A Step Toward a Dream

New York Times (Editorial): The Obama administration’s decision to allow as many as 800,000 young immigrants avoid deportation and apply for work permits makes perfect sense. It wisely rescues blameless young people from legal limbo in an immigration system marked by dysfunction and toxic politics.

Before the fog sets in — with the predictable Republican outrage and the distortions of an election year — it is important to be clear that this move does not offer amnesty and has nothing to do with green cards or a path to citizenship.

It is a decision by the Department of Homeland Security to provide limited and temporary relief to people who should not be deported anyway and to allow them to work legally. To qualify for a two-year deferral of deportation, which could be renewed, applicants would have to be under 31, have been brought to the United States before age 16 and have been in the country for at least five years. They cannot have serious criminal convictions and would have to be in high school or have a diploma or its equivalent, or be honorably discharged military veterans.

For the young people who would qualify, the decision opens pathways to higher education, to careers, to fuller involvement in society that, until Friday morning, had been hopelessly blocked.

It is well within Mr. Obama’s authority to do this because the federal government can decide how to enforce immigration laws. It shows common sense and a smart use of resources to focus on removing dangerous criminals, recent illegal immigrants and repeat offenders instead of young people who had no choice when they were brought here illegally, have deep American roots, clean records and dreams of higher education.

If this reminds you of the Dream Act, it should. The Dream Act is a bill in Congress to give legal status to young immigrants who go to college or serve in the military. It has long been stalled by Republicans who oppose relief of any sort for people without papers. Those who were complaining about Mr. Obama’s action on Friday should acknowledge that Congress could have taken on this job, but immigration extremists have not allowed it.

We welcome Mr. Obama’s evolving leadership on immigration, though it is fair to say that he was led to this decision by young Dream Act advocates — students unaffiliated with political parties or Washington lobbying groups who have staged waves of rallies, infusing a campaign for smart policy with a sense of moral urgency. On Thursday night, as word of the new policy spread, their social networks were flooded with waves of elation and relief.

Now it is up to Mr. Obama to make sure the new hope he offers is fulfilled. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican of Florida, has been planning to offer his version of a Dream Act, on lines possibly close to what Mr. Obama has done. He was critical of Mr. Obama’s unilateral action on Friday, yet he agreed with him in principle to granting relief to those here illegally through no fault of their own.

Perhaps Mr. Rubio and Mr. Obama can team up to push Congress to make the Dream Act come true. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, still opposes the Dream Act. It is well past time to make a more sensible and humane immigration policy the law of the land, instead of having to rely on modest, incremental gains that any future administration could undo.