One year ago, thousands of young undocumented immigrants across the country started lining up for a program that would allow them stay in the country legally -- a program President Obama enacted administratively in the absence of congressional action.
Since then, more than 500,000 people have applied Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and more than 400,000 of them have been accepted into it, giving them two years to stop worrying about being deported as well as the freedom to work legally. States in the past year have shaped their own policies around the program while waiting for more federal action.
The debate over comprehensive immigration reform, however, doesn't appear to be over in Congress, based on remarks from Republicans this month. And one of the biggest GOP proponents of immigration reform suggested this week that if Congress doesn't act, Mr. Obama could make more immigration policy decisions on his own.
"I believe that this president tempted, will be tempted, if nothing happens in Congress, to issue an executive order as he did for the Dream Act kids a year ago, where he basically legalizes 11 million people by the sign of a pen," Rubio said in an interview Tuesday on WFLA radio's "The Morning Show with Preston Scott." Immigration reform advocates have, in fact, called on Mr. Obama to halt his aggressive deportation policies while Washington hashes out a bill.
Rubio was one of the four Republicans in the Senate who worked with four of their Democratic colleagues to draft a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The measure managed to pass in the Senate, but Rubio has lost some political capital over the issue, and House GOP leaders say they're not willing to put the bill up for the vote.
Still, they're not abandoning the issue all together, and town hall meetings with constituents this August has served as a sort of barometer for GOP support.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57598583/with-or-without-congress-immigration-reform-moves-along/
For more information about immigration reform or any immigration matter, contact Revilla Law Firm, P.A. We offer a free initial consultation in our Miami office. Call (305) 858-2323 or toll free (877) 854-2323.
