Once again Pres OBAMA does just want he wants to do with his "Pen and his Phone" as CONGRESS stands by in awe observing him doing just as he wants to do.
This time it's AMNESTY for the 2016 General Election.
While most American Voters are in total agreement with Comprehensive IMMIGRATION REFORM being enacted by CONGRESS and a Sitting U.S. President, NO American Voter (in their right mind) agrees it should be enacted via a KING'S Fiat by a Sitting U.S. President.
The United States of America is NOT a Monarchy.
It is a Democracy with a Constitution which must be adhered to.
Article Source: Washington Examiner
ARTICLE: "Obama Calls Immigration Action Legal, Not Amnesty"
President Obama in a prime-time address to the nation Thursday night trumpeted his executive action to protect 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, saying the most extensive overhaul to the immigration system in decades would limit "real amnesty" in the United States.
Ignoring GOP cries of executive overreach, the president opted to move ahead with unilateral action that adds fuel to the simmering feud over the limits of his executive authority.
The centerpiece of Obama’s executive blueprint is the deferral of deportations for roughly 4.1 million undocumented immigrants whose children are American citizens or permanent residents. Under the president’s plan, the parents must have lived in the U.S. for at least five years to receive work permits.
"I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty," Obama said. "Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today — millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time."
While Obama’s move alienated conservatives, progressives largely fell in line with the president, arguing his hand was forced by House Republicans' unwillingness to take up a Senate-passed immigration bill.
"Had the House of Representatives allowed that kind of a bill a simple yes-or-no vote, it would have passed with support from both parties, and today it would be the law," Obama insisted. "But for a year and a half now, Republican leaders in the House have refused to allow that simple vote."
Under the presidential directive, the Obama administration is also expanding a program that granted certain Dream Act-eligible immigrants a reprieve from deportation, saying that minors who arrived in the U.S. before 2010 would not face prosecution. Previously, Obama limited such protections to young immigrants who arrived in the country before 2007.
However, the parents of so-called Dreamers do not qualify for the new benefits outlined by the president.
The federal government will begin taking applications from undocumented immigrants in the spring 2015, administration officials said.
For their part, Republicans accused the president of killing any hopes of bipartisan compromise on the hot-button issue.
“Instead of working together to fix our broken immigration system, the president says he’s acting on his own. That’s just not how our democracy works,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The president has said before that he’s not [a] king and he’s not an emperor, but he’s sure acting like one. And he’s doing it a time when the American people want nothing more than for us to work together.”
The unilateral action is part of a broader campaign by the Obama administration to reserve deportations for the most violent criminals, not those convicted of lesser offenses. Obama’s plan will replace the Secure Communities law-enforcement program, which checks the fingerprints of all inmates with the Department of Homeland Security to verify their immigration status — and requires the detention of undocumented immigrants for lengthy periods of time.
Obama is also making more high-tech visas available, a provision long sought by Silicon Valley. The administration will grant visas to the spouses of H-1B visa recipients without it counting against the overall limit.
Obama’s high-profile address was delayed until after the November midterms, part of a failed attempt to retain Democratic control of the Senate. The president faced major pressure from Latino activists to flex executive muscle on immigration, though some advocates insist Obama could have done even more to halt a record number of deportations under his watch.
A major challenge Obama faced Thursday night was convincing the American public of the legality of his actions — he framed them as a matter of prosecutorial discretion.
"The actions I’m taking are not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every Democratic president for the past half-century," Obama said. "And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”
Yet, multiple recent polls have shown that many Americans are opposed to his executive action. Aware of that political reality, Obama will travel to Las Vegas Friday to promote his immigration efforts.
But Republicans predict Obama will regret going it alone on immigration.
"President Obama is not above the law and has no right to issue executive amnesty,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said. “His actions blatantly ignore the separations of powers and the principles our country was founded on. I will not sit idly by and let the president bypass Congress and our Constitution."
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