This Day In Immigration Reform

To be filed under, it’s a start."  From Mother Jones:

Has President Barack Obama found a way to enact the principles of the DREAM Act—the bill that would prevent the deportation of young undocumented immigrants who are students or military veterans—without passing the measure itself? Unable to move this legislation through the Republican-controlled Congress, the Obama administration has used its executive authority to shape immigration policy in line with the DREAM Act. This month, in a little-noticed move, Obama's immigration chief advised Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to use discretion when considering whether to deport certain undocumented immigrants who are particularly vulnerable or have strong community ties to the country. That is, go easy on the sort of undocumented immigrants that the DREAM Act could benefit, among others.

And using Dream Act-like language:

According to the memo, there is a range of issues that federal agents, attorneys, and other officials should consider in deciding whether to pursue deportation. They include: whether the person is a military veteran; has made "contributions to the community"; acts as a caretaker of the infirm or disabled; or is very young, very old, pregnant, or nursing.

Morton's order also instructs federal officials to weigh the circumstances of an undocumented immigrant's arrival in the US—especially if he or she came as a young child—and whether the individual graduated from high school or college, or is currently pursuing higher education. The memo explicitly states that no group of immigrants is categorically excluded from deportation. So there’s no get-out-of-deportation-free card.

Of course, very glad to see the administration using Executive Authority to circumvent the completely dysfunctional Congressional standstill around immigration. But a little bit concerned that the article states the policy is more about limited resources, than doing what’s right.

The memo was meant to "prioritize the agency's limited resources on targeting criminal aliens and those that put public safety at risk," ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told Mother Jones. "The directive clearly states that the exercise of discretion is inappropriate in cases involving threats to public safety, national security and other agency priorities."

All in all, not a path to citizenship, but some breathing room. And that is important to a lot of people suffering in their daily lives from the lack of will to come up with comprehensive immigration reform.