President Obama #39;s Immigration Announcement [Full Speech]
Immigration Reform 2014 News: In an address from the White House, President Obama chose confrontation over conciliation as he asserted the powers of the Oval. President Obama Speech on ...
By: Koeman Karr
See original here:
President Obama's Immigration Announcement [Full Speech] - Video
Latin American governments expressed disappointment this week over a Texas judges decision to temporarily halt the rollout of President Obamas executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala issued statements Tuesday regarding Judge Andrew Hanens injunction on the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was scheduled to begin accepting applications Wednesday, as well as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, planned for May.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson confirmed Tuesday that both programs would be suspended while the White House appealed the decision. The existing 2012 DACA program remains in place.
Mexicos foreign ministry released a statement noting that it lamented the judges decision, and warned Mexicans in the U.S. not to fall for scams that could proliferate in the wake of confusion caused by the ruling. Mexicans, who make up the majority of the U.S. immigrant population, have been the largest group of beneficiaries of President Obamas executive action on immigration thus far. Immigrants from Mexico make up about 65 percent of those enrolled in the 2012 DACA program, which grants work authorizations and deportation relief for young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Guatemala issued a similar statement of regret. The Guatemalan government profoundly laments the decision suspending the enforcement of immigration measures approved by the U.S. presidency that benefits the Guatemalan community, the foreign relations ministry said Tuesday.
Marvin Ponce, an adviser to Honduras president, criticized the political undercurrents of the decision, calling it evidence that there are political sectors fighting to torpedo decisions that alleviate social and economic pressures that overwhelm our countries, local media reported.
El Salvadors government also said it would back a prompt search for measures that promote migratory stability for all migrants that adhere to U.S. standards and whose work contributes to the economy of the country.
Migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras made up the bulk of unauthorized border crossers last summer in what the Obama administration deemed a humanitarian crisis. More than 67,000 unaccompanied children and 66,900 family units entered the country through the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2014. Congressional Republicans attributed the surge to the 2012 DACA program, saying rumors of leniency fueled unauthorized migration, but Democrats and immigration advocates said pervasive gang violence in Central America was largely responsible for the influx.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration carved out $1 billion of its 2015 budget to enhance security in those three Central American countries to stem the flow of unauthorized migration. It also launched an in-country refugee processing program in those countries to reunite children who qualify for refugee status with parents living in the U.S.
The rest is here:
Immigration Reform: Mexico, Central American Governments ...
A day after Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the federal district court in Brownsville, Texas, issued an injunction preventing the Obama administration from implementing itsplan to delay deportation for millions ofundocumented immigrants, the statusof U.S. immigration policyis as confused and uncertain as ever. A few ideas about what might come next are in the links below.
Welcome to Wonkbook. To subscribe by e-mail, clickhere. Send comments, criticism or ideas to Wonkbook at Washpost dot com. Follow Wonkblog onTwitterandFacebook.
What's in Wonkbook:1) Policymakers respond to immigration ruling 2) Opinions, including Wolf on the dollar3) A surprising poll on gay marriage, and more
Number of the day: 11.4 million. That's how many people signed up for health insurance plans under Obamacare this year, according to the White House. The number will likely decline as the year progresses, as people leave their policies. Jason Millman in The Washington Post.
1. Topstory: Policymakers respond to immigration ruling
An appeal could take months. "President Barack Obama's administration faces a difficult and possibly lengthy legal battle to overturn a Texas court ruling that blocked his landmark immigration overhaul, since the judge based his decision on an obscure and unsettled area of administrative law, lawyers said. ... There was no consensus among lawyers with expertise in administrative law and immigration law on whether Hanen would be reversed on appeal. But they said the judge was wise to focus on an area of administrative law where legal precedent is sometimes fuzzy." David Ingram and Mica Rosenberg for Reuters.
Primary source: The opinion.
It doesn't look as though the opinion will resolve the debate in Congress over funding Homeland Security, as some had hoped. "Dont count on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to play dealmaker in the fight over Department of Homeland Security funding. The Kentucky Republican is under intense pressure from conservatives to hold the line against President Obamas immigration actions, and he shows no signs of backing down. ... McConnell could have seized on the injunction to push conservatives toward funding the DHS while the court fight plays out. The fact that he didnt, Senate Democrats say, is a sign that McConnell wont be coming to the negotiating table." Alexander Bolton in The Hill.
Much of Obama's agenda is now in the hands of the courts. "Along with the immigration action, the fate of two of Obamas other signature initiatives a landmark health-care law and a series of aggressive executive actions on climate change now rests in the hands of federal judges. It is a daunting prospect for a president in the final two years of his tenure who believes he is on the path to leaving a lasting impact on intractable and politically perilous issues, despite an often bitter relationship with Congress." David Nakamura and Juliet Eilperin in The Washington Post.
Here's what you need to know to understand the injunction. The Washington Post.
Read more here:
Heres whats next for immigration reform - The ...
