced of that, John.

[Sam Haysom]

It isnt about the country that's deflection from john so he doesn't have to confront the fact that immigration policy isn't controlled by popular referendum. You think a guy who mentions the unpopularity of Obamacare five times a day would understand that what the people want and what the politicians give them are not the same. Every single member of the Republcian leadership supports flooding the counrty with cheap labor. Yes their egos are aggrieved by Obama's Tsaritst procilitives but the fact is they all want more cheap labor from the Global South.

This is a GOP that openly defied their base on immigration before and in the primaries this year. does he really think that a party that ignores its base routinely is going to capitulate to a hypothetical ground swell of opposition especially when the other party is in no danger of capitalizing on popular opinion because it wants open borders too.

[John]

It isnt about the country that's deflection from john so he doesn't have to confront the fact that immigration policy isn't controlled by popular referendum

But the Congress and Presidency is. We only have the immigration policy we do because people don't vote on the issue. This will change that. If peopel get angry and demand that it stop, it will stop.

Sam, you are doing nothing but engaging in conservative fart smelling. I fucking hate that shit. It is the usual "everyone in America is stupid but us special conservatives and right wingers" bullshit. It is not fucking true.

Think about it, if this is so great and such a winner politically, why did Obama wait until he was a total lame duck with nothing to lose to do it?

Get over yourself same. The country isn't as dumb as you think it is and you are not as smart as you think you are.

[Faceless Commenter]

It will also totally overwhelm the public schools.

You say that like it's a bad thing. The lefty-controlled public schools will love it. It's a screaming opportunity to inculcate more white guilt with a bonus punishment for language supremacy.

Sorry to be over-simplistic, but this conversation is movin' fast...

[John]

The lefty parents of the kids already there are not going to stand for it.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The lefty parents of the kids already there are not going to stand for it.

They'll just move to whatever lefty SWPL whiteopia exists closest to them--the same as they did in the 70s-90s with busing. If you look in Denver, for instance, the city proper is thoroughly balkanized, and progressive havens like Boulder are almost entirely white.

Liberal whites love diversity until they have to actually live with it. And when they see it happening, they blatantly ensconce themselves in self-reinforcing neighborhoods where everyone thinks AND looks just like them, all while thinking that the occasional dinner at the barrio hole-in-the-wall makes them open-minded and progressive.

[Hyperion]

maybe that means I get to stay too if I get to America

This is the really dangerous thing about it, it's going to give a green light to open up a humanitarian crisis on the border with millions more trying to cross.

[John]

This is the really dangerous thing about it, it's going to give a green light to open up a humanitarian crisis on the border with millions more trying to cross.

Exactly that. And that is why this is going to end with this status being reascended and mass deportations. The country is not going to tolerate an endless and ongoing border crisis.

[kbolino]

Open borders supporter are almost entirely correct in supporting the amnesty because it is the only way they will get the coolie bottom dollar labor they crave and encourage more illegal immigrants to defy our immigration laws.

WTF?

[PapayaSF]

That is the motive for a lot of Chamber of Commerce open borders types, not necessarily the libertarian ones.

[kbolino]

Indeed, but even then it's only a negative when you factor in welfare and other subsidies. People who think that cheaper labor is axiomatically bad are mercantilists, not capitalists.

[PapayaSF]

Cheaper labor is not axiomatically bad, but I don't think a somewhat tight labor market, especially at the bottom, is axiomatically bad, either. If wages for low-end jobs rise a bit due to demand, that's more good than bad, I'd say. It certainly makes far more sense than raising the minimum wage.

[kbolino]

Any tightness specifically at the bottom end of the labor market is going to be artificial. If the supply exceeds demand, then the pay will move downward, and if the demand exceeds the supply, the pay will move upward. Whatever job is left with the greatest imbalance of supply over demand will be the lowest paid; in order for the market for the lowest paid jobs to be tight, the market for higher paid jobs must be even tighter.

Of course, restricting all immigration can cause tightness in the labor markets at all levels of the pay scale, but the higher pay will be offset by higher prices. Unless you restrict all trade as well, labor will move out of the country to follow the lower prices until the tightness domestically abates.

[PapayaSF]

Construction, farm, and handyman jobs won't move out of the country, because they have to happen here. (Yes, food can be imported, but that's not my point). And don't forget that higher unemployment and welfare costs also cost the economy. All told, it seems to me that a bit of tightness at the bottom by not importing millions of poor and uneducated people has more benefits than costs.

Back in the '50s, it was common for students on summer break to pick crops. An economic situation that caused that to happen again would solve many problems at once.

[kbolino]

And don't forget that higher unemployment and welfare costs also cost the economy

Hence my qualification about those very things. Welfare and the culture that demands it create the problematic environment. That was my original point.

Construction, farm, and handyman jobs won't move out of the country, because they have to happen here.

Yes, but they can be demanded less. Also, increasing the cost of an "inelastic" good or service will translate into greater downward pressure on the prices of more "elastic" goods and services. Handymen might benefit at the expense of farmers, for example.

Arguing about the economics of migration and trade in the absence of welfare and subsidies is just arguing about central planning in a different form.

[PapayaSF]

I don't think secure borders count as "central planning." It seems like a very minimal function of government to control the borders.

[kbolino]

I don't think secure borders count as "central planning." It seems like a very minimal function of government to control the borders.

Your conflation of multiple issues is tiresome.

Border security for health, criminal, or military reasons is not the same thing as restricting movement, property ownership, and employment based upon socioeconomic concerns.

