Obama has multiple plans ready to circumvent legal process on immigration

It has been the general consensus that President Obama’s November 2014 Executive Actions on Immigration faced long odds of success and an even more lengthy court battle, but leaked memosshow that President Obama has at least four plans in place to circumvent the legal process and push through his agenda despite a standing injunction.

Last June, four months after Texas federal judge Andrew Hanen’s order to freeze President’s DAPA and Expanded DACA programs DHS’s immigration policy makers apparently held a “Regulations Retreat” to discuss “different options” for “open market Employment Authorization Document (EAD) regulatory changes.” EAD is the statutory term for work permits. From a memo recording these discussions, we now know that the Obama DHS has, rather than pausing to allow the courts to assess the constitutionality of its enforcement nullification initiatives, been gearing up to roll out one or more of four plans drawn up at the meeting, each one designed to provide EADs to millions of nonimmigrants, including those lawfully present and visa overstayers, crippling the actual employment-based visa system on the federal statute-book.

Worryingly, the EAD regulatory changes would be applied to a broad swath of people, as one plan calls for basically giving EADs to any person physically present in the United States, no matter their legal or visa status. This would have the effect of essentially upending several legal and regulatory structures, not the least of which include immigration and visa procedures and obviously contribute to upheaval in the economy.

The leaked memos further bolster House Speaker Paul Ryan’s remarks Sunday in discussing why Immigration Reform will remain off the table until at least the next President is elected:

“Look, I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue,” Ryan said in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “He tried to go it alone, circumventing the legislative process with his executive orders, so that is not in the cards.”

Previous efforts by the Boehner led House failed to defund federal monies to the many “sanctuary cities” which actively ignore Federal efforts to enforce existing immigration law, including letting known violent criminals back on the street despite existing requests to transfer these criminal immigrants into Federal custody to begin deportation proceedings.

Breitbart has uncovered an interview from earlier this year where GOP Presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio admits he plans to keep Obama’s moves on immigration reform on the books until they are replaced by passed legislation, striking a sharp contrast with the position of several of his opponents. Immigration has become a hot-button topic in the GOP race, helped largely by Donald Trump’s bombastic announcement speech and outspoken position on the issue.

Rubio’s support for increased H-1B Visa issuance is in stark contrast to Senator Jeff Sessions, an outspoken immigration hawk, who has called for investigations of companieswhich have been laying off large numbers of Americans and replacing them with lower wage H-1B visa holders. On the Breitbart News Daily radio show Sessions called outthe position that there are not enough American’s to fill STEM jobs as bogus.

Currently, more than 800,000 foreign graduates are working as temporary ‘guest-workers’ in the United States, mostly via the H-1B program. They’re in a wide variety of jobs— doctors, architects, accountants, designers, teachers, engineers and software experts.

The 800,000 number is roughly equivalent to the total annual output of skilled American graduates, but the guest-workers accept much lower pay than needed by experienced, middle-aged, child-rearing American professionals, including pharmacists, industrial designers, and software developers.

If Obama and Rubio get their way, all 800,000 would be given EADs and would stay permanently in the US.

[The Hill] [New York Times] [Breitbart] [Photo courtesy Examiner.com]

Originally published at The Hill Talk on November 3, 2015.