Obama’s Action

Since the 1980s, every U.S. government has had to deal with the immigration issue, one of the most sensitive and controversial on the U.S. agenda. Since the presidential term of Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, the Mexican government has tried to make the U.S. government enact [anything between] some immigration reform or “the whole enchilada.” Since 9/11, however, the American government has focused on security rather than immigration.

From that point on, immigration became an unstoppable problem — one that President Barack Obama tried to solve on Nov. 20 by acting unilaterally and shielding about 5 million undocumented immigrants.

Since Obama took over the White House, minorities and the Hispanic community have put their confidence in the new Democratic government, believing that immigration reform would be carried out in the first term, given the fact that their communities had supported Obama during his election campaign. However, the immigration issue was postponed again due to the financial crisis of 2008. Meanwhile, the problem of massive deportations kept increasing and affecting several spheres. Several discussions regarding minor immigrants have been held in Congress.

Having run the country for six years and been defeated by the Republicans in the latest midterm elections, the U.S. president has announced plans to take executive action on immigration. Among other benefits, it would allow those immigrants who entered the country during their childhood to apply for deferred action, as well as parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents who have been living in the country for at least five years.

Despite the fact that this action would not benefit all immigrants, but only those meeting the aforementioned criteria, it would stop the massive deportations that have been taking place over the last several months. Unfortunately, given that this action is neither a law nor a reform, the benefits it provides may not be [extended] forever, and future governments could revoke it. Immigrants therefore feel insecure, since they claim their situation would become more vulnerable once they have applied for deferred action. In any case, this measure would allow them to stay longer in the country and stop massive deportations.

Obama’s action has generated controversy and mixed reactions among American lobbies. On the one hand, the Republicans have expressed their disagreement because, in their opinion, Obama has acted unilaterally without any previous discussion in Congress. In addition, they consider Obama’s action to be an unconstitutional amnesty rewarding those breaking the law. They intend, therefore, to shut it down. On the other hand, several surveys show that part of the population approves of Obama’s decision. Regardless of support for the president, it is certain that Obama’s action has opened a new path for the immigration issue in the U.S., which implies benefits for undocumented immigrants in both the short and semi-long term.