Former President Barack Obama celebrated the 12th anniversary of his executive action on illegal immigration known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — despite the fact that prior to taking that action, he’d said that he wasn’t “a king” and couldn’t unilaterally change immigration law.
“Twelve years ago today, my administration announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, giving undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children a pathway to citizenship,” Obama began.
But then Obama pointed out that, after 12 years, many of the minors who had been protected under his DACA order had since grown up and were still at risk of being deported because Congress had never taken the necessary steps to make his temporary action permanent.
“Today, most of the original Dreamers are grown. They’re serving their communities as teachers, doctors, lawyers, and having children of their own. But because the program that offered that protection remains temporary, they’re also living in fear of being sent back to a country many of them can’t even remember,” he continued.
“The Biden Administration has made it easier for DACA recipients to access federal programs, including getting health care through the Affordable Care Act,” Obama added, giving President Joe Biden credit for continuing down the path he’d marked out.
“But until Congress acts, Dreamers will continue to live under a cloud of uncertainty,” Obama concluded. “That’s why I’m calling on Congress once again to pass a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers – one that offers them a pathway to citizenship and makes our immigration system fairer, more efficient, and more just.”
During a 2011 town hall in Washington, D.C., Obama famously claimed that he could simply use an executive order to stop deportations.
“With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive orders, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed … Congress passes the law. The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws,” he said. “There are enough laws on the books that are very clear in terms of how we enforce our immigration system that for me to, simply through executive order, ignore these constitutional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president. That does not mean, though, that we can’t make decisions, for example, to emphasize enforcement on those who’ve engaged in criminal activity.”
DACA was announced just one year later.
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