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President Obama urged to halt deportations for now

January 28, 2014

President Barack Obama is expected to renew his push for immigration reform during his State of the Union address tonight, but a group of more than 30 House Democrats led by Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona say that isn’t enough. They want him to use his executive powers to suspend deportations until Congress passes immigration legislation.

The lawmakers are upset that Obama’s administration continues to deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year, including many who might qualify to remain in the country legally if Congress passed a bill that included a legalization program.

Until a bill is passed, the lawmakers are asking Obama to suspend the deportation of non-criminal immigrants who would qualify for legalization and later citizenship under the bipartisan immigration-reform bill passed by the Senate in June.

They also want him to expand a program that offers protection from deportation to young undocumented immigrants known as dreamers to include their parents.

Obama has said he does not have the legal authority to stop deportations or to expand the deferred- action program.

Grijalva and other Democratic lawmakers, however, argue that Obama has already proved he has the power to stop deporting immigrants after his administration implemented the deferred-action program in 2012 that targets the dreamers.

Under that program, at least 455,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors, including at least 16,000 in Arizona, have been granted a two-year reprieve from deportation, allowing them to receive work permits as a result.

“The president has the power, the legal authority, as he did with DACA, that gives him the authority to do much more than he is doing,” Grijalva said in a conference call Monday, referring to Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Grijalva was joined in the call by four other House Democrats: Reps. Yvette Clarke of New York; Marc Veasey of Texas; and Steven Horsford of Nevada; and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C.

The five are among 34 House Democrats who sent a letter to Obama last week asking him to stop deporting immigrants until Congress passes immigration reform. Republican House leaders are expected to unveil their plans for immigration reform later this week.

“We need to stop separating families,” Veasey said. “I cannot tell you how sad it is to meet individuals and families who have been separated from the people they love most. The anxiety they deal with on a daily basis just knowing that at any minute you or your loved one can be just ripped way from your jobImage removed., your loved one, the home.”

Obama has been pushing for immigration reform since taking officeImage removed. in 2009. But, during that time, deportations have soared to records levels, climbing to more than 400,000 a year.

In fiscal 2013, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 368,644 immigrants, including 34,868 by ICE’s operations in Arizona.

At the current pace, a total of more than 2 million people will have been deported under Obama’s administration in the next two or three months, Grijalva said.

Grijalva said that Obama thought that, by ramping up deportations, he would win support for immigration reform from conservatives in Congress, but that strategy hasn’t work and, in the meantime, families continue to be separated.

“On the contrary, they are winning the war by attrition and see no need to move forward with something comprehensive and something humane,” Grijalva said.

Issues:Immigration