Contributed by Amber L. Blasingame, Associate Attorney, Colorado Springs
On the Saturday following
President Obama’s announcement, Saturday Night Live, in
all its comedic glory, presented an opening skit satirizing the President’s
Immigration Accountability Executive Order. The skit parodies the School House
Rock public service announcement on how a bill becomes a law (“I’m just a Bill,
yes, I’m only a Bill; And I’m sitting here on top of Capitol Hill”). Before the
weekend was up, the skit was posted all over social media by individuals on
both sides of the immigration debate. While the skit is certainly entertaining,
it expresses misinformation about the President’s executive order announced on
November 20, 2014.
In the skit, President Obama
throws the hapless Bill down the stairs of the capitol in favor of his
Executive Order. Conversely, in the President’s address on November 20, 2014,
he was clear that his executive action was not intended to replace any act of
Congress. In fact, he appealed to Congress to pass an immigration bill for his
signature. The executive actions are only meant as a stop gap measure until
Congress and the President can agree on the best way to reform our broken
immigration system. The President can only issue an executive order within the
parameters and limitations of the existing laws passed by Congress. Nevertheless,
those existing, immigration laws desperately need to be clarified and updated
to meet the needs of our country in the Twenty-First Century. The president’s
actions do not fix our broken system. The order only provides temporary relief
in anticipation of a more permanent solution from Congress. We still need
Congress to pass a bill or bills to reform immigration.
When presenting the Executive
Order in the skit, the President declares that the Executive Order is going to
give “legal status” to millions of “illegal immigrants.” The misnomer of
“illegal immigrants” aside, the Executive Order does not offer “legal status”
to undocumented immigrants. The President’s order offers a contract with
undocumented immigrants that, if accepted and maintained, would protect
applicants from deportation (“removal”) temporarily. This is not a “status” in
the legal sense; at best it may be considered a “benefit” since applicants may
also qualify for employment authorization or, more apt, temporary “relief” from
deportation. The contract does not implement a “path to citizenship” or even
“legalization.” The benefit of relief is precarious and may be breached by
either party at any given point in time. If the executive order is not extended
or is rescinded, then the contract is terminated. If a recipient violates any
of the terms of her application, then the contract is breached and the
applicant could be subject to removal proceedings. The Immigration
Accountability Executive Order in no way grants legal status to any
undocumented immigrant.
Finally, the Executive Order,
smoking his stogie, expressed surprise to hear that he would be doing something
more than creating a national park or holiday. Presidents throughout the
centuries have used executive orders for far more than establishing national
parks or holidays, including immigration relief to millions of undocumented
immigrants. The predecessor of the executive order was the presidential proclamation,
two of which comprised President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. More
recently, President George W. Bush signed into existence more than 290
Executive Orders during his two terms in office. He too was called a king or a
tyrant on many occasions when he unsheathed his mighty pen to sign yet another
executive order. Among those executive orders, in 2003, was one that was passed
with little fanfare, but it permitted a do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-$200 path
to citizenship to any “nonimmigrant” who enlisted in the military during the
conflicts with Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course very few people are likely to
protest such action for those who are lawfully in the country and who want to
serve their adopted country and the action only extended to a few thousand
foreign nationals who could qualify for the MAVNI program (Military Accessions
Vital to the National Interest). However, the order provided far more than just
a contract to recipients and even more than just legal status, but actual
citizenship – the right to vote, the right to run for office, the right to the
protection of the United States. President Reagan signed 381 Executive Orders
during his time in office, more than any president since President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who signed a whopping 3,721 Executive Orders before retiring from
office. President Reagan, among his order, signed an executive order that
offered relief to thousands if not millions of undocumented immigrants in the
wake of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 as a stop gap measure. The
same executive order was extended by President George H. W. Bush. President
Obama’s actions are in good company, and it should have been of no surprise to
the Executive Order just how much he could do.
So, by all means enjoy the SNL
skit for what it is – entertainment. However, just know that it is not a
reliable source of information on the matter of immigration reform or the
recent executive actions. And we still “hope and pray” that immigration reform
will become a law, “but today [it is] still just a bill.”
Bookmark this post with:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.