San Antonio Express News: Battle lines drawn over expected Obama immigration order

By David McCumber, Washington Bureau

November 13, 2014 | Updated: November 13, 2014 11:01pm

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s planned executive action to overhaul the immigration system was greeted with anger and threats Thursday from some Republican lawmakers — and guarded optimism from immigration-reform proponents who have seen so many initiatives fall by the wayside.

The plan, as reported by the New York Times and Fox News, would shield up to 5 million immigrants from deportation and provide legal work documents to many.

It would include the parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents. It could also include the parents of “dreamers” — undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, many of whom are themselves temporarily protected from deportation under Obama’s deferred-action program known as DACA.

Plans reportedly call for beefing up security on the southern border even as the administration removes the threat of deportation from many immigrants who are already in the country.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest, traveling with President Obama in Asia, said no final decisions on the executive action would be made until after Obama returns to the White House on Sunday.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said Thursday night, “The President is doing the right thing by using executive action. Republicans should not want to tear apart families, deport DREAMERs, or kick out people with high-tech skills that are the innovators of our economy.”

Luis Yanez, who recently earned a marketing degree at San Antonio College and is now studying radio, television and film, said an order giving his parents benefits similar to his own under deferred action would be a relief.

When Yanez was 14, his father was deported. His family struggled, and Yanez had to take a job painting houses. Today, as he waits for his deferred-action application to be processed, Yanez worries what would happen to his siblings if his parents are deported.

“I have two younger sisters that are American citizens, and I worry that if something would happen to (my parents), my little sisters would suffer,” said Yanez, 24, who applied for deferred action himself in October.

Jaime Martinez, chairman of the Cesar E. Chavez Legacy and Education Foundation in San Antonio, said it was a mistake for Obama to wait until after the midterm elections to announce his immigration plan.

“People did not vote, but I think the Democrats would have done a lot better if President Obama had acted on the issue of immigration reform,” Martinez said.

George Rodriguez, the South Texas coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, said the Obama order would be the inevitable result of a slide down a slippery slope that began with DACA.

“If you make an exception for one group, you have to make an exception for other groups, and that’s exactly what’s happening,” Rodriguez said. “Our country is becoming the orphanage of the world. I don’t blame people for wanting to bring their kids to America. We’ve got to take care of our borders.”

Republicans in Congress vowed to fight back if Obama issues the order.

“President Obama has neither the Constitutional authority nor the support of the American public to grant amnesty to a single undocumented immigrant,” said Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land. “He cannot unilaterally instruct our immigration agents to disregard federal laws.”

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said, “This executive order would be a violation of the president’s oath of office and a blatant abuse of power. The president has sworn . . . to uphold the law(s) but now he is planning to rewrite them on his own.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said, “I can’t think of anything more discouraging that the President of the United States could do.”

He added, “I hope he delays it permanently, but at least I hope the President would give us an adequate time to be able to work together to try to begin to build a bipartisan consensus on repairing our broken immigration system.”

The office of Cornyn’s Texas Republican colleague, Sen. Ted Cruz, was even more blunt.

“The senator has made it clear he will pursue all procedural means available to prevent the president from implementing this lawless executive amnesty,” said Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier.

But Clarissa Martinez, deputy vice president of the Latino civil rights organization National Council of La Raza, said, “The timing should have been yesterday, but we’re glad it’s imminent. We think that the President should use his legitimate power to the fullest extent.”

“The chaos this is bringing on families is a big issue, but in addition the bigger and bolder he goes, the bigger benefit the country will feel as a result,” she said. “This would add more taxes to our coffers and prevent bad employers from gaining workers. And in terms of national security, this is the equivalent of taking hay out of the haystack and find the needles.”

House Democrats urged Obama to take action. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., one of the loudest voices in the House in support of immigration reform, said at a Thursday press conference, “What we want the president to do is act big act, act bold, act broadly and act soon.”

At the same press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, “I’m honored to join . . . my colleagues in saying, “Please, Mr. President, use your power.”

Some 116 House Democrats echoed that sentiment in a letter to Obama Thursday.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said, “I had hoped we would have a bipartisan legislative solution, but unfortunately that’s not the way things work these days in D.C.”

“Past presidents have used executive orders, more than President Obama has . . . but this one will certainly get the attention of the Republicans,” Cuellar said. The Appropriations Committee member expressed concern that the issue could hamper passage of the omnibus spending bill in the lame-duck session.

“I do want to see immigration reform,” he said. “Let’s see what the president comes up with.”

Express-News reporter Jason Buch contributed to this report.

David McCumber is Hearst Newspapers’ Washington bureau chief.

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