'Bittersweet': Immigrant-Rights Advocates Respond to Obama Plan

President Barack Obama's announcement of relief from deportation for about 5 million people, unveiled in a televised address Thursday night, is eliciting mixed reactions from immigrant-rights activists, families, and elected officials, some of whom say the plan goes too far—and others who say it doesn't go nearly far enough.

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"The news for the immigrant-rights community is a bit mixed," wrote Ryan Campbell, communications director for the DREAM Action Coalition, an advocacy and lobbying group. "On the one hand, we’re pretty stoked that millions of members of this community will now be able to more fully participate in society without having to worry about being detained in one of the GEO Groups' for-profit hellhole prisons for years before they even get a hearing. On the other, however, it also left out millions who will face more enforcement from those angered by Obama’s policy."

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But Obama pre-empted GOP accusations in his speech: "The actions I’m taking are not only lawful, they’re the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican President and every single Democratic President for the past half century. And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill."

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But the AFL-CIO, which was among the groups pressing Obama to 'go big' on immigration, pointed out that the plan still leaves more than 6 million workers unprotected.

"Unfortunately, more than half of those who currently lack legal protections will remain vulnerable to wage theft, retaliation, and other forms of exploitation," said Richard Trumka, president of the labor alliance. "In addition, we are concerned by the President’s concession to corporate demands for even greater access to temporary visas that will allow the continued suppression of wages in the tech sector. We will actively engage in the rule-making process to ensure that new workers will be hired based on real labor market need and afforded full rights and protections."

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More at the link.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/21/bittersweet-immigrant-rights-advocates-respond-obama-plan
Including some interesting comments.

CygnusX1isaHole • 11 hours ago

From Obama's speech yesterday:

“Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable,”

When it comes to wall street thieves, war criminals and CIA torturers Obama declared that .. "We must look forward, not backward".

In comparison, Obama believes that penniless laborers who were effectively pushed out of Mexico by NAFTA seeking work to avoid starvation are law breakers that "must be held accountable".

The roughly 50% of undocumented people who are temporarily permitted to stay will have to register with the Department of Homeland Security. This database will make it easy to round them up or further exploit them when the opportunity arises.