Musings on Immigration

November 2014, after a stinging defeat at the polls, and with little left to lose in his political legacy, Obama announced a series of DHS policy memos that, when implemented, would rearrange his deportation priorities (after becoming the Deportation President with more than 2.5 million people deported), and create formalized system of Deferred Action to help long term resident undocumented people (the backbone of much of our service sector) to obtain work permits (DAPA).  Obama apparently preferred to do this policy changes by memo, arguing that they were not "substantive" changes to regulation, and thus did not need to go through the formal Administrative Procedures Act (APA) rulemaking processing (which takes about 6 months, or less, done properly). State Attorney Generals, led by Texas promptly brought suit, under a series of novel theories, arguing that this was no mere policy change, but rather a substantive fix with massive benefits and enormous costs to the states...

We found out this week that the "new" panel that will hear the actual DAPA appeal in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is actually the old panel.  Judges Smith and Elrod were the majority decision in motions panel which declined to lift the stay put in place by Judge Hanen from the Federal District Court in Texas.  Using polemics better suited for a political rally, Judge Hanen put a stop to DAPA and expanded DACA just as they were about to go into effect.  Judges Smith and Elrod, although less "dynamic" in their political tilt, made it clear that they were swayed by Judge Hanen and not by the rather lackluster lawyering of the Department of Justice, and refused to lift the stay. Most advocates for reasonable immigration reform (and quite of few active Republicans) were deflated when news broke on the makeup of the panel.  There had been much hope created when the panel earlier in June had asked for briefings from both sides on whether or not the appeals panel to h...

THE GOP AND IMMIGRATION REFORM The GOP will control both the Houses of Congress come January 19, 2015.   Mitt Romney , in a massive shift from his 2012 presidential campaign position, says that one of the first things the GOP will do is pass some sort (unclear what exactly) of "immigration reform" and put it on the President's desk in 2015.  Two things about this. First, if Mitt Romney had said this during the campaign in 2012, we would be calling him President Romney today.  It is rather off of Romney to say this now, particularly since he is taking heat from the likes of Glenn Beck in doing so.  If Romney really believed this, one has to ask, did he have a change of heart? Or, is he cynically duping people into supporting GOP candidates, with no real intention to address a key part of our economic future as a country? Second, what does "immigration reform" mean when used by Mitt Romney and the GOP today? Inspired by the classic line uttered by Inigo Mont...

Over the last two weeks, Harper Polling, a Republican Organization, and Public Policy Polling, a  Democratic  organization, jointly conducted polls at the request for a Partnership for a New American Economy, on the Gang of 8 Immigration Reform Proposal in 29 states across the Country, including here in Georgia.  To no one's surprise, the poll found that a large majority of Georgia voters support the bill currently in Congress and are more  likely  to support our leaders who vote for it!     H ere’s  w hat they   fo und :     There is overwhelming bipartisan support for the bill.  61% of Georgians support the bill in the Senate, S. 744.  Support for the bill cuts across party lines in Georgia Voters will reward their leaders in Washington who support the immigration reform plan. In Georgia, 61% of voters said they are MORE likely to support a leader who votes for this legislation! A path to legality receives st...

As we speak there is a debate raging on the website of the National Review –that bastion of Republican and Conservative thought. This debate is between the inward thinking, anti-immigrationists lead by Mark Krikorian and Rep. Lamar Smith and the forward thinking and pro-immigrant Richard Nadler . Nadler’s recent article rebutting what he calls the Big 5 Anti-immigratoinists and their immigration reform plan–mass deportation–is fantastic. He calmly and with a great deal of emperical evidence show that this ridiculous plan is a deal breaker for Republicans and Hispanics into future generations. I have been echoing this from the ground for some time, but Nadler takes it a step futher. He says that: our candidates will lose Hispanic vote share — to the point where our performance among Hispanics mirrors that among African Americans. If conservative Republicans continue to advocate the mass removal of resident illegals, our business support will erode — not to levels typical of a congr...