[Sam Haysom]

It's simply the golden rule in action. I don't want a bunch of people from my industry immigrating to America so why on earth should I support that for other people. Espeicially when those are precisely the people with the fewest skills and hardest time making a living. This comes down to revealed preferences maybe lower wages are axiomatically bad but no one ever ever ever turns down a pay cut.

[Sam Haysom]

"Aren't axiomatically"

[kbolino]

no one ever ever ever turns down a pay cut

And no one ever turns down buying the same thing for less.

These two forces stand in opposition to each other, and it is precisely the balance between the two that dictates how the market functions.

If somebody can do your job for less, then eventually you will be out of a job.

[Sam Haysom]

Sure they do. All the time people pay more to buy american or buy local. And believe me there are a ton of lawyers in the third world you would read a contract for me for less than 300 dollars only Im not allowed to employ them. I think it should be exactly the same for coolie labor.

[kbolino]

Im not allowed to employ them ... I think it should be exactly the same for coolie labor.

And you are a mercantilist.

You have a nation-centric view of the world, rather than a rights-based one, and your economic philosophy reflects that.

A spade is a spade, and so I called it one.

If you are trying to argue that restricting your own freedom is the superior option, well then I politely suggest you have come to the wrong place.

[kbolino]

Sure they do. All the time people pay more to buy american or buy local.

Also, in response to this point, people also do turn down pay raises. If that raise carries more responsibility or involves some other sort of hassle, people will not always accept it. I assumed since you made an unqualified statement you were assuming implicit qualifications and so I responded in kind.

For everybody who insists on buying American or local, there is someone (or 10 someones) who insists on buying the cheapest or most readily available. Even trends are not universal.

[Faceless Commenter]

The senior, amnesty supporting members of congress in the Republican Party are all aging and near retirement or terrified of a primary challenge.

Paul Ryan
Jeb Bush
Marco Rubio

Okay, Jeb isn't in Congress, but he's in play.

[Zeb]

If you are an open borders guy, you should especially be angry about this.

Yes and yes. This isn't going to help at all.

[HeteroPatriarch]

...at the whims of the political process.

He's leaving them at the whims of Obama. Which, as Geithner, Gruber and HillDog can tell you, is not a comfortable place to be.

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

Congress will be needed for shit like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm64E5R12s8

[Skyhawk]

I'll join you on the open borders platform, as soon as my money isn't stolen from me at gunpoint to fund the welfare state, prison industrial complex, 24 million government employees, government-run schools, and multiple, redundant social buracracies, which will only get larger and more expensive with the influx of more and more third-worlders.
Until then, the evils of government confiscation of money and labor far outweigh any philosophical position on freedom of travel.

[Hyperion]

Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken

Exactly what does that mean and who are these 'everybody'?

It really does take a complete jackass to think that they speak for everyone.

I'll be the first to say that the immigration system is a draconian nightmare for anyone going through it. But broken? What is broken? If anything is broken it's that those who will not follow the rules are just left to get away with it, which is really unfair to everyone who has done it right.

It's really a sad state of affairs that we've come to the place where a president of the USA can act like this and get away with it just because of the color of his skin.

[PapayaSF]

This is the same mantra that got McCain-Feingold passed: "The campaign finance system is broken! We must do something!" Of course it turned out that various players were gaming the numbers, and the support for "reform" wasn't nearly what they had claimed.

[Zeb]

I'd say it's broken at least in the sense that it is at odds with reality in some big ways. But I don't think everyone agrees. And you really need to lay out some criteria for what would make it broken for that to be at all meaningful.

[Sam Haysom]

So it's broken in the same way Augusta National's admission policy is broken? Cause what you seem to be saying is that it is broken becauae people from other countries seem to not want to respect our laws.

[Zeb]

Not quite.

For one thing I don't respect many of our laws, so I wouldn't expect anyone else to either.

But the main point is that a law has to be enforceable. Even if it is good and just, it is broken in some sense if it can't be effectively enforced. And I don't believe that significant restrictions on immigration volume can be enforced without trampling on all sorts of other rights of citizens and legal immigrants and visitors. We already effectively have a rights free zone along the border and there are still loads of illegals coming in.

[kbolino]

We already effectively have a rights free zone along the border and there are still loads of illegals coming in.

This is true, but of course it is a reflection of the actual priorities of government. Not that I support any heavy-handed immigration action whether done extravagantly or otherwise, but the border patrol we have is focused on trampling citizens' rights with little concern for actually stemming illegal migration. It's much akin to the drug enforcement agencies in this regard.

The Germans were pretty damn efficient at killing the Jews; running all those death camps didn't put much of a strain on their economy. However, besides the repugnant, atrocious, evil, etc. aspects of the action, in so doing the Germans also destroyed their own banking and finance sectors. Their economy became almost entirely dependent on production, and when the Allies destroyed that production, they were economically devastated and unable to recover.

As I say upthread, you can often get what you want with the right application of violence. That doesn't mean what you want is a good thing or even if it is that it justifies the violence.

[OneOut]

I played 18 and ate lunch at Agusta National on Feb. 13 2003.

It is a date I will always remember

[R C Dean]

At some point, the real answer to the question of whether the sudden appearance of a virus that kills or paralyzes children is related at all to the importation of tens of thousands of children from an area where this virus is more prevalent is going to come out.

It may all be a huge coincidence, or not otherwise attributable to this summer's mass importation of Central American children, but if not, the shitstorm is going to be beyond epic.

[WTF]

It would actually have to be faithfully reported in the media for that to happen. Which is doubtful.

