# GOP Strategy to Stop Obama's Executive Amnesty Emerging **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 18, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016 "2014-11-18T23:50:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/101 "2014-11-21T19:55:32Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Looked at the top of page 4. Don’t see anything like that. Can you post which section of which law applies? [here you go.](http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/274a.12) Section (c)(14). ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/102 "2014-11-21T20:23:21Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > [here you go.](http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/274a.12) Section (c)(14). Cool. Now - can you point me to any portion of US Code that allows the President to set “deferred action” on anyone he likes. Because the only place I can find is [this](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1154) and it has very specific criteria and no leeway (just do a search on “deferred”). ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/103 "2014-11-21T21:06:31Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Cool. Now - can you point me to any portion of US Code that allows the President to set “deferred action” on anyone he likes. Because the only place I can find is [this](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1154) and it has very specific criteria and no leeway (just do a search on “deferred”). Sure, in my copious spare time at the moment I will redo everyone else’s legal research for you. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/104 "2014-11-21T23:58:49Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The truth is that the GOP wants immigration reform as bad or more as the democrats do, their base simply won’t let them do it without punishment. This is one of the issues that probably has the best chance of bipartisan compromise IMO. There’s lot’s of room in the middle before either throws in the towel and decides that the compromise is worse than their best alternative to a negotiated agreement. I still think in the current environment there will be a lot of metaphorical genital measuring and scapegoating before either side comes to the table. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/105 "2014-11-22T01:48:53Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > A small problem with this strategy, apparently, is that [CIS is funded by user fees](http://thehill.com/policy/finance/224837-appropriations-panel-defunding-immigration-order-impossible#.VG4Q5YEHoiY.twitter), and not appropriations from Congress. So even with a government shut down, or with selective funding bills, the CIS will march on doing what it does, funded by user application fees and the like. > > Sorry **Terr**. That’s how it worked the last time, anyway. All regular petition and application processing at USCIS kept on going as normal. The only thing that got shut down was immigration court (most of it, anyway - they kept a few essential employees there to deal with people being detained, etc.) Anyone who tried to shut down the government to stop deferred action and other new relief from taking effect would be shooting themselves in the foot. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/106 "2014-11-22T01:51:03Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Cool. Now - can you point me to any portion of US Code that allows the President to set “deferred action” on anyone he likes. Because the only place I can find is [this](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1154) and it has very specific criteria and no leeway (just do a search on “deferred”). You’re using the wrong search terms. Deferred action is not an immigrant visa, nor does it lead to an immigrant visa or permanent residence in any other form. Deferred action is just one form of prosecutorial discretion. I will see what I can find that makes it clearer. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/107 "2014-11-22T01:57:23Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Cool. Now - can you point me to any portion of US Code that allows the President to set “deferred action” on anyone he likes. Because the only place I can find is [this](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1154) and it has very specific criteria and no leeway (just do a search on “deferred”). [Here’s a nice legal opinion for you, with citations up the wazoo.](http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/attachments/2014/11/20/2014-11-19-auth-prioritize-removal.pdf) Happy now? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/108 "2014-11-22T02:03:12Z")
Let’s try [8 C.F.R. § 274a.12](http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/274a.12) as the authority. This statute lays out classes of aliens authorized to accept employment. Depending upon the exact classification, some aliens may accept employment automatically and some must first apply for permission to work. It appears Obama is acting under the color of 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(14) which requires such aliens to first apply for permission to work. > [@](#): > > (c) _ **Aliens who must apply for employment authorization.** _ An alien within a class of aliens described in this section must apply for work authorization. If authorized, such an alien may accept employment subject to any restrictions stated in the regulations or cited on the employment authorization document. USCIS, in its discretion, may establish a specific validity period for an employment authorization document, which may include any period when an administrative appeal or judicial review of an application or petition is pending. > … > (14) An alien who has been granted deferred action, an act of administrative convenience to the government which gives some cases lower priority, if the alien establishes an economic necessity for employment; ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/109 "2014-11-22T02:06:41Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > [Here’s a nice legal opinion for you, with citations up the wazoo.](http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/attachments/2014/11/20/2014-11-19-auth-prioritize-removal.pdf) Happy now? Sorry, a wall of legalese is not a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/110 "2014-11-22T02:07:47Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Let’s try [8 C.F.R. § 274a.12](http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/274a.12) as the authority. This statute lays out classes of aliens authorized to accept employment. > > Depending upon the exact classification, some aliens may accept employment automatically and some must first apply for permission to work. > > It appears Obama is acting under the color of 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(14) which requires such aliens to first apply for permission to work. Notice, your cite says: “An alien who has been granted deferred action”. Where in the law is that “deferred action” defined and where is it defined who is authorized to grant it? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/111 "2014-11-22T02:14:02Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Sorry, a wall of legalese is not a cite. I don’t know that there is a single citation to the CFR that describes the legal framework that creates the authority for deferred action. It’s too complicated for that. Don’t like it? Sorry, that’s the law for you. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/112 "2014-11-22T02:14:57Z")
