Politico
By Seung Min Kim
October 27, 2014
Ex-Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano — who oversaw a sweeping directive
that gave hundreds of thousands of young immigrants a reprieve from
deportations — says
she is backing President Barack Obama’s planned executive action on
immigration.
“If
Congress refuses to act and perform its duties, then I think it’s
appropriate for the executive to step in and use his authorities based
on law … to take action in
the immigration arena,’’ Napolitano said in an interview with The
Washington Post published Monday.
The
comments came in advance of a speech that Napolitano will deliver later
Monday at the University of Georgia School of Law. The Post reported
that the speech, called
“Anatomy of a Legal Decision,” will dissect the internal debate over
the federal 2012 directive, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that halted deportations of young undocumented immigrants and
gave them work permits.
“It
just seemed to me that we needed to do something for this group of
young people,” Napolitano, now the president of the University of
California system, told the paper.
“They were brought here as kids, not of their own volition. They really
are kind of the worst victims of the lack of immigration reform.”
The
comments are particularly notable given Napolitano’s role in
implementing DACA — which is widely expected to be a model for the
executive action promised by Obama
later this year — and also because of her mixed history with
immigration advocates during her tenure at the Department of Homeland
Security.
The
former Arizona governor came under criticism for an administration
enforcement policy that led to record levels of deportations of
immigrants without legal status.
At the same time, Napolitano has drawn attacks from groups and
lawmakers that want tougher immigration enforcement.
After
comprehensive immigration reform died a slow death in Washington this
year, Obama promised to take executive action to ease deportations and
unilaterally make other
tweaks in the nation’s immigration system.
But
Obama said last month that he would punt that decision until after the
November midterms, as Senate Democrats grew increasingly nervous about
potential political blowback
from any sweeping order.
Napolitano’s
successor, Jeh Johnson, is leading the administration’s review of its
immigration enforcement policies and preparing recommendations for Obama
on what kinds
of executive actions the president can take.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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