[R C Dean]

A CDC or other major institution issuing a report that this was not, in fact, a coincidence, and that American children were killed or crippled because of a decision to ignore immigration law cannot be buried by the media.

I honestly don't know the answer to why this bug suddenly popped up all over the country. But somebody is looking into it, and this is exactly the kind of question that epidemliogists can get a hard science answer to.

[Colonel Slanders]

"A CDC or other major institution issuing a report that this was not, in fact, a coincidence, and that American children were killed or crippled because of a decision to ignore immigration law cannot be buried by the media."
.......Wanna bet?

[R C Dean]

I'll take that bet, but a lot depends on how much pressure the CDC or other researchers come under to dilute or hide their conclusions.

If the research findings are that the current enterovirus outbreak is tracable to these Central American illegals, then I don't think that can be buried by anyone. We're talking dead and (worse, from an optics POV) crippled children.

[OneOut]

Where else could it have come from based upon the way it broke out in 41 states shortly after a wave of illegal children was dispursed throughout the country.

But it will be tamped down in the name of national security or sumpin.

Remember Benghazi !

[Andrew S.]

If that happens, it will be in LA, where you have a large immigrant population and close border proximity, coupled with a large number of anti-vaccine morons.

[Restoras]

A potentially interesting experiment in Darwinian selection.

[UnCivilServant]

Is there a vaccine for Enterovirus?

[Andrew S.]

It didn't click with me that he was talking about enterovirus until after I posted.

[SugarFree]

Slate gets high on its own farts.

President Obama's new, muscular position on immigration is the best evidence of his newfound freedom that has come after his party's big loss at the polls. He is no longer holding his fire to protect Democrats up for re-election in red states. (Some of his aides believe the restraint not only irritated him but led to the weak outcome.) This will likely be the first of few brawls in the president's final years in office. Apparently, he's learned that the best way to avoid becoming a lame duck is with your fists.

[John]

So how do they think Obama telling the country to go fuck themselves and completely ignoring the results of a national election is going to work out for Democrats going forward?

I am starting to think we are seeing the final delirious stages of a political death cult here.

[Rich]

Well, there's enough thrashing around to be delirium.

[Hyperion]

The progs are a cult. They want a strong messianic leader who will rule with an iron first. That's how cults work and why you become a member.

I haven't heard even one prog who doesn't think Obama should just go all out to defy the will of congress, the American public, or anyone else who tries to get in his way, and just dare them to stop him.

They're cultists, all of them. And stark raving mad. This is how people like Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and Stalin got into control and murdered millions.

I read too many comments the last time a major gun control effort failed about rounding up people at gun shows and putting them in camps, and they were serious. It's naive to not know who these leftists are, because they're the exact same as all of their predecessors.

[John]

The thing is that they were never able to get complete control. I honestly think that is why OBama was so butt hurt over citizens united. I think he actually thought he would be able to use the IRS and FEC to shut down dissent such that it would be too late for the people to ever object to the Prog policies.

The problem is that he failed. And the Progs don't have a dictatorship like they do in Zimbabwe or Venezuela. The voters can still kick them out of power. Since they are a cult, they can't accept that and are just pretending they can't. I am starting to think we are seeing the Democratic Party destroy itself.

Screw taking over the GOP. The Libertarians need to step into the wreckage of the Democratic Party after the Progs are done with it.

[PapayaSF]

Have you noticed how Sean Penn and Danny Glover and Oliver Stone and the rest of the Hollywood progs have gone silent about Venezuela recently? It must be time to find a new socialist state to champion, but the options are getting pretty slim. I suppose they might give up and devote their energies to President Fauxcahontas.

[Pro Libertate]

There's always the United States.

[Faceless Commenter]

HAHAHAHA.

[DarrenM]

I guess we're going to see how much damage he can do along with the faithful Dems.

[Pro Libertate]

If he uses power not delegated to him by the Constitution or, even conceding modern legal shenanigans, the Congress, he is acting illegally and criminally. Is that what Slate is applauding? Why not just say so, then? Tell us you want a dictatorship, Slate, and stop being coy.

[Restoras]

Of course that's what Slate wants...if their man is in charge.

[John]

The problem is that Obama is not a dictator. Maybe Slate missed that part. But in two years he is going to have to leave office and Democrats are going to have to answer for the things he is doing. T

[Restoras]

Democrats are going to have to answer for the things he is doing

After 8 years of Democrats blaming Bush for everything....I guess karma really is a bitch?

[Pro Libertate]

They should be careful. Under the Constitution, Bush can never be in charge again. Under a dictatorship, he could come back and stay back.

[kinnath]

The king is dead; long live the king.

[Zeb]

One thing I'm not at all clear on is how illegal it actually would be. Doesn't the immigration law give the executive a lot of discretion in how it is enforced? Was Reagan's amnesty illegal? Or is this different because he might just decline to enforce the law at all?

[Ron]

Reagan singed a law made by congress where as Obama is making up law that the constitution states clearly that that is the job of Congress

[josh]

there was also an executive order by reagan following the congressional legislation he signed into law.

[$park?'s head exploded]

The best President is a king. Blame the revolutionaries for fucking things up for almost 250 years.

[Taco]

ive often thought that even a man like Obama, if he was removed from the shackles of political intrigue, would become, virtually over night, shockingly more competent in the art of governing. Of course, Obama has a lot of room for growth.

[kbolino]

Obama decided that political intrigue was more important than adding value to people's lives the day he decided to become a politician. It was of course a natural evolution from his role as "community organizer" but he took up to eleven by pursuing the Presidency.

