June 28, 2016

Obama statement re Supreme Court ruling rejecting "Deferred Action for Parents of Americans"

Washington D.C.--Transcript of president Obama's press conference in the Rose Garden, Monday, 10:35 a.m.:
"Good morning.  As you all know, three years ago I instructed the Department of Homeland Security to implement a program called "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals," or DACA.  Under this program any person who was under the age of 15 when he or she arrived in this country would be permitted to stay indefinitely, and would be given a "green card" allowing them to work.  Many progressive states have offered them in-state tuition at state colleges and universities.
The reason for this program was simple:  The innocent children who were brought to the U.S. by their parents had no choice in the matter, so it's simply unfair to deport them.  That's not who we are. 
Unfortunately, if these children were brought in by others, then when the parents of these innocent children attempted to join their children here our immigration laws--which everyone agrees is broken but which Republicans in congress refuse to fix--demanded that the parents of these innocent children be deported.   
It simply was not fair to tear these families apart when the children had no choice, and their parents simply wanted to join them.
So a year later, in response to thousands of complaints from undocumented Americans that our broken immigration laws were tearing innocent families apart, I approved a second proposal, called "Deferred Action for Parents of Americans."  This thoughtful, compassionate program--which has been enthusiastically praised by all good Americans--allowed the parents of these innocent children--who are in effect American citizens--to remain in the U.S. with their children.  Who, as I just noted, are almost American citizens.

The governor of a reactionary, racist southwestern state challenged this second program, claiming I didn't have the authority to implement it.  This of course is nonsense.  As most of you know, I used to teach Constitutional law, and the Constitution clearly says that the president is the supreme executive of the nation, so whatever he or she says must be legal by definition.

The case was heard by the most conservative appeals court in the country, which--in a totally unconstitutional decision--agreed with the plaintiffs.

The Department of Justice appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court.  A week ago that court revealed that it was unable to make a decision on this question, as the vote was tied.

By tradition, a tie vote means the lower court's ruling stands.  However, neither I nor my team of top Constitutional scholars have found any legal authority stating that this must always be followed.  Accordingly, my administration has chosen to interpret the Supreme Court's tie ruling as rejecting the lower court's decision instead of leaving it intact.

Consistent with this finding, I have directed DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to continue current federal policy of not deporting parents of innocent children--who after all are American citizens in every way except for paperwork.

The Republicans and their presidential candidate believe parents of children who have entered the U.S. and are now, in effect, American citizens, should not be allowed to stay here with their innocent children.  They claim that the parents sent their children here knowing we would allow them to stay, and that I then implemented the second policy to allow their parents to stay with their children in the U.S. 

Even if this is true, tearing families apart is not who we are.  Once the innocent children made it to the U.S., even if their parents sent them unaccompanied as a way to ensure they'd be allowed to stay, simple decency demands that we let their parents join them. 

In conclusion, vote Democrat, and encourage all your friends to do so.  And if they've just arrived in the U.S, tell them how important it is to vote, even if they haven't quite gotten their paperwork in order.  Because no one wants to be denied the right to vote Democrat because some silly piece of paper has gotten lost in the mail.

Thank you.
Sounds plausible, eh?  And note how cleverly--how cunningly--the Executive Order was named:  "Deferred Action for Parents of Americans."  Except the kids aren't citizens.  They're illegal immigrants.  But one of the oldest tricks in D.C. is to name acts or laws or EO's something that has nothing to do with what they do--and sometimes is the opposite of what they really are.

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