Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
March 13, 2014
WASHINGTON—The
White House said Thursday President Barack Obama had ordered a review
of deportation practices, an announcement that comes amid pressure from
Hispanic groups
to scale back deportations.
In
a meeting Thursday evening, the president told leaders of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he had asked Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson to conduct an
"inventory" of the department's deportation practices to see how they
may be done "more humanely within the confines of the law," the White
House said.
On
Friday, Mr. Obama plans to meet with organizations pushing for an
overhaul of immigration laws, a White House official said. Details of
the review may be fleshed out
then.
It
wasn't clear whether the review would lead to changes in administration
policies. Mr. Obama and his aides repeatedly have said they don't have
the authority to stem
deportations without agreement from Congress, although the president
did just that in 2012 for many immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally
as children. Many activists want him to extend the safe harbor he
offered those young people to others in the U.S.
illegally.
Republican
lawmakers have said they are increasingly frustrated that Mr. Obama has
taken other actions without congressional consent, such as his order
Thursday for a
review aimed at extending overtime pay rules to more workers.
Mr.
Obama's move also comes as Democrats are working to motivate their
supporters to vote in the November elections to counter an energized
Republican Party seeking to
take control of the Senate.
"The
president emphasized his deep concern about the pain too many families
feel from the separation that comes from our broken immigration system,"
the White House said
in summarizing the meeting.
The
Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill last year. But many GOP
lawmakers say they don't trust Mr. Obama to enforce the law, and they
won't pass an immigration
bill until that changes. Any move seen as undermining existing law
could feed GOP complaints.
Several
Republicans have said it is possible to craft acceptable immigration
legislation, and earlier this year, House Speaker John Boehner found
support for a set of
legislative principles. But Republican lawmakers and aides have said
they object to taking up the matter in an election year when they hope
to keep the focus on health care, an issue that unites them, rather than
immigration, a topic that divides the GOP.
As
anger from the Latino community mounts, the White House has worked to
channel frustration toward House Republicans. But with no action
anticipated in the House, the
pressure has built on Mr. Obama to take action.
Several
groups are preparing to mark the 2-millionth deportation under Mr.
Obama, a milestone expected sometime this spring, though the precise
date will not be known.
A
close ally of Mr. Obama, Janet Murguía, president of the National
Council of La Raza, recently called the president the
"deporter-in-chief" and pushed him to suspend
deportations for most illegal immigrants.
"Since
I ran for president, I've pushed for comprehensive immigration reform,
and I will continue to push," Mr. Obama said during a recent question
and answer session
with Telemundo and Univision. "I am the champion-in-chief of
comprehensive immigration reform. But until Congress passes new laws, I
am constrained in what I am able to do."
The
White House called Thursday's meeting with the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus shortly before the legislators were scheduled to meet and
consider a resolution asking
the White House to suspend deportations, an official said.
Rep.
Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.), who was in the meeting with Mr. Obama,
described the conversation as the beginning of a "new dialogue" between
the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus and the White House, saying that communication between them had
been "dormant for too long."
"In
the absence of action by House Republicans, administrative action is
imperative," he said. "It is clear that the pleas from the community got
through to the president."
Mr. Gutierrez said he planned to meet with Mr. Johnson next week to present options for a deportation policy
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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