Political intrigue doesn't shackle him; it defines him. It is his preferred playground. If he didn't want to be "shackled" by political intrigue there are plenty of other things he could have done with his life.

[kbolino]

This probably comes off sounding like all politicians are equally craven, which is of course not the cause (although politicians as a group are undoubtedly more craven than most other groups of people due to selection bias).

Obama has never done anything of value in his life, so it is by pursuing politics without anything else to offer that he decided to make political intrigue central to his life.

[Rich]

high on its own farts

Nice band name.

[Derpetologist]

Your lunch time derp:

Berkeley students react to ISIS flag & Israeli flag. Guess which one they found more offensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOHJ06bsSow

Bonus- flag waver chided for smoking.

[Andrew S.]

No thanks. I'd like to keep my lunch down today.

[Juice]

They likely assumed that the ISIS flag waver was in no way serious. I would if I were walking by a white, unbearded American dude waving an ISIS flag.

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

Alternate alt-text:

"My, what a punchable face!"

[Fluffy]

Where this is going to fuck us big time is Medicaid.

The Times has an article today trumpeting how the executive action will probably not make illegal eligible to participate in Obamacare's subsidy system for private insurance - but it pointedly doesn't mention Medicaid.

And here's something you might not know about Medicaid:

It doesn't cover illegal immigrants for that many services. They get covered for emergency services only - which is why they go to emergency rooms for all their care.

But Medicaid has an eligibility category called "Persons Resident Under Cover of Law", which includes non-citizens and non-permanent resident aliens who otherwise wouldn't be eligible. Massachusetts, for example, defines these persons as:

Persons permanently residing under color of law" (PRUCOL) refers to persons residing in the U.S. who are known to the immigration authorities and whose extended presence in the U.S. is tolerated by those authorities although they have not been granted legal status.

This used to mean people who had open deportation orders that were under administrative or judicial appeal. But surely anyone can see how anybody included in Obama's executive order will now be PRUCOL also?

And as soon as you're PRUCOL you're eligible for all Medicaid services. Including nursing home care, which is where the real money gets spent.

So kiss your tax dollars good-bye, boys.

[Restoras]

So kiss your tax dollars good-bye, boys.

Aren't we long past this already and deep into its just a matter of time before all private wealth is confiscated?

[John]

For a while at least. Once waves of illegals start showing up and overwhelming hospitals and bankrupting states, I am pretty sure they are going to lose that "cover of law".

If you wanted to turn the country against immigration and against the Democrats, you could not come up with a better way than doing this. This is going to end up being a complete catastrophe for the Democrats and the country at large.

[Restoras]

This is going to end up being a complete catastrophe for...the country at large

Considering how important legal immigration has been to the country, and what the potential backlash could be from nativists, I think you are dead right.

[Fluffy]

bankrupting states

I wonder how the states who went along with the Medicaid expansion are going to feel about having the demographics underlying their cost projections completely trashed in a single afternoon.

SUCKERS

[Restoras]

Guessing that since the pols in office won't be there when the bill comes due...they won't give a crap?

[UnCivilServant]

I wonder how the states who went along with the Medicaid expansion are going to feel about having the demographics underlying their cost projections completely trashed in a single afternoon.

Cost projections? Blue States? You are joking, right?

[Faceless Commenter]

Cost projections? Blue States? You are joking, right?

And considering this now applies to the federal budget as well, I don't see these concerns about budgets busted on Medicaid or schools resulting in anything but screams of greed and racism. Even if these budget problems are publicized, the lefties in the MSM and MIT will identify a solution that soft independents will luv: soak the rich. Especially the corporashuns.

[Restoras]

Right, which will lead to a wholesale confiscation of IRAs, 401Ks, any cash deemed excessive and wasted capital.

[Faceless Commenter]

I have endless contempt for the soft indies. I know one who personifies for me the evil of ignorance and indifference. I have Alison firmly in mind every time I imagine how Americans will react to these horrific policy developments.

When you come for Alison's IRA, 401k, and excess cash, she will have ZERO understanding of why it is happening. She'll cry because she'll have to sell her house and send her kids to a state college, but if you sit her down and explain things carefully, she will come to see that because she's a white American, she had it coming.

[Faceless Commenter]

I wonder how the states who went along with the Medicaid expansion are going to feel about having the demographics underlying their cost projections completely trashed in a single afternoon.

California will feel just fine about it. Our state legislature is a wonder to behold. I'm sure they're salivating at the prospect of the fines, taxes, levies, etc that they'll be slinging at the rich. I'm just longing for the day when that scene in Doctor Zhivago takes place in a Beverly Hills mansion. "Welcome, comrade. Your home was adequate for 32 families."

[XM]

I'm no open borders guy, but I don't think illegals will overwhelm schools and local hospitals. Most of them go to the same 5,6 states. Around 40 states are still white, at the top of my head.

But illegal immigration isn't like pot. If you increase the access, you'll probably get more of it.

It's so strange to me. Immigration is "broke" here because the undocumented are allowed to stay here by thousands stuck in legal limbo. In most parts of the world, non citizens won't even get basic services.

So the solution is to facilitate illegal immigration? Thousands of South Americans crossed the borders just this year.

Obama will probably require some sort of residency, but so what? If you snuck in here tomorrow and stay undeported for a few years, you might be eligible for amnesty in the future.

[John]

I'm no open borders guy, but I don't think illegals will overwhelm schools and local hospitals. Most of them go to the same 5,6 states. Around 40 states are still white, at the top of my head.

Not true. The border states can't handle them. The feds have been relocating them to every state in the country. And once word gets out there will be hundreds of thousands crossing the border. it will be an epic disaster.

