Jeb tries out cynical, two-faced politics on immigration using Pres. Obama's exec order as a prop

[bigtree]

Talking Points Memo ?@TPM
Jeb Bush launches hazy immigration attack on Obama http://bit.ly/1zLJUIg

Jeb Bush is seizing on a federal judge's order halting President Barack Obama's executive actions to protect millions of immigrants from deportation, using it to test drive a message on the explosive issue ahead of an expected 2016 presidential bid.

"Last year, the president overstepped his executive authority and, in turn, hurt the effort toward a common sense immigration solution. That's not leadership. The millions of families affected across the country deserve better," Bush wrote in a Facebook posting on Tuesday.

"Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to work with Congress to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system," he added.

Bush's statement raises more questions than it answers. What more do the "millions of families affected" by the actions "deserve" that Obama hasn't given them? A path to citizenship? And what sort of a "fix" to the "broken immigration system" does Bush support?

He didn't say, and his stance remains something of a mystery...

Bush's past attempts to thread that needle have gotten him into trouble with conservatives and raised eyebrows among immigrant-rights advocates. Last April, he sympathized with illegal border-crossers, calling it an "act of love" on behalf of their families, but he was unsympathetic to those who overstay their visa, saying the country should "politely ask them to leave." Last month, he skipped an Iowa event hosted by immigration hawk Rep. Steve King (R-IA), and instead went to San Francisco to deliver a paean to border security and call for "a path, to legalized status for those that have come here and have languished in the shadows..."

read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/jeb-bush-attack-obama-immigration?utm_content=buffer19120&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer


Patrick Bjork ?@bjork55 54m54 minutes ago
What the ruling temporarily halting Obama's #immigration actions means http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/17/1364984/-What-the-ruling-temporarily-halting-Obama-s-immigration-actions-means … via @dailykos #p2

Federal district judge Andrew Hanen on Monday night temporarily halted the deportation relief that President Obama had granted for up to five million undocumented immigrants, including those over 30 who were brought to the U.S. as children and parents of U.S. citizen children and legal residents. The eleventh-hour injunction came just as applications for the expanded group of Dreamers were to become available Wednesday. The decision could also affect the program for undocumented parents, known as Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA).

Here's what the injunction means:

1) Obama's executive actions are temporarily blocked from moving forward.

2) The ruling was not a final decision on the merits of the case or the constitutionality of President Obama's actions, though that is what the GOP-led lawsuit brought by 26 states ultimately seeks to do.

3) The ruling is, however, an ominous sign, suggesting that Hanen expects to ultimately side with the plaintiffs by finding that President Obama has exceeded his executive authority.

4) The administration issued a statement at 2:47 AM Tuesday morning denouncing the decision and saying that the Department of Justice determined that Obama was "well within his legal authority" and the department would appeal the decision. That appeal is expected to happen within a few weeks.

5) Immigration advocates say hold tight and don't panic. This is the first step of a process and legal advocates remain confident that the courts will ultimately rule Obama's actions constitutional. Immigration advocates are focused on continuing to prepare people for enrollment in both the expanded Dreamer program (DACA) and DAPA.

read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/17/1364984/-What-the-ruling-temporarily-halting-Obama-s-immigration-actions-means

[bigtree]

1. .