{"id":7360,"date":"2014-07-30T17:08:11","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T21:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=7360"},"modified":"2018-12-28T14:49:04","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:49:04","slug":"this-date-in-obamas-administrative-amnesty-july-30-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2014\/07\/30\/this-date-in-obamas-administrative-amnesty-july-30-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"This Date in Obama\u2019s Administrative Amnesty: July 30, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

On July 30, 2010, an official memo<\/a> surfaced revealing<\/a> the Administration\u2019s intent to circumvent Congress and grant amnesty administratively. In the memo, titled \u201cAdministrative Alternatives to Comprehensive Immigration Reform,\u201d senior officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offered Director Alejandro Mayorkas a variety of ways to \u201creduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the United States without authorization\u201d and to extend protections and benefits to many individuals until amnesty is granted.<\/p>\n

Among other recommendations, the USCIS officials suggested adopting increased use of \u201cdeferred action,\u201d expanding the use of \u201cParole-in-Place,\u201d allowing individuals in temporary protected status to obtain lawful permanent residence, issuing \u201cNotices to Appear,\u201d strategically to implement Administration \u201cpriorities,\u201d and issuing employment authorization cards valid for two years.<\/p>\n

At the time, a spokesman from USCIS tried to minimize the impact of the memo, saying<\/a> it was an internal draft that should not be equated with official action or policy of the department.\u201d However, in the ensuing years, the Administration would indeed take many of the unilateral actions outlined in the memo. For instance, in March of 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton issued a memo<\/a> stating that his agency would only enforce the law against those illegal aliens who meet Administration \u201cpriorities.\u201d And in June 2012, the Administration announced<\/a> that it would grant \u201cdeferred action\u201d as well as two-year work permits to certain illegal aliens who had arrived before the age of sixteen, a policy the Department of Homeland Security called \u201cDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals\u201d (DACA).<\/p>\n

At the time the USCIS memo was leaked, the Administration was still looking forward to having Congress pass amnesty legislation during this President\u2019s time in office, but President Obama has now declared that he has given up on Congress acquiescing to his wishes and is determined<\/a> to act unilaterally on an even wider scale. Exactly which \u201cadministrative alternatives to comprehensive immigration reform\u201d the President has decided on is still unknown, but true immigration reformers such as Sen. Jeff Sessions believe he may be planning to expand DACA to five or six million additional illegal aliens. The President has promised to issue his decree<\/a> by the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

Read more at FAIR\u2019s President Obama\u2019s Record of Dismantling Immigration Enforcement<\/i><\/a>.