The Patriot Post® · Why Obama's Immigration Order Isn't Like Reagan's

Heritage Foundation scholar Hans von Spakovsky notes that some media outlets are pointing to immigration executive orders issued by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush to say, 1. Barack Obama’s coming order is not a big deal and 2. Conservatives are hypocrites for opposing it. This is flat out wrong, says Spakovsky: “[T]his claim plays a bit fast-and-loose with history and fails to explain the significant difference between Obama going against the will of Congress, which considered and rejected the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act on several occasions, including when both houses of Congress were controlled by the president’s party, and Reagan and Bush who made administrative corrections designed to carry out congressional intent. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority to ‘establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization….’ And it is the president’s constitutional duty, under Article II, Section 3, to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed….’” Specifically, Spakovsky writes, in 1987 “Reagan was not defying Congress, but rather carrying out the general intent of Congress which had just passed a blanket amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.” And Bush’s action, which affected about 140,000 people, “was well within the authority delegated to the executive branch and a ‘legitimate exercise of prosecutorial discretion.’” This isn’t to defend either previous policy, but only to say this is apples and oranges both in scope and intent. More…