Skip to footer

Readers Write: Lamar Smith is wrong. Obama's immigration policy isn't amnesty.

Letters to the Editor for the August 13, 2012 weekly print issue: Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas mischaracterizes President Obama's recent decision to put a low priority on the deportation of some young illegal immigrants who were brought to the US as children. His op-ed is misleading.

Obama immigration policy isn't amnesty

Rep. Lamar Smith's July 2 commentary ("Obama's move on young illegals violates the law") responds to President Obama's recent decision to put a low priority on the deportation of young illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. It contains misleading statements and innuendo unbefitting someone who holds high elected office.

There are now an estimated 11.2 million undocumented immigrants in the country. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that approximately 1.4 million of that group are people under age 30 who were brought here as children by their parents and could be affected by the policy change. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants meet the criteria outlined by the president, which include being currently enrolled in school, having graduated high school, or being an honorably discharged veteran. Both of those numbers account for only a small percentage of the total population of undocumented immigrants.

The young men and women who meet the administration's criteria can apply for a two-year deportation deferral (renewable, but for how many times is unclear) and can apply for a work permit. All applications are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The president's updated policy on this group does not constitute "amnesty" according to the normal use of the word as it offers no path to permanent residency or citizenship except through the normal immigration system. This decision on deportation priorities is clearly within the purview of the administration and is not unconstitutional in the view of legal scholars, contrary to Mr. Smith's assertions.

It seems that Smith wants all 11.2 million illegal immigrants deported, and anything short of that amounts to "backdoor amnesty," to use his phrase. This is utter nonsense. Living in the shadow of deportation while being denied the benefits of permanent residency or citizenship is hardly amnesty.

It also should be pointed out that the Obama administration has been anything but lax when it comes to deportation. In fact, deportations have reached record levels during Mr. Obama's term in office, double the annual average number of deportations during his predecessor President George W. Bush's first term and about 30 percent more than Mr. Bush's second term.

Dennis J. Aigner

Professor emeritus of economics

University of California, Irvine

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Readers Write: Lamar Smith is wrong. Obama's immigration policy isn't amnesty.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Readers-Respond/2012/0813/Readers-Write-Lamar-Smith-is-wrong.-Obama-s-immigration-policy-isn-t-amnesty
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe