Obama Declares Himself 'Champion in Chief' for Immigration

President Obama on Thursday tweeted that he is the “champion in chief for comprehensive immigrationreform” — a move activists saw as an admission that he’s suffering from his administration’s record-setting level of deportations.

Mr. Obama has been under fire for years over theHomeland Security Department’s informal quota of trying to deport about 400,000 immigrants every year. Republican opponents accuse him of inflating the numbers, while immigration rights advocates say the number is too high.

Those advocates have increasingly taken their anger out on Mr. Obama, arguing he has the authority to unilaterally halt most deportations even without a bill from Congress.

“The momentum is our side, and the White House excuses are stale, played out and have no legal standing. Dreamersand the immigrant community have out-organized the White House before and we’re poised to do it again this year,” said Cristina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream.

Mr. Obama finds himself buffeted by criticism from both sides — and that played out on Twitter after he posted his short message.

“Deporter in chief breaking millions of families,” tweeted the DRM Action Coalition.

The president backed last year’s Senate bill, which cleared that chamber on a bipartisan 68-32 vote. But action has stalled in the House, where Republican leaders want to pass a legalization bill but their rank-and-file members have balked, saying they don’t trust Mr. Obama to enforce the law and that their constituents aren’t clamoring for action on immigration.

Mr. Obama has tried to give the GOP some space to work on the issue, but that’s only increased the heat he’s taking from immigration advocates.

Those activists say he has unilateral authority to halt all deportations, using the same “prosecutorial discretion” he claimed in 2012 when he halted deportations for young adult illegal immigrants known as “Dreamers.”

Mr. Obama initially said he didn’t have authority to halt deportations for Dreamersbut reversed himself in the months ahead of the 2012 election. Now, the president says he doesn’t have authority to do an even broader halt — but the groups, pointing to their earlier experience with Dreamers, say they don’t believe him.

- Washington Times

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