[R C Dean]

Something else about Medicaid:

1/3 of the money is state money.

So I think this PRUCOL issue is going to give the states standing to sue the administration, as well, to block this. This could be a major budget hit to some states. CA won't sue, but AZ and TX will, I can assure you.

[Faceless Commenter]

Thank you in advance for bailing us out. President Jeb will push for it.

[PapayaSF]

I believe illegals and their children are also eligible for SNAP and TANF.

[OneOut]

And WIC.

Every food store in Texas has a sign in Spanish saying WIC accepted here.

[RAHeinlein]

And obviously education/special education.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

The Emergency Room rules need to be changed as well. If someone bleeding out then yes treat the patient and deal with the cost later. But if it's something that can wait, triage them out of the Emergency Room.

[PapayaSF]

Or treat them, and then deport them.

[waffles]

FINALLY. I was super worried that Obama would never stand up to the evil forces that oppose him. He is the lightbringer and as such shall make the right decision to bring peace and prosperity to the world. Fuck all you racist scum who would deny Him His LEGACY.

[Hyperion]

According to Tony, the most important thing in the Universe is Obama's legacy points. Fuck the economy and everything else, only Obama's legacy matters.

[PapayaSF]

Oh, Obama has a legacy all right. Several. It's just that none of them are positive.

[OneOut]

I so look forward to the "out of office" tell all type books strt hitting the market.

There will undoubtablely be some minions who can't for hubris reason like Grueber, or won't for financial reasons, spill all the behind the scene beans.

[PapayaSF]

There is also an interesting book to be written about the healthcare.gov disaster.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long," Obama said. "So what' I'm going to be laying out is the things I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better even as I continue to work with Congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan, comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem."

The wise response (which TEAM Red won't do) would be to tell the President, "that's great! You keep expanding executive authority, which will eventually fall into our hands again. Meanwhile, we'll be over passing bills to stop your illegal war in Syria and spying on the American public, which we will bundle with things you wouldn't otherwise sign. When you don't sign them, we will wail to the Heavens how you are in favor of illegal wars without Congressional approval and want to spy on Americans everywhere. Just for shits and giggles, we'll fast-track a bill to forgive student loan debts that are older than 15 years, which will be loaded down with a bunch of other TEAM Red pet projects."

[Sam Haysom]

The Republcians know that the second a Republican is sworn into office the special executive branch dispensation from criticism will expire. For that matter, if a Republican president were to revoke Obama's executive amnesty the word racist would dominate the next two weeks of media coverage.

[John]

For that matter, if a Republican president were to revoke Obama's executive amnesty the word racist would dominate the next two weeks of media coverage.

When the schools stop functioning in large areas of the country due to the influx of illegala and the hospitals overflow and the stream of illegals continues unabaited, the race card will be maxed out.

The other thing to remember is that these people are from Central America. Not every "Hispanic" is some La Raza pan racial moron. Most of the ones who vote are Mexicans. And Mexicans hate Central Americans. Mexico has brutal immigration laws to keep them out. If you think actual Mexican Americans are going to sign on board for importing an endless influx of Central Americans you are kidding yourself.

[Hyperion]

Yes, Latin Americans can be just as racist as anyone. The Mexicans will call someone they think is dumb and/or poor, a Guatemalan. I have spent quite a bit of time down there along the Mayan Riviera and I heard this all of the time.

In south America, everyone from most countries will do the same, only substitute Bolivian or Paraguayan for Guatemalan.

The Dems non-sense about only White North Americans being racist is absurd to the extreme.

[waffles]

My sister in law has a pet Guatemalan who is an excellent computer programmer.

[DarrenM]

Is he house-broken?

[Faceless Commenter]

If you think actual Mexican Americans are going to sign on board for importing an endless influx of Central Americans you are kidding yourself.

Anecdotal evidence says the Spanish language unites them all against the greedy white racists. Even sweeps in the Caribbean contingent.

[Faceless Commenter]

When the schools stop functioning in large areas of the country due to the influx of illegala and the hospitals overflow and the stream of illegals continues unabaited, the race card will be maxed out.

Here's another theorem for how the race card works: The greater the burden on it, the bigger it becomes. It's like a muscle that you exercise. The more states and localities suffer because of over-burdened schools and hospitals, the more compliant they're gonna get. I'd bet on that.

[John]

And you will lose that bet. Not everyone is retarded. God I hate the elitist self pitying shit that goes on on here sometimes.

[Faceless Commenter]

It's not self-pity. It's skepticism. My state of California actually enacted a retroactive tax by POPULAR REFERENDUM in 2012. Not even some trick imposed by the legislature -- they did it to themselves because among other things we needed to educate illegal aliens in our state universities.

And Sam is right that the minute a Republican president rescinds these illegal privileges, every headline for two weeks will contain the word "Racist." But we don't need to worry about that. President Jeb will instead recognize that Obama committed no felony but rather "an act of love."

[MarkinLA]

It is true that politicians get more afraid of offending the illegals as they become a bigger problem for the rest of society.

[John]

Two things. First, what happens when word of this gets out and immigrants from central America start coming over the border by the tens of thousands? That is what will happen if he does this. Living on the street in the US is better than life for most people in Central America. So we will have thousands of illegals showing up with no jobs, no where to live, who have a right to both medicare and to send their kids to school and to show up at any emergency room and demand free healthcare. Meanwhile, Obama will be refusing to deport any of them.

Second, for him to do this, someone will have to print out and issue the cards. Congress plans to not appropriate the funds to do that. And they will now have the power to send him separate funding bills. So he won't be able to shut down the entire government over this. He will have to shut down DOD and Social Security because he is butt hurt over Congress demanding he enforce the immigration laws.

