As immigration reform re-emerges at the center of political debate, President Barack Obama can do more than urge on a gridlocked and dysfunctional Congress: There's much he can do - right now - to provide overdue relief to America's immigrant families.
The first step: Admit that his previous strategy of appeasing nativists through Arizona-style policies like Secure Communities and deporting record numbers of immigrants is not working. So far, Obama's approach has done little more than earn him the title of Deporter in Chief among immigrant communities and moved the immigration debate unrecognizably to the right, ratifying the premises of the very xenophobes holding Congress hostage.
Some political strategists will tell us that such cruelty was necessary for the administration to build its "enforcement credentials" as a down payment for reform. But a quick glance at proposals like the Corker-Hoeven Amendment in the Senate, which would militarize the U.S.-Mexico border, or the SAFE Act in the House, shows how dangerous it is to keep bargaining with obstructionists. Give an inch in that direction and get Arizona's human rights crisis in every jurisdiction.
What we need instead is leadership that can pull the conversation back to where it should be centered: achieving the political equality of the millions whose sacrifice, risk and courage put the issue squarely on the national agenda in the first place.
Multiple local governments are rejecting the administration's criminalization and repairing the damage it has done by passing bills aimed to keep trust in local law enforcement from being eroded by distrust in federal immigration authorities. The president now needs to do the same by reversing course: Stop deportations and expand the temporary protection program he already created for certain young people.
This isn't a fallback plan - a "Plan B" in the face of a recalcitrant Congress. Stopping deportations should be "Plan A" to improve any bill's chance and to alleviate the suffering of those whose lives have been left in limbo.
Obama's decision to grant deferred action to childhood arrivals (DACA) showed that incremental progress and a reduction in deportations are possible and can even galvanize momentum for broader legislation at the same time. But its limited scope also raises the question now repeatedly asked of the president by the press: Why isn't he doing more?
The president's answer - that he is out of options - is unacceptable. The White House's argument is not based on the limitations of the law but the limitations of the administration's political calculus. As the entity that proposes the Department of Homeland Security's budget to Congress, oversees its implementation and sets its priorities, the president has the power to ease the pain his policies currently cause.
Obama's own former assistant secretary for legislative affairs at DHS, Nelson Peacock, described the president's ability to stop deportations as his "trump card" on immigration. Sen. Marco Rubio agreed and recently warned his conservative base that if immigration reform fails in Congress, the president might just act on his own.
If his legal authority is not in question, then it's only a matter of political will. In determining his way forward, the president must decide what side of history he wishes to be on: with the reformers or with the obstructionists. That's why seven undocumented people handcuffed themselves to the White House fence calling on him to act and hundreds more shut down immigration and customs enforcement operations in Arizona earlier this month in hopes of spurring the president to follow suit.
Obama should also consider who's on the other side of this debate: fringe lawmakers who have vowed to oppose him no matter what. The lesson from last week's budget showdown is clear: The president must no longer capitulate to a vocal, irrational minority in Congress. With the stroke of a pen, he has the power to advance the immigration debate and do right by thousands of families who just want a chance at a better life. What is he waiting for?
Pablo Alvarado is executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
The first step: Admit that his previous strategy of appeasing nativists through Arizona-style policies like Secure Communities and deporting record numbers of immigrants is not working. So far, Obama's approach has done little more than earn him the title of Deporter in Chief among immigrant communities and moved the immigration debate unrecognizably to the right, ratifying the premises of the very xenophobes holding Congress hostage.
Some political strategists will tell us that such cruelty was necessary for the administration to build its "enforcement credentials" as a down payment for reform. But a quick glance at proposals like the Corker-Hoeven Amendment in the Senate, which would militarize the U.S.-Mexico border, or the SAFE Act in the House, shows how dangerous it is to keep bargaining with obstructionists. Give an inch in that direction and get Arizona's human rights crisis in every jurisdiction.
What we need instead is leadership that can pull the conversation back to where it should be centered: achieving the political equality of the millions whose sacrifice, risk and courage put the issue squarely on the national agenda in the first place.
Multiple local governments are rejecting the administration's criminalization and repairing the damage it has done by passing bills aimed to keep trust in local law enforcement from being eroded by distrust in federal immigration authorities. The president now needs to do the same by reversing course: Stop deportations and expand the temporary protection program he already created for certain young people.
This isn't a fallback plan - a "Plan B" in the face of a recalcitrant Congress. Stopping deportations should be "Plan A" to improve any bill's chance and to alleviate the suffering of those whose lives have been left in limbo.
Obama's decision to grant deferred action to childhood arrivals (DACA) showed that incremental progress and a reduction in deportations are possible and can even galvanize momentum for broader legislation at the same time. But its limited scope also raises the question now repeatedly asked of the president by the press: Why isn't he doing more?
The president's answer - that he is out of options - is unacceptable. The White House's argument is not based on the limitations of the law but the limitations of the administration's political calculus. As the entity that proposes the Department of Homeland Security's budget to Congress, oversees its implementation and sets its priorities, the president has the power to ease the pain his policies currently cause.
Obama's own former assistant secretary for legislative affairs at DHS, Nelson Peacock, described the president's ability to stop deportations as his "trump card" on immigration. Sen. Marco Rubio agreed and recently warned his conservative base that if immigration reform fails in Congress, the president might just act on his own.
If his legal authority is not in question, then it's only a matter of political will. In determining his way forward, the president must decide what side of history he wishes to be on: with the reformers or with the obstructionists. That's why seven undocumented people handcuffed themselves to the White House fence calling on him to act and hundreds more shut down immigration and customs enforcement operations in Arizona earlier this month in hopes of spurring the president to follow suit.
Obama should also consider who's on the other side of this debate: fringe lawmakers who have vowed to oppose him no matter what. The lesson from last week's budget showdown is clear: The president must no longer capitulate to a vocal, irrational minority in Congress. With the stroke of a pen, he has the power to advance the immigration debate and do right by thousands of families who just want a chance at a better life. What is he waiting for?
Pablo Alvarado is executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