For undocumented immigrants in the United States, obtaining health insurance through the government is next to impossible, with both the Affordable Care Act and a recent executive immigration order explicitly declaring them ineligible for health care coverage. That means many are forced to put off preventative care measures and eventually turn to expensive, overstressed emergency rooms once they become severely ill.
Now, state officials are trying to find ways around the federal government's prohibition and provide various kinds of coverage to immigrants who don't qualify for Obamacare. Using state funds, California and New York are pioneering ways to offer comprehensive coverage for undocumented immigrants and others with temporary work visas. A handful of other states offer limited insurance coverage tosubsetsof immigrant populations. But experts warn such programs remain in the minority, and that the overall lack of health care coverage for immigrants in the United States could result in much higher medical bills in the future.
By 2016, 5.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States will be uninsured, a group of UCLA researchers hasestimated. In 2012, there were anestimated11.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. Under the 1986 policy EMTALA, hospitals cannot turn away a person in need of care, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. Emergency treatment costs to Medicaid amounts to about $2 billion a year, mostly for illegal immigrants, according to a 2013reportby Kaiser Health News. In 2009,researchby the Center for Immigration Studies estimated the cost of treating uninsured and undocumented immigrants at $4.3 billion per year at safety-net facilities like emergency rooms and community health clinics.
Advocates for immigrant health coverage say these sums might be less exorbitant if undocumented immigrants had regular primary care, which would be more accessible if they had insurance. Those bills couldve been drastically reduced, Frank Rodriguez, president of the Latino Health Care Forum, which offers health care outreach and enrollment assistance to the uninsured and underinsured in Texas, said. There are no preventative health measures, so they [undocumented, uninsured immigrants] end up having to use emergency care.
Critics, however,arguethat providing health care to illegal immigrants will encourage more illegal immigration and that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for social services for those in the country without legal status."County hospitals are overwhelmed with uninsured people, and they've been forced to come up with more money to accommodate these people largely because they've encouraged them to come in," Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, hastoldthe Los Angeles Times.
Unauthorized immigrants could theoretically buy private health insurance, but that option is usually prohibitively expensive.Unauthorized immigrants are not eligible for almost any of the federal, state and local health care programs, and they tend to work in jobs that dont carry employer coverage, Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute, said.
The other health care option for undocumented immigrants is federally qualified health centers, which are reimbursed by and receive other funding from the government and do not ask questions about immigration status. But federally qualified health centers dont do much primary health care because theyre not reimbursed [for it], Rodriguez said. If a person sought primary medical services at such centers, they would likely have to pay out of pocket, albeit on a sliding fee scale. The undocumented immigrants wont go, he said.
Alvaro Huerta, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, called it "shortsighted" not to give undocumented and deferred action immigrants access to primary care, given how cost-effective such care be. Every principle of health reform, [for the] documented or undocumented, says, put your money into preventative care, because youre going to be spending 100 times the investment in preventative care when people wind up sick in emergency rooms or hospitals," he said.
On Jun. 15, 2012, the Obama administration issued an executive order granting certain undocumented immigrants immunity from deportation and making them eligible for work permits. A few months later, the administration explicitly restricted its policy so that these immigrants were not eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
California has long been the vanguard for ensuring that immigrants have access to health care and insurance. It allows deferred action grantees under Obama's policies to enroll in Medi-Cal or a parallel public health insurance program, andlawmakers have also proposed legislation to grant all undocumented immigrants eligibility for the same two programs. Most recently, in December 2014, State Senator Ricardo Lara of California introduced SB 4,a bill that tries to make all undocumented immigrants eligible for Medi-Cal.
CHATTANOOGA,TN, (WDEF)-"We always have to remember we are a nation of immigrants we are just coming to terms with our laws by which to adjudicate that." Chattanooga immigration attorney Terry Olsen wants leaders from both sides to talk face to face with President Obama.
"I think you can have increased enforcement, i think you can give a pathway to people here and beyond increase avenues to come to the US that also benefit our area and also our US economically."
The president's proposed reform aims to protect parents of children who arrived in the US, if their children are either current US citizens or legal permanent residents.
The program is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or (DACA).
But it was shot down by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas and the majority of Congress.
Congressman Chuck Fleischmann,"Hopefully the president will back off of this initiative of his sit down and work with Congress so we can get meaningful action in the immigration realm, we have to keep our borders secure, reward those who are playing by the rules and we have got to keep the American people safe."
Congressman Scott DesJarlais,"We are just not going to pay for this unconstitutional action as of now there is a federal judge who agrees with us, but the Senate refuses to get the immigrants on board and fund the DHS as it should be so apparently we are going to have a showdown."
Congressman DesJarlais tells News 12 he is concerned that illegal immigrants would be given social security cards and would then sign up to vote.
Attorney Terry Olsen feel this should not be a concern as most immigrants are only going work authorization and driver's licenses but are restricted from voter enrollment.
26 States have opposed the executive immigration order by President Obama including Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Texas
Read more here:
Immigration Reform Hangs In The Balance