President Obama, Op-ed on DHS Shutdown Threat: 'Time to end manufactured crises, put politics aside'

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The Hill ?@thehill 1h1 hour ago
Pres. Obama: Threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security "irresponsible" http://ow.ly/Jzbza


Op-Ed: Moving forward to fix our broken immigration system

by President Obama - 02/24/15

Our immigration system has been broken for decades. Our country deeply values fairness, but our immigration system has become unfair to businesses, workers and families alike.

That’s something I’ve been trying to change as president...

Understandably, however, much recent attention has focused on a single court decision in Texas in response to a partisan lawsuit that delays some of these lawful, common-sense steps. To those who are affected and disturbed by this ruling, I share your concerns. To those who have questions, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to provide information.

But make no mistake, I disagree with this judge’s ruling. Just yesterday, the Department of Justice asked the court for an emergency stay of this misguided decision, and it has already filed a notice of appeal. My administration will fight this ruling with every tool at our disposal, and I have full confidence that these actions will ultimately be upheld.

In the meantime, it’s important to make clear what the Texas court’s ruling does and does not do. While the decision temporarily prevents my administration from accepting individuals’ requests for relief under the new deferred action program announced last November, it does not impact the original 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program offering relief from deportation to young Dreamers. Those who became eligible to seek temporary relief under the 2012 policy can still submit an initial or renewal request. And the majority of the steps I took last year will continue moving forward. For example, immigration agents will continue to refocus our limited enforcement resources on felons, not families.

I am confident that all the steps I’ve taken on my own to fix our broken immigration system will eventually be implemented. But I also continue to believe that these steps are no substitute for congressional action. It was my hope that a new, Republican-led Congress would seek to govern responsibly by supporting commonsense solutions to one of our country’s greatest challenges, just like President Bush and Sen. John McCain tried to nearly a decade ago. Instead, we’ve seen a series of votes to deport Dreamers, young people who are American in every way except on paper. We’ve even heard irresponsible threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, the very agency tasked with securing our borders and keeping Americans safe in a time of new threats, for no reason other than partisan disagreement over my actions.

It’s time to end the era of manufactured crises, put politics aside and focus on doing what’s best for America. So while I will fight any attempt to turn back the progress we’ve made or break up families across our country, I welcome the opportunity to work with anyone who wants to build on the improvements we’ve put in place, and fix our broken immigration system once and for all...


read full article: http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/233585-moving-forward-to-fix-our-broken-immigration-system

related:

February 24 - Republicans Just Blinked In The Big Immigration Stare-Down With Obama

The months-long standoff over President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration took a major turn late Monday when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed decoupling funding for the Department of Homeland Security from legislative action against Obama on deportations...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/republicans-blink-on-immigration

[madokie]

1. I'm sick of these manufactured crises

If the President proposes something its bad bullshit
We know what drives this and it ain't doing whats good for the country either.

[bigtree]

3. it's a cynical nod to their bigoted, racist supporters.

...that's their rank-and-file these days. You can bet it was their other interest, their moneyed benefactors, convincing them to get on with legislating.

[Fred Sanders]

2. Good to see Obama continues to skirt the lying and deflecting mass media. Who continue to shy

away from any mention of how the GOP is just at it again with yet another hostage taking, this time threatening the immigration status of millions of good folk for purely political gain.

Only saw the NBC News report last night...not a word about how immigration had been taken hostage last December for this very purpose...not a mention of the hostage AT ALL!

[bigtree]

4. »

[starroute]

5. McConnell can't do much if Boehner won't go along

And Boehner won't go along as long as the Tea Partiers in the House have him by the balls.

[sdfernando]

6. That can't be right...

...boner has no balls. They must have him by his liquor cabinet!

[sabrina 1]

7. Why do we care if DHS is shut down? That was a Cheney/Bush, Orwellian named unnecessary, money pit

which airc, most on the Left opposed?

Let them shut it down, they opened it up and I remember the scandals surrounding it during the Bush years, the limos with call girls, Chertoff's spending sprees, the drain of tax dollars. Not to mention the number of 'employees' caught doing such things as exposing themselves to young girls.

So, am I missing something here? It looks like things have turned upside down and now it's Democrats supporting things they used to oppose, while Republicans are opposed to things they used to support.

Is this a big game they are all playing?

Let it shut down. We could use the obscene amount of money sucked up by that Right Wing 'agency' for School Lunches and the needs of Veterans etc.

[bigtree]

8. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a component of the DHS

Last edited Tue Feb 24, 2015, 07:16 PM - Edit history (1)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. They are 19,000 government employees and contractors working at 223 offices across the world.

http://www.uscis.gov/

THIS is what the republicans are targeting. This component of DHS would be effectively shutdown.

this is what happened in 2013:

For tens of thousands of immigrants across the United States with pending immigration cases or legal procedures, the federal government shutdown will put some urgent matters on hold and allow others of less importance to move ahead.

Petitions for political asylum and non-emergency deportation cases are among the matters that could be delayed for months if the shutdown lasts more than a few days, according to immigration lawyers and advocates.

Meanwhile, some services for U.S. citizens and legal residents, which are financed by customer fees, will continue to be provided. Court hearings or other procedures for any immigrant who is in federal custody will also continue on schedule, and the Board of Immigration Appeals will hear requests for emergency relief from deportation as well as appeals for detained immigrants, according to the Justice Department.

The asylum process, advocates in the Washington area and elsewhere said, is especially backed up, with about 350,000 cases pending before immigration judges. Even under normal circumstances, most cases take more than a year to complete.

“This is a nightmare. It is already a nightmare, because of the huge backlog in the court system,” said Judy London, a lawyer with the Public Counsel agency in Los Angeles. “When we go into court, we are often told the first available trial date is a year later. This could mean more delays of months, or even another year.”

read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration-courts-remain-partly-openbut-political-asylum-cases-delayed/2013/10/01/29ce8bac-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html

Responsible Democrats in Congress have rejected attempts to strip away immigration related matters from the DHS budget. In coming days and weeks we'll see a fight to retain those services, even as republicans threaten to take down the entire agency. We saw McConnell blink today and suggest ways to de-link the two and Democrats, although resistant, amenable to temporary funding schemes which would allow operations to continue. More important to this debate is the impact of republican obstruction on the process of immigration reform, so, as the president outlines above, we should keep our eye on that ball.

[sabrina 1]

10. Separate that agency, and shut the rest down. We didn't have it before Bush and the country

managed to have an Immigration agency which seemed to have worked just fine and cost a lot less.

[tclambert]

9. "End manufactured crises?" Are Republicans just supposed to sit around knitting ugly hats?

(Not meant to imply Jayne Cobb's mother was a Republican. And I apologize to any Browncoats who think this hat is pretty cunning.)