P resident Obama’s l ong-anticipated set of executive actions are designed to assist many undocumented residents and their families. Collectively, they will provide temporary relief from the threat of deportation for five million Americans, including as many as 114,000 North Carolinians. Though more could have been done, we applaud his action.
Some components of the President’s plan should be uncontroversial. He is redirecting enforcement resources toward deporting high-level criminals, making it easier for international students educated in the United States to stay here, and facilitating the immigration of highly skilled entrepreneurs.
Beyond this, the consensus breaks down. Executive actions of this kind are temporary. Undocumented immigrants granted reprieves for the next three years could lose protection after the 2016 elections. To prevent this, Congress should reform the nation’s immigration system to offer an expedient path to citizenship for people already living in the United States.
More realistically, immigration activists should work to make repealing these measures politically unthinkable. They should also ensure that as many eligible residents as possible sign up for protections, a task complicated by a well-earned distrust and fear of the government.
But this cannot be a fight for immigration activists alone. The North Carolina Democratic Party, including current Attorney General and likely gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper, should recognize the value of keeping families whole, letting residents lawfully work and reprioritizing the deportation of the tiny fraction of undocumented immigrants who pose a substantial threat.
Republicans in turn ought to recall that, on balance, the free supply of labor helps markets function. Immigrants, legal or not, are generally good for the economy. Obama’s plan is imperfect, but its difficult to imagine a better option that would still be constitutional. Any action that helps five million Americans — and, make no mistake, this is what they are — is a step forward.
