When President Obama unveiled his administrative amnesty policy in mid-August, his hope was that the majority of Americans who oppose amnesty for illegal aliens wouldn’t notice, and the vocal minority who do would remember him fondly come November 2012.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Not only did the American public notice that President Obama was granting administrative amnesty to millions of illegal aliens (and even offering work authorization to some illegal aliens), but they noted his constitutionally questionable end-run around congressional authority. The Administration might even have expected to catch some short-term flak for its policy decision. But what they probably didn’t expect is that they’d come under fire from illegal alien advocates. Less than two months after the policy decision was announced, the president is being criticized by the illegal alien advocacy network for not going far enough or acting fast enough in carrying out the administrative amnesty policy.
According to Politico, the administrative amnesty announcement “stoked huge expectations in immigrant communities that deportation of mostly law-abiding illegal immigrants will end immediately.” As much as the president might like to accommodate those expectations, political realities have forced him to maintain the pretense that he is enforcing immigration laws. To do that, the Administration has tried to ratchet up the deportation of criminals, including those convicted of “minor” offenses. This effort has not pleased the illegal alien advocacy network which believes that only violent criminals should be subject to removal.
The political timetable also appears to have forced the Administration to make the announcement before they were ready to implement the policy. ICE Director John Morton admits, “We are still working as a department to develop the process and guideline” for administrative amnesty. Illegal alien advocates are putting the president on notice that their patience is wearing thin and that unless an administrative amnesty policy is in place soon he will have risked the wrath of most voters only to disappoint his political base.