Discussion for article #228378
The article is off-base in blaming the President. Sure, having large numbers of people in uncertain status is bad, but only Congress can resolve that uncertainty. A President cannot grant citizenship nor even permanent residency; he can only stay deportation, an action which a subsequent President could reverse with the stroke of a pen. There is a failure here, for sure, but it isn’t Obama’s/
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Obama delayed action on immigration reform because he didn’t want to give the Republicans an issue that would energized their base in a mid- term election where they have a good chance of retaking the Senate. Now, the Democrats keeping the Senate may be a trivial matter in liberal academia but in the real world it’s pretty damned important.
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Dumb article. The topic should be the cost of Republicans not passing immigration reform.
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The tension living deep within American businessmen’s hearts, is really all about their wallet. They love money and hate paying it to the workers who earn it for them. A $15 minimum wage would take care of that.
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When I saw the title, I thought great, finally somebody giving Obama hell for moving too slow on ebola. But, no, David Cook-MartĂn is upset about lack of action on immigration. Wait a sec. He’s actually blaming Obama when you have the most do-nothing House in US history AND demanding “stable, wise decisions” (which I think we can all get onboard with). Not to be deterred, he writes:
If the United States pursues ever more contingent statuses for newcomers rather than viewing immigration as a step to a more permanent status — as had been the case historically — American society and democracy will be in for momentous and mostly undesirable shifts.
Let’s see, the US is now the third most populous country on earth after China and India. China’s illegal immigration problem is de minimus (North Koreans?), so the only comparison would be India, which at the high end, especially immigration from Bangladesh that Modi rails about, you’re looking at 20 million unregulated immigrants (out of a population of 1.3 billion). In the case of the US, top-end maybe 30 million out of 320 million. So yes, the US definitely has a more pressing problem. The problem is that you have about 250 million migrants on the move globally now. 10 million people in Syria alone are displaced, and you can imagine a situation where people in conflict zones or environmental disaster zones would try to get out of Dodge. Given that the US is no longer the real estate project it was in Jefferson’s day, it is hard to see why looking at the issue is so pressing. As FGS notes, a higher minimum wage would do wonders to regularize the employers that exploit inequity among economic opportunity immigrants. Also, what happened to the “brain drain?” Shouldn’t the US be trying to suck up all the global talent pool rather than trolling for cheap labor? And what happens when real resources need to be made available to real refugees like the Hmong, who were being exterminated? There are 7.3 billion people and all population growth is coming from the developing world. When you figure out how the line should work, then Obama can be accused of indecision.
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And this is why the GOP House does nothing and has done nothing on this issue for years. Because no matter what, Obama always get the blame. The GOP is never called out by the “liberal” media for not moving on immigration. The columnists of papers never point at the GOP and ask why they have not even held a fucking vote. Nope, everything is always Obama’s fault, he has to do everything and everyone else’s jobs.
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Hell, it’s been the loud progressives who have bashed him and Democrats for not doing a damned thing, even when they aren’t in a position to do anything effective. Other than keeping the crap from the GOP House from coming up for a vote, what the hell are President Obama and the Democrats supposed to do without 218 votes in the House and 60 votes in the Senate?
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I know every branch of social science thinks it, and it alone, has all the answers to all questions of human behavor and all the others are therefore pure quackery, but one wishes the author had had lunch with someone from the political science department before writing this.
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Too slow on Ebola???
Amen to that wargreymom. Fauxgressives are the worst and ail never never learn. They want instant gratification - do nothing to help and then stay home and don’t vote or vote for a third party to cut off their noses to spite their faces
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Look. I’ll let you decide.
You say when the government should have moved.
This guy would put that window of opportunity in late April.
But from an economic perspective, U.S. labor markets need workers for jobs that are not being filled by natives, and employers want to attract the best workers in the global competition for talent and innovation.
These jobs are not filled by American natives because of general incompetency or because of low wages? I think the market should be a two way street where supply and demand must flow both ways. Cheating by importing cheaper labor shouldn’t be allowed.
But we do know this: inaction that increases the number of people in vulnerable statuses will, almost certainly, hurt our democracy and our nation’s future economic prospects.
Perhaps the largest question is how? With all due respect, all gov’t action now is predicated on timing and public perception. To reduce immigration to Manichean absolutes and encouraging an impulsive response is possibly more destructive than doing nothing now and waiting until the issue comes into more focus. Keep in mind, it is not the President who is up for reelection this November.
Because immigration issues all just became a big deal during Obama’s tenure, RIGHT!
It was nothing really when Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million immigrants I believe. No pressure then, Reagan just did it 'cuz he believed in the cause and loved to help the poorest, most vulnerable among us, like the Cadillac Queens for instance. No immigration issues during he Bush administration either, they just like building walls near borders. And so did loser McCain before he didn’t then did again.
It isn’t indecision by Obama, it is a political football that happens to be a very tough issue in reality. Obama decided on several plans but the hurt everyone to hurt one guy caucus, really-all the Republicans, will never allow any decision, good or bad, because they get hurt both ways. Nope, their isn’t any indecision, Obama wants to do something and something big and the got nothing but fear Party needs the regular fear injections to survive. There are at least two decisions, one for and one always against.
Maybe you should play this card AFTER the elections rather than before? Or perhaps you’re hoping to influence the outcome of the elections yourself in some way…