And, since IANAL and am slow on these things, I also now see this section of the previously referenced statute… > [@8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(a)(11)](#): > > **(a) Aliens authorized employment incident to status.** Pursuant to the statutory or regulatory reference cited, the following classes of aliens are authorized to be employed in the United States without restrictions as to location or type of employment as a condition of their admission or subsequent change to one of the indicated classes. Any alien who is within a class of aliens described in paragraphs (a)(3), (a)(4), (a)(6)-(a)(8), (a)(10)-(a)(15), or (a)(20) of this section, and who seeks to be employed in the United States, must apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for a document evidencing such employment authorization. USCIS may, in its discretion, determine the validity period assigned to any document issued evidencing an alien’s authorization to work in the United States. > … > (11) An alien whose enforced departure from the United States has been deferred in accordance with a directive from the President of the United States to the Secretary. Employment is authorized for the period of time and under the conditions established by the Secretary pursuant to the Presidential directive; This would seem to be more directly on point showing the President has authority to grant a status leading to the right to take up employment. This section provides that aliens granted such status have permission to work but “must apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for a document evidencing such employment authorization.” So the Secretary (of DHS, I presume) gets to establish the conditions under which such persons can work, pursuant to the Presidential directive. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/113 "2014-11-28T01:58:52Z")
> **[Nonpartisan CRS: Lawmakers CAN 'de-fund' Obama's immigration push](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2850882/Nonpartisan-Congressional-Research-Service-says-lawmakers-power-fund-Obama-s-immigration-push.html)** > > The thorny question is answered: Homeland Security authorities need congressional approval for every dime they spend, even if they collect it as part of a fee charged to an immigrant. Conservatives in the U.S. Senate got a powerful weapon on Wednesday in the battle over whether they can pull the rug out from under President Barack Obama’s plan to mainstream millions of illegal immigrants into American life. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republican’ top budget hawk, has unveiled a Nov. 21 memo from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) explaining that Congress can legally strip funding from America’s immigration enforcement agency – including funds the agency raises on its own through fees it charges Americans and foreigners. … Citing ‘Congress’s constitutional power over the purse,’ the CRS – Capitol Hill’s official nonpartisan research arm – instructed Sessions that lawmakers can pick and choose what executive branch agencies can spend money on. ‘An agency is not free simply to disregard’ those orders, the memo read. Some government agencies are funded by congressional ‘appropriations’ and others are ‘self-funded’ by fees, but the CRS memo indicates that Congress is in the driver’s seat no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/114 "2014-11-28T02:17:24Z")
Any way possible to fuck people over. That’s Republicans, for ya… ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/115 "2014-11-28T02:51:06Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [Lawmakers DO have the power to 'de-fund' Obama's immigration push | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2850882/Nonpartisan-Congressional-Research-Service-says-lawmakers-power-fund-Obama-s-immigration-push.html) > > Conservatives in the U.S. Senate got a powerful weapon on Wednesday in the battle over whether they can pull the rug out from under President Barack Obama’s plan to mainstream millions of illegal immigrants into American life. > > Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republican’ top budget hawk, has unveiled a Nov. 21 memo from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) explaining that Congress can legally strip funding from America’s immigration enforcement agency – including funds the agency raises on its own through fees it charges Americans and foreigners. > … > Citing ‘Congress’s constitutional power over the purse,’ the CRS – Capitol Hill’s official nonpartisan research arm – instructed Sessions that lawmakers can pick and choose what executive branch agencies can spend money on. > > ‘An agency is not free simply to disregard’ those orders, the memo read. > > Some government agencies are funded by congressional ‘appropriations’ and others are ‘self-funded’ by fees, but the CRS memo indicates that Congress is in the driver’s seat no matter what. Do you still honestly think they actually want to stop this? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/116 "2014-11-28T02:52:21Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Do you still honestly think they actually want to stop this? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/117 "2014-11-28T03:32:17Z")
Politically speaking, the Democrats _want_ the Republicans to do anything they can to stop this – such action would just move the Republican party closer and closer to as anathema for Latino voters as it currently is for black voters. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/118 "2014-11-29T02:48:04Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Politically speaking, the Democrats _want_ the Republicans to do anything they can to stop this – such action would just move the Republican party closer and closer to as anathema for Latino voters as it currently is for black voters. Yet the Dem embrace of illegals is making blacks much more friendly to Reps. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/119 "2014-11-29T02:50:08Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Yet the Dem embrace of illegals is making blacks much more friendly to Reps. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016/120 "2014-11-29T02:54:00Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Yet the Dem embrace of illegals is making blacks much more friendly to Reps. Wow. When you folks self-delude, you self-delude BIG. Republicans aren’t getting African-Americans back electorally for a LONG time, barring some colossal, unfathomable fuck-up on the Democratic Party’s part. African-Americans have memories, you know. There’s been more than enough animus proven and pushed by the right-wing toward black people in the last 40 or 50 years, despite Republican denialism about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-strategy-to-stop-obamas-executive-amnesty-emerging/705016.md?page=7)