The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration:
Election-Year Smoke and Mirrors

Jun 18, 2012

Last Friday Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting young illegal immigrants who entered the United States before they were 16 if they meet certain requirements.

Obama’s own description of his executive order illustrates its shortcomings: “This is not amnesty. This is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It’s not a permanent fix. This is just a stopgap measure.” It’s not even that. It’s just more of the same.

Look at Obama’s own record on immigration. Since 2009 the average annual deportations have skyrocketed, hovering around 400,000 a year. That is 30% higher than the average annual deportations during the second term of the Bush administration and doubles that of H. W. Bush’s administration.

Obama has put more money into border control–600 million dollars more–to pay for one thousand more border patrol agents, 160 more ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigators, 30 more port officers, 20 more K-9 teams and two Predator drones deployed along the border, along with 1,200 National Guard troops along the border.

Does this sound like a pro-immigrant president? If Obama gets any credit for his executive order it will be because the Republicans have been so vocally anti-immigrant.

Make no mistake, this new executive order has little to do with helping young immigrants and everything to do with winning an election.