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Re: Obama's Executive Order
Here's the research
http://www.nilc.org/document.html?id=754
As this shows, Congress has given POTUS the authority to grant undocumented residents the right to remain in the country and to work.
Practically speaking granting amnesty, which the Constitution clearly empowers the POTUS to perform, wouldn't accomplish anything. People who are here illegally are perpetually breaking the law. Yeah, the POTUS could say "you're pardoned for your past crimes", but they'd be guilty of the same crime the following day. The only way amnesty would have any lasting effect is if it also included legalizing documentation, but POTUS does not have the authority to grant that.
So that leaves Obama doing what every leader of law enforcement ends up doing: prioritizing where enforcement assets concentrate their work. Obama saying "felons, not families" is absolutely no different than any police chief or sheriff saying "murderers, not jay-walkers". It's discretion that all law enforcement leadership has regardless of what laws have been written. They need that discretion to function day-to-day, in a world of limited money and assets. Simple prioritization. It's not a strange concept. We each exercise the same thing on a regular basis. Companies exercise it. It's everywhere.
P.S. Caveat: POTUS doesn't have explicit Constitutional authority to grant legalizing papers, but he is in charge of the departments that do per the Constitution and previously passed Congressional laws. That might give him the indirect authority to grant them. I haven't researched into it enough to know.
Here's the research
http://www.nilc.org/document.html?id=754
General authority for defered action exists under Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 103(a), 8 U.S.C. § 103(a), which grants the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to enforce the immigration laws. Though no statutes oregulations delineate defered action in specific terms, the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that decisions to initate or terminate enforcement procedings fall squarely within the authority of the Executive. In the immigration context, the Executive Branch has exercised its general enforcement authority to grant defered action since at least 1971. Federal courts have acknowledged the existence of this executive power at least as far back as the mid–1970s.5
Parole–in–place refers to a form of parole granted by the Executive Branch under
the authority of INA § 212(d)(5), 8 U.S.C. § 182(d)(5). Under this provision, the Atorney
General “may . . in his discretion parole into the United States temporarily under such
conditons as he may prescribe only on a case–by–case basis for urgent humanitarian
reasons or significant public benefit any alien aplying for admision to the United
States.”7 Parole permits a noncitzen to remain lawfuly in the United States, although
parole does not constiute an “admision” under the INA. Individuals who have ben
paroled are eligible for work authorization
Defered enforced departure, often refered to as DED, is a form of prosecutorial
discretion that is closely related to defered action. Almost every Administration since
President Dwight D. Eisenhower has granted DED or the analogous “Extended Voluntary
Departure” to at least one group of noncitzens.15 As with defered action, executive
authority to grant defered enforced departure and extended voluntary departure exists
under the general authority to enforce the immigration laws as set out in INA § 103(a), 8
U.S.C. § 103(a).1
As this shows, Congress has given POTUS the authority to grant undocumented residents the right to remain in the country and to work.