[Masturbatin' Pete]

And when Congress doesn't give him the money to spend on ID cards, Obama will refuse to sign any continuing resolutions to keep the rest of the government open. The government will shut down, and Obama will call this "the Republican shutdown," and the press and public will buy it.

Oh, you don't think so? Well that's exactly what happened in the 1990's. Congress sent Clinton bills to keep the government open. He refused to sign them because they weren't what he wanted. And he blamed the GOP for his own failure to sign. Guess who won?

[John]

Can't do that Pete. They won't send him a big single bill. They will send him partial bills. So he will be stuck vetoing unrelated legislation trying to get his immigration pony, which the country hates. That won't fly. Good luck shutting off people's social security and refusing to pay the debt because you want this. Since the Republicans own the Senate come January, that is what they will do. The only reason he got to shut down the whole government last year was because Harry Reid made it that way. Harry can't do that anymore.

[GILMORE]

""Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long"

... "How it Should Have Continued"

"...and While i have been president here in Washington, I have myself conveniently ignored the subject until all my political capital was completely blown, because daring to actually reform the system would have resulted in an even-greater electoral slaughter than I have recently received.

Now, realizing that I have little influence over the direction of legislation, rather than attempt to engage in the kind of aisle-crossing, 'hopey-changey' stuff I campaigned on in 2008, promising to represent 'all Americans', I am going to enact unilateral changes to law enforcement that are purely symbolic, and which offer *zero real permanent changes or improvements* to our Immigration system, but which will force Republicans to engage in a long battle of opposition for the next two years, effectively dragging them into a fight which I know will result in political fragmentation of their base, and help drive immigrants and minorities to my now-weakened party for 2016. Do not listen to the voices of Cynicism! Why? When I can provide *real tangible evidence of it in Action!"

[The Late P Brooks]

The timing on this is odd. Doing it now, it seems, will poison the well for any kind of lame duck shenanigans the temporarily Democratic Senate may want to try.

The subtlety of his Constitutional understanding may have led him to believe the Republicans have already taken control of the Senate.

[Rich]

LOL

[PapayaSF]

+1. But as I said above, one theory is that he is trolling the GOP, hoping they'll do something stupid.

[jmomls]

Soooo, this means President Biden by next Thursday?

[Hyperion]

At least that would give us a 2 year supply of unending gaffes to laugh about. Biden is at least funny, even though not intentionally. Obama is just petulant and boring.

[Mainer2]

You know who else is petulant and boring.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Bill Maher?

[DarrenM]

Whatever it is he does, he could have done it much much sooner assuming it is legal to begin with. While I'm sure illegals would be happy with anything they can get, I wonder how they feel about being so disrespected by Democrats and (from their actions) seen by them as infantile and stupid.

[Faceless Commenter]

They'll get over it real quick. That Luiz Gutierrez, who was all but calling Obama a sellout, is already licking his shoes again.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm issuing a citizen's order to fix the broken government on Thursday as well. It starts with ejecting the entire administration and locking them up until they can be tried.

[Mainer2]

And afte the trials...crucifixion ?

[Pro Libertate]

Crucifixion is too good for many of them.

[Mainer2]

So...to the pain.

...the first thing you will lose will be your feet below the ankles. Then your hands at the wrists. Next your nose. The next thing you will lose will be your left eye followed by your right. Your ears you keep and I'll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, "Dear God! What is that thing," will echo in your perfect ears. That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever.

[Pro Libertate]

That seems equitable.

[Leo]

Out of the door, line on the left, one cross each.

[Drake]

This is how a Republic gradually decays into shit. I feel like I'm in Rome about a decade before Sulla start proscribing his opponents.

The next logical escalation when a Republican is elected - an Executive Order to the IRS to stop collecting capital gains taxes, or lowering rates. Why not? Obama did and nobody in the media complained!

In a few years two or three megalomaniacs are fighting to make themselves President for Life.

[DarrenM]

This could be a great computer game. Factions fighting among themselves to become "Emperor of the (Dis-)United States".

[PapayaSF]

Also note: it looks like Obama is starting a program to allow Central American refugees to apply for refugee status in their home countries, and then we fly them here at taxpayer expense! Un-frickin'-believable.

[Drake]

You selfish prick. You think you deserve your money more than random Central American peasants?

[The DerpRider]

Is it bad that I can't tell if you're being sarcastic?

[John]

He is not. This is what he is going to do. You guys think I am kidding. He is going to spark a full on humanitarian crisis in this country. And the country is going to fucking revolt over it.

[houdustin]

i buy almost everything except food and clothing from online auctions most people aren't aware of the almost I unbelievable deals that they can get from online auction sites the site that has the best deals is............................
====== http://WWW.WORK4HOUR.COM

[Tony]

What's up guys? We still pretending that Republican opposition isn't 100% about pandering to people who are scared of the brownies polluting their precious lily-white gene pool? And we still pretending that instead of that being the problem, it's Obama existing and doing stuff?

[XM]

That's strange, because the Republicans in the last elections made slight gains among minorities and women, and lot of non whites didn't even bother to vote.

Are we still pretending that Obama is a transparent president who seeks input from congress? What's up with Gruber?

Does your white liberal friends tell you that immigrants spend every waking moment worrying about immigration, and what happens to undocumented friends?

Tony, Tony, Tony. You're talking about a world you don't even understand. Go work for an old school immigrant, or work among them for 3 years, and then talk.

