Obama’s immigration order corrects egregious flaw

[babylonsister]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/06/15/obama-immigration-order-corrects-egregious-flaw/6v9nGykLAx3ZLbBmJoIm4O/story.html


Obama’s immigration order corrects egregious flaw

June 16, 2012

Even if, as many Republicans are suggesting, President Obama’s decision to end the deportation of most undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before age 16 is politically motivated, it is good policy.

The directive announced on Friday closely mirrors provisions of the long-sought DREAM Act, which would have granted legal status to young people who grew up here and either served in the military or attended college for two years. The administration made the sensible decision that, with scarce resources to crack down on undocumented workers, there is no point in wasting them on young people who entered the country through no decision of their own.

snip//

Rubio is right that the country needs immigration reform legislation to ensure that federal policies properly balance security, fairness, and the economic needs of the 21st century. The order that was announced Friday will apply to only about 800,000 of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. But just because it is not the statutory fix that’s needed doesn’t mean Obama’s directive is mistaken. Young people who’ve grown up as Americans, in some cases from infancy, and earned degrees, fought for the country in war, or shown exceptional character in their communities should not be deported.

Everyone has heard the sad stories about the hard-working valedictorians who, upon turning 18, discovered, in some cases without ever suspecting, that they were in the country illegally. Obama deserves credit for correcting a major flaw in the country’s immigration policies — whatever his ulterior motives.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Nah! It's far more fun to punish kids for the "sins" of their parents...

(Just in case