US President Barack Obama’s unilateral action in proposing a new programme to register millions of undocumented residents of the US is a dramatic breakthrough by enabling them to seek a way to regularise their situation. It is not an automatic free pass to citizenship, but it will let a potential four million people to find a way to start their search for citizenship by applying for work permits, on top of the present scheme that already covers only 1.2 million of the total 11.4 million undocumented still struggling with their status outside the legal system. Obama’s boiling frustration with the Republicans over their resistance to his plans on immigration led him to make this important step, which has forced the Republicans onto the defensive. They have blocked Obama’s legislation to sort out this vital issue for more than a year and have not made any substantive counter proposals.
In addition to the humanitarian necessity of dealing with the large number of long-term residents who have no legal status in the country, the move also has given the Democrats a renewed sense of identity with the fast growing Latin community as white Americans look set to become a minority by 2045. This may be why much of the Republican fury over Obama’s move is bluster, as they know that the public broadly favours what has happened. If they are not bluffing, the Republicans should go ahead and pass their own law and force the president to implement what the Congress will decide. Democracy is alive and well in the US despite Republican anger.
