Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's deferred action on a sensible, reformed federal immigration system that's fair and thoughtful was exposed nationally over the weekend, but if you were a casual viewer of the PBS Newshour, you might have missed how, once again, the Republican and former presidential candidate slyly mangles the facts to suit his ideological and political talking points. Here’s the video:
Wisconsin immigrant parents fear being separated from their kids.
The Newshour ran a feature story from Milwaukee Public Television on a local family whose children are American citizens but the parents are not. With emotion offset by stolid political rhetoric, the story tried to explore the complexities of the issue, doing well at depicting the family's angst but not bringing to the surface a full understanding; especially because, except for an immigration attorney and the family, everyone else interviewed or in Walker's case depicted were Republican politicians.
The hard-working Flores family, like many similar immigrant families in Milwaukee and elsewhere, fears that immigration agents may soon separate them from their four children, who are American citizens, due to increasingly harsh enforcement under our increasingly law-and-disorder government.
Last summer, the Flores family sought out their governor at a presidential campaign event in Iowa to confront Walker about Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), created under President Obama, the current absence of which is fueling their fear. We'll describe DAPA more fully below. First this exchange, from the Milwaukee Public Television transcript, where the mother of the family confronts Walker:
> LESLIE FLORES: Why are you blocking DAPA?
> GOV. SCOTT WALKER, R-Wis.: I’m the governor. I don’t have anything to do with it right now, but thanks, though.
> LESLIE FLORES: Answer my question. Why are you trying to break my family apart?
> GOV. SCOTT WALKER: I want to spend 30 seconds answering you[r] question.
> For us, we are a nation of laws. And, unfortunately, the president last year, after saying 22 times before last year that he couldn’t make the law himself, said he wasn’t the emperor, he’s the president of the United States, and he said he couldn’t change the law, he decided to change the law, even though the courts have now said he can’t do that.
> My point is you have got to follow the law, follow the process. I completely sympathize with the situation you are all in and others.
Well, no, no, no, and no. First, Obama didn't "change the law." He modified his administration of it, slightly, for which there is ample legal precedent (President George H. W. Bush oversaw a very similar deferral program in 1989,-- one that affected 40% of undocumented immigrants -- without political outcry).
Second, Obama didn't as Walker claims say 22 times that he couldn't make the law himself yet then tried to make his own law. Rather, Obama adjusted his administration of the law in a non-remarkable way that wasn't even an executive order or a change in the law itself, rather just a rellocation of resources toward bigger immigration enforcement problems. Ordinary stuff, when you're a president. Obama made tweaks to administration of his own Affordable Care Act, too, when unforeseen problems arose. Again, routine for all presidents.
Third, courts left the DAPA program under one judge's injunction, and did not (as Walker implied) establish a permanent, precedent-setting ruling. According to some constitutional scholars, such a ruling arguably would have favored Obama's position not only on the legal merits, but also would have been even more likely had the Republican-controlled Senate not blocked Obama's nomination to fill a then-vacant seat on the high court.
Fourth, if Walker really sympathizes, why has he not urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to stop stalling around and pass a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill, as the country last did under Ronald Reagan? One kind of gets the feeling it's not a priority for Walker or too many other Republicans. In fact, immigration law as it exists is only a priority in that it's a great campaign tool. And remember: Walker was last year's "I'd build a wall, too" presidential candidate.
All of Walker's posturing on Obama's supposed overreach is just a way to evade a real humanitarian problem in favor of a ginned-up, fear-mongering political concern raised by Walker and some Republican governors -- namely, their claim that letting undocumented immigrants stay in the U.S. several years longer would lead to "voter fraud." It's a non sequitur, but it surely does sound scary. That's why our current president keeps saying without a shred of truth that immigrants gave Hillary Clinton her majority vote in November.
DAPA was modest and focused. It would have granted deferred enforcement action status to certain undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since 2010 and have children who are either American citizens or lawful permanent residents. Deferred action did not confer legal status but would come with a three-year, renewable work permit and exemption from deportation.
The program was announced in November 2014 by President Barack Obama, along with a number of immigration reform steps including increased resources for border enforcement, new procedures for high-skilled immigrants, and an expansion of the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The group of such immigrants eligible for deferral under DAPA would by security screening first be checked to ensure they had otherwise been law-abiding and productive residents. The deferral was intended as a humane, family-supporting and temporary opportunity. It would have allowed DAPA families to, for example, see their kids (often born here and thus U.S. citizens) through grade school or college before deportation of the parents ripped apart the family. It might have allowed those families to stay together long enough so that comprehensive immigration reform could be enacted in Congress, providing demanding but productive pathways to citizenship.
Reacting to Obama's incremental move, 26 states, all with Republican governors, sued in federal court asking the court to enjoin implementation of both the DAPA expansion and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a similar program. Early in 2015, the court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the expansion from going into effect while the case was heard on appeal. Eventually, a divided (4-4) U.S. Supreme Court left the injunction in place, without setting any precedent.
Thus, would-be DAPA families are already being forcibly separated by immigrant agents, parents shipped off to their home country and their children. It's unnecessary, cruel and heartless, and could easily be avoided if sane minds in Congress and the White House simply would sit down and work out a deal, instead of thinking in terms of walls, wars, and you versus those "others."
Immigration built this country. All whites born here for centuries are the offspring of immigrants. Including Scott Walker. He got his, though, so screw all these new, aspiring Americans. Anyway, he's just a governor. Can't do or say anything about it. Happy Fourth of July.