[PapayaSF]

So Tony, what accounts for the opposition to mass immigration by blacks and many Hispanics? Are they racists, too?

[Tony]

Why are you under the impression that the policy under consideration is to open the floodgates of immigration?

[PapayaSF]

Because that happens every time there's an amnesty, or even talk of one.

[FYTW]

I'm sorry, sir, but your race card's been declined. The issuing bank says it's maxed out.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

We still pretending that Republican opposition isn't 100% about pandering to people who are scared of the brownies polluting their precious lily-white gene pool?

Yeah, that's why you live in a gated community and not the barrio.

There's no hypocrite like a lefty hypocrite.

[Tony]

I live in the most diverse part of town. Granted it's one of the most segregated towns in the country, but that's not my fault. I prefer living around brown people than ignorant hillbillies any day of the week.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I live in the most diverse part of town.

Yeah, in a guarded security high-rise.

I prefer living around brown people than ignorant hillbillies any day of the week.

You just don't want them for neighbors, apparently.

[XM]

"I live in the most diverse part of town."

Which is meaningless without context. The most diverse part of town in the whitest parts of the country should still be white. Or sparsely populated.

Not only do I live in a diverse town, but my family is also "diverse". So diverse that I can't speak English to them, "them" being my parents and siblings.

You prefer to live among "Brown people"? OK, then find jobs at their market, make love to their women, and live inside their home for a decade. Watch their shows, eat their food, and share their little problems. No, the office Halloween party and a fling doesn't count.

Have you noticed that even California is beginning to crack down on wage theft, which is a regular occurrence in ethnic zones? I worked for 5 bucks an hour too.

Seriously dude, shut your mouth. You know nothing about immigrants. They have their faults and virtues, you don't get to put them on pedestal only when they suit your agenda. Republicans who question Obama's unilateral actions aren't wrong whatsoever.

[MarkinLA]

I live in the most diverse part of town

Let me guess the part of Pomona where all the Claremont college professors live - the hood.

[sasob]

I prefer living around brown people than ignorant hillbillies any day of the week.

"Hillbillies"? Oh, come now - you really wanted to say "crackers", didn't you? You have a lot of nerve to be insinuating anyone is racist - you're the most racist piece of trash on these boards.

[Masturbatin' Pete]

The believe that Congress will be able to stop any of this through legislative action is a pathetic fantasy that ignores the history of the past twenty years.

It doesn't matter how much the public hates amnesty. If Congress sends Obama a budget that doesn't have money in it for Free Shit for Illegals, he'll veto it. And when the government shuts down, the press will run stories about the poor government workers who got furloughed and how granny isn't getting her Social Security check because of the evil Republicans.

And that's the end. The Republicans will fold because the public will turn on them instantly.

[PapayaSF]

The last shutdown was supposed to be Armageddon for Republicans, but they cleaned up in the mid-terms. I think the public will be even less likely to blame the GOP if there's a showdown about amnesty, because the majority or voters are against amnesty.

[Masturbatin' Pete]

The GOP was saved by fortunate timing: just as the shutdown ended, the Obamacare rollout debacle began. But prior to that point, the GOP's approval ratings were tanking.

[MarkinLA]

The GOP has to broadcast load and clear they are stopping amnesty. Let Obama defend not sending the checks out on behalf of illegal aliens.

[kayledysonmul]

my best friend's step-aunt makes $78 every hour on the internet . She has been laid off for ten months but last month her pay was $13879 just working on the internet for a few hours. try this web-site....

?????? http://www.payinsider.com

[Jahgro]

I remember when libertarians were for open borders and amnesty for all immigrants. That was when libertarians were actually libertarians, and not social conservatives who claimed the name libertarian.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I remember when libertarians were for open borders and amnesty for all immigrants.

You're more than welcome to show us how living in the barrio is done. Try it for about 5 years; I suspect you'll come out of it more racist than a Klansman.

[Anvol]

In a Libertarian society, open borders would be a boon.

This is not a Libertarian society.

[Chuckie]

Obama knows he is going to cause a lot of trouble for everyone, but he hopes to poison the well with Hispanics for the republicans.

Obama doesn't care about immigration, per se. He is interested in changing the demographics of the USA to create a more favorable climate for a dominate democrat party in the future. He'd be thrilled if they learned to hate everyone but democrats like the blacks have been taught.

He needs to poison the well to prevent meaningful legislation regarding immigration between now and 2016 so they can use it again in 2016.

I expect a continued inflow of illegal immigrants to come in to fill the jobs the new "work approved" immigrants will be leaving. And who's jobs will they be taking?

Obama is really sticking it to the working man. Working "citizen" that is, as if that means anything anymore.

[Faceless Commenter]

This is it exactly. If you can't win elections, don't change your policies -- change the electorate.

[Tony]

Do you know what would solve every single thing you're talking about? The Republicans helping to pass an immigration reform bill.

But they can't because they think it would piss off their base. So you're right, Obama is trolling them. If Republicans can't get the Hispanic vote because they just can't help but be giant racist fucks toward them all, that is not really Obama's problem.

[MarkinLA]

Do you know what would solve every single thing you're talking about?

Operation Wetback II

[MarkinLA]

What is funny with this is all the dip-shit liberals who cry that the white working poor are voting against their interests by voting Republican. How does a poor white gain by flooding the country with Mexicans?

[socwwp]

Why can't the House pass a bill that includes a border enforcement provision and take it to conference? I would suggest a provision that would allow state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal law in this respect. That would likely do the job.

[MarkinLA]

And have that garbage gang of 8 bill be what will basically be voted on in both houses?

