But the administration that gave the executive order is suggesting that this is merely a temporary band-aid on a festering sore of illegal immigration as Republican Party opponents block any attempt to smooth their path to American citizenship, even though thousands came to the US as children and essentially grew up American.
It is not an amnesty nor a route to a “green card” of permanent residency status but a minimum two-year freeze on automatic deportation. For that, a law is needed, and the bill to make that happen appears to be dying a slow death inside the Beltway.
The latest voice in a chorus of approval comes from the influential, Washington-based human rights lobby, Human Rights Watch. It says that the policy shift recognizes the “special consideration due immigrants” who have lived in the US since childhood.
“The administration’s decision to recognize the strong ties of immigrants raised in the US is an important step toward a fairer enforcement policy,” says Antonio Ginatta, US advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
“These cases highlight the need for Congress to fix US immigration law,” he adds.
In a memorandum released on Friday, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the department would stop deporting unauthorized immigrants if they have been in the US since before the age of 16, are under 30, and have lived in the United States for at least five years.
They also must not have been convicted of a serious criminal offense and must currently be in school, have earned a high school diploma, or have served in the military.
The new policy requirements are similar to those proposed in various versions of Obama’s troubled DREAM Act, a proposed law that would provide young immigrants with a path to permanent resident status and eventual citizenship.
But the new policy won’t grant legal status – that action can only be taken by Congress.
Rather, illegal immigrants who meet the criteria will be eligible to apply for “deferred action” and a two-year work permit, subject to renewal.
Human Rights Watch has long called for an end to the US “one size fits all” approach to deportation.
“Prior to this policy change, an unauthorized immigrant who had lived in the US since childhood would have very limited opportunities to prevent their deportation by presenting reasons why they should be permitted to stay,” it says.
“The Obama administration’s shift in policy brings the US closer to countries that require consideration of a person’s positive attachments to the country of residence in deportation decisions,” it adds.
Human Rights Watch notes that the laws and practices of 61 countries around the world offer non-citizens an opportunity to raise family unity concerns, proportionality, ties to their country of residence, and other human rights considerations prior to deportation.
The group is urging the Obama administration to ensure that the new policy is applied “consistently and fairly” by immigration officials throughout the country. They are referring to the administration’s acknowledgement a week ago that a similar decision in November 2011 to focus enforcement efforts on immigrants who pose a public safety risk had only resulted in a two per cent reduction in deportations.
“The Obama administration’s announcement of another incremental step toward a rational approach to immigration should galvanize Congress to take urgent action for more permanent and comprehensive reforms,” Ginatta says.
The 34-nation hemispheric bloc, the Organization of American States (OAS), joins immigration advocates and legislators in welcoming US President Barack Obama’s decision not to deport most young illegal Caribbean and other immigrants.
Secretary General José Miguel Insulza is expressing satisfaction at the deferred action announced by Napolitano that “highlighted the courage of the US government initiative, which will benefit many families, allowing them to avoid the consequences of forced separation of their members and the separation from the culture of the United States, which they’ve adopted as their own”.
The chief representative of the Americas adds his voice to that of Caribbean-American law-makers at local, state and federal levels calling the passage of Obama’s DREAM Act, a comprehensive bill to reform immigration that has stalled in the US Congress due to Republican objections.
Insulza says the futures of several million young immigrants depend on the bill’s passage.
Lawmakers representing New York, the largest home of Caribbean-American and would-be immigrants, see Washington’s freeze on deportation as the first in a series of long-awaited fixes to what many call a broken immigration system.
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, tells the Caribbean Media Corporation that the new policy “constitutes an important start to fixing an immigration system that doesn’t work for anyone”.
She says it will assist thousands of immigrants in her predominantly West Indian 11th Congressional District in the New York borough of Brooklyn, whose families, she says, include “citizens and legal residents, documented and undocumented”. The district, often considered the external parish of many Caribbean nations, includes much of central Brooklyn, including Brownsville, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Kensington, Prospect and Park Slope.
New York City Councillor Jumaane Williams, whose parents are Grenadian, describes the decision as “an open embrace from our country to about 800,000 immigrant youth who proudly call America home”.
Williams represents the largely Caribbean 45th Council District in Brooklyn, an area covering parts of Flatbush, Flatlands, and Canarsie. He tells CMC that President Obama has “answered the call of the DREAMers, and we are a stronger nation thanks to it.
“My deepest appreciation goes to him, Secretary [Janet] Napolitano and the thousands of activists from New York and beyond who were relentless in the pursuit of a brighter future for the innocent immigrants that have been stuck in perpetual limbo,” Williams says.
He says he is particularly concerned about the status of the children of Caribbean teachers brought to New York City a decade ago to address a teacher shortage.
“My hope is that this policy will address their needs as well,” Williams says. “This executive order is a significant step forward, but it cannot replace a change in the law that offers a path to citizenship for law-abiding immigrants who contribute to our communities.
“In that spirit, I continue my call for the passage of the state and federal versions of the DREAM Act,” he adds.
Williams’ colleague in New York City Council, Dr. Mathieu Eugene, the first-ever Haitian to be elected to the City Council, also applauds President Obama for stopping the deportation of young immigrants living in the US.
“This decision will impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their families across the United States, including many people living in the community I proudly serve,” says the representative for another predominantly Caribbean area, the 40th Council District in Brooklyn that includes parts of Crown Heights and Flatbush.
“Immigrants are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, contributing enormously to the economy of our city, state and country. I believe this is a win-win situation for younger immigrants and their families, as well as for all New Yorkers,” Eugene says.
President Obama says the decision is attempt at arriving at a US immigration system that is more fair, efficient and just.
“[These young immigrants] were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants, and oftentimes had no idea they were undocumented until they applied for a job,” he said.
“They are Americans in their hearts, in their minds in every single way but one: on paper,” he says.
According to US authorities, as many as 800,000 undocumented immigrants, including Caribbean nationals, stand to benefit from this change.
Napolitano says the shift represents neither immunity nor amnesty – buzzwords for conservatives who oppose illegal immigration – but instead represents an instance of “prosecutorial discretion” in which Washington has re-evaluated its priorities in enforcing the law.
And in reinforcing that point, the American president is also trying to temper supporters’ expectations while notching up the temperature on a hot topic as he bids for re-election: “This is not amnesty; this is not immunity; this is not a path to citizenship…. [It’s] a temporary fix.”
CMC nk/jg/2012