US President Barack Obama faces a tough political and legal battle to
drive through an amnesty for five million illegal immigrants, but
uncertainty may prove as big a hurdle as Congress or the courts.Sitting opposite Obama in the Oval Office on February 4, 19-year-old Mexico-born Steven Arteaga felt confident his mother, an illegal immigrant, would soon be able to come out of the shadows.
Arteaga himself received protection from deportation in 2013, part of an Obama initiative to grant amnesty to kids brought over the border.
Last November, Obama issued a presidential order extending the program to a bigger pool of undocumented youngsters, and to the undocumented parents of American citizens.
Because Arteaga’s sister was born in the United States, his mother—who has been living illegally in the United States for almost two decades—could now come forward.
“It really meant a great deal for me,” Arteaga told AFP.
“Growing up, I would always have a fear that either I would come home and she wouldn’t be there, or I wouldn’t make it home—that something would happen and one of us might get deported.”
When the Department of Homeland Security was to start accepting applications on February 18, he was ready to file his mother’s request.
But while Arteaga sat in the White House, highlighting the people behind the policies, Republicans fought a rear-guard action in court and in Congress to overturn the extension.
Two days before the program’s start, 26 states—all but two Republican-governed—convinced a Texas judge to block Obama’s order.
Republicans accused him of effectively ruling by decree.
“The president said 22 times he did not have the authority to take the very action on immigration he eventually did,” said House Speaker John Boehner.
“So it is no surprise that at least one court has agreed.”
Obama’s Justice Department has said it will appeal, but the issue is likely to be in limbo before a higher court takes up the case.
“It probably does need to get to the Supreme Court,” said Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
“The actions that the president wants to undertake are illegal. This is a pretty fundamental question of separation of powers, it really is a constitutional question.”
Political fight
On Wednesday, Obama will make the political case for reform in Miami, a city with a huge Hispanic population in an electoral battleground state that is likely to prove pivotal in 2016’s presidential vote.
He will host a town hall meeting that will be televised on Telemundo, a Spanish-language network.
The White House has argued that the law and history are on its side.
But that may mean little for millions of undocumented immigrants for whom protracted wrangling just means more uncertainty.
“I was intending to apply,” said 34-year-old Florida resident Ivan Reyes, who was brought to the United States when he was 10.
“They stopped it, now I can’t. I am in shock. All my friends have papers, I’m the only one who doesn’t.”
“I knew that something was going to happen, something always happens. Every time we are going to get something, something happens.”
Activists have warned political and legal reverses could make scare undocumented migrants, pushing them further into the shadows.
The court ruling could “confuse potentially eligible immigrants and undermine the success of these initiatives,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.
Arteaga acknowledged it is possible a post-2016 administration could overturn the amnesty, making him vulnerable to deportation or prosecution.
But it is a risk he is willing to take.
“I believe that is a possibility, but I also believe that any candidate that goes through with it will be committing political suicide.”
“The Latino population is getting bigger and bigger here in the United States,” he said. “If four million apply, they can’t take it away.
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