HE PROPOSES – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  President Obama made his immigration proposals public last night, and flies to Las Vegas today to sign the order putting them into practice.  Las Vegas must have some historical significance.  From The Hill: 

President Obama announced an expansive new set of executive actions in a prime-time address Thursday that the White House says will give legal status and work permits to 5 million illegal immigrants.

Obama hailed the moves as leading to a “more fair and more just” system in an address that lambasted Congress for not approving legislation and warned Republicans against triggering a government shutdown.

In a sharp rebuke to Republican critics, Obama challenged his political opposition to “pass a bill” if they did not like his actions, and argued his approach could not be dismissed as “amnesty.”
“Amnesty is the immigration system we have today – millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time,” Obama said.

Under the president’s plan, the parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents could apply for work permits and deferred deportation. Obama is also expanding eligibility for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which offers protections to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

The Department of Homeland Security will also narrow their focus to those illegal immigrants with criminal records, gang affiliations or ties to terrorism.

“If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law,” Obama said. “If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.”

The government will also expand the total number of high-tech visas that are available, as well as loosen restrictions so that more would-be entrepreneurs can travel to the United States.

The proposals have garnered passionate responses from Republican critics, who have blasted it as unconstitutional overreach.

But Obama said his actions were “not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every single Democratic president for the past half century.”

He invoked former President George W. Bush, who said illegal immigrants were “a part of American life.”

And he said lawmakers shouldn’t let “a disagreement over a single issue be a deal-breaker on every issue.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), in a video released shortly before the president spoke, accused Obama of acting like an “emperor” and said he was spoiling an opportunity for lawmakers to reach across the aisle.

“Instead of working together to fix our broken immigration, the president says he's acting on his own. That's just not how our democracy works,” Boehner said.

COMMENT:  Republicans must proceed carefully here.  They must remember what happened to them when they impeached Bill Clinton.  Despite revulsion over Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, there was a backlash against Republicans for going too far. 

That can happen again.   We all realize that Obama's plan is just a first step, and it is carefully drawn to have the aura of fairness about it.  You know, keeping families together.  Republicans should respond with a comprehensive plan of their own, showing the American people that they're creative, determined to solve the problem, and Constitutional.  Republicans must not simply be the party of no.

November 21,  2014