Where were you when people were warned by Congressmen that conferencing was how Boehner was planning to sneak an amnesty through?

[PapayaSF]

The trouble with "comprehensive" immigration reform bills was shown in 1986: the amnesty happens, but Democrats and activist lawyers prevent the border from being secured. So, first, secure the border and deport the dangerous criminals and welfare cases, and then we can talk amnesty.

[MarkinLA]

It isn't just Democrats. I don't seem to remember a whole lot being done about border security by the Republicans either.

[NYC80]

Good to hear that he still hasn't mastered subject-verb agreement and that he's still wiping his a$$ with the Constitution. Maybe tomorrow he can tell us about how "Michelle and myself" are doing something else to butcher the language while they eviscerate liberty.

[iEagleHammer]

This may have been said, but I'll put the obvious question out there...

If it's in his legal authority to do this unilaterally, why didn't he do it sooner?

[uhclem]

I cannot believe so many on here are angry at the President for allowing Mexicans (etc.) to stay/come here, and you're not in the least upset that he's decided to chuck the Constitution and rule like a king.

Article Two lists none of the powers he pretends to have.

[PapayaSF]

you're not in the least upset that he's decided to chuck the Constitution and rule like a king

Are you new here? We all agree on that.

[Ian MacLeod]

Ruling by decree is the problem - Obama has always thought he was a king. Democracy? What's that? Certainly nothing HE has a use for. As for "the broken immigration system," exactly who was it that BROKE IT in the first place?? This country has had it. If Obama hasn't been impeached by now it's not going to happen, and THAT means there WILL be an armed takeover - by our own military, or the U.N.m or both or, who knows, maybe he'll ask for a Muslim army to come in to do what no one else will. Regardless, America is sunk.

[MarkinLA]

Blame the party system for the lack of impeachment. How many in the past should have been impeached but weren't because there weren't enough Senators who would cross party lines?

Madison thought that the branches of government would jealously hold onto their powers under the Constitution. He probably never imagined a conveyor belt of worthless ass-lickers where everybody is waiting their turn at power if they just stay on the belt and don't rock the boat.

[GabrielS]

Obama is quite clearly engineering this legislation to help Hispanics and thus shift the ethnic and political balance of America in his favor. It is being reported that the legislation will protect illegals who were brought here as children. This subset of illegals are almost all Hispanics who were brought across the border from South America. It does NOTHING to protect immigrants who came here from Europe, Russia and Asia, who largely came here as adults and didn't drag their families across a border.

I came alone to this country 30 years ago from Israel and became a citizen through marriage after almost 10 years of being "illegal." And during that time, I started 2 legal businesses in New York. You can obtain a tax ID from the IRS which allows you to obtain an EIN and thus you have the credentials to register a business with the state, become an agent to collect sales tax and hire legal employees on a payroll. Despite having no legal status, I did everything else by the book. During my illegal years I paid every cent of my taxes, I collected an estimated $400,000 in sales taxes for the state and created, in that time, around 20 jobs. I would estimate that I paid in the region of $100,000 in income taxes.

[GabrielS]

Continued due to character limit:

Yet Obama's planned legislation does absolutely nothing to help people like the person I was 30 years ago. There is no proposed help for non-Hispanic illegals who don't have "family ties" here but who contribute immensely to the economy and pay their taxes. And the reason is simple - they are of the wrong ethnicity. Obama wants to shift the ethnic balance of America toward "people of color," and he knows that South Americans are much more likely to be sympathetic to a socialist agenda. It really is as simple as that.

A far more just plan would have been to immediately grant green cards to people who can prove that they've paid taxes for at least 5 years. Obama wants to help the children of illegals from South America, and he doesn't give a damn if they've ever paid a cent in taxes, if they have a criminal history, if they've ever ran up a $5000 bill at the emergency room and fled without paying. He had a huge opportunity here to recognize the contribution that illegals have made on their own merits, but instead he's blowing ahead with the usual leftist agenda of ethnic and political engineering. If you have the right skin color and are from a country with a history of socialist revolution, well gee here's your green card. A European entrepreneur who creates jobs and supports free markets? Sorry, you're the wrong "kind." I despise him with every fiber of my body.

[Bgoptmst]

Well, if millions of Israelis were illegally coming here and likely to vote democrat you would see a huge shift on his view about the Palestinians.

Pandering is only worthwhile if it changes elections. A common sense approach based off of logic and reason is just too complicated.

[sasob]

The only thing Obama is interested in is destroying this country as we know it. That's the only way you "fundamentally change" something - you can't do that without destroying its essence.

Look who his friends have been - Frank Davis, Reverend Wright, William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, and others, including his finally-proud-of-her-country wife, Michelle - all of them America Haters from way back. And so is Barrack Hussein Obama.

[plusafdotcom]

BambiB, that argument cuts both ways... I just posted a question about Obama's "fourth approach" where I asked why, if HIS administration is responsible for 'securing our borders,' why does his 'solution' include going after US EMPLOYERS who HIRE illegals?

If O had done his job, the borders would be secure and US employers would have no illegals available to hire!

And as for the tons of H1-B 'foreigners' taking jobs from 'our graduates,' keep in mind that some of those visas get 'sold out' within a month or so of a new crop being offered. There's tons more demand for those visas than we even allow, and many of those 'foreigners' are experienced businesspeople ready, willing and eager to move here, start businesses and HIRE Americans as their business expands. Not letting 'em in in the first place can be a drag on our own economy's growth! Stop the black-and-white simplifications! There's lots of gray areas to this alleged 'problem'.....