{"id":28599,"date":"2016-12-08T22:25:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T22:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=28599"},"modified":"2016-12-08T22:25:16","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T22:25:16","slug":"house-dems-push-obama-to-pardon-dreamers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=28599","title":{"rendered":"House Dems push Obama to pardon Dreamers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The current White House believes Obama can\u2019t pardon the Dreamers of their immigration violations \u2013 but dozens of House Democrats disagree, and they\u2019re urging the administration to reconsider. | Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By SEUNG MIN KIM : House Democrats are defying the White House on immigration, pushing back against the outgoing administration\u2019s view that President Barack Obama can\u2019t use his executive powers to shield so-called Dreamers from the incoming Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Democrats led by Reps. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Zoe Lofgren of California and Lucille Roybal-Allard of California last month urged the Obama White House to pardon Dreamers as a way to protect them from President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to rescind Obama\u2019s 2012 executive actions that gave a deportation reprieve and work permits to more than 740,000 young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.<\/p>\n

-politico.com<\/p>\n

The current White House believes Obama can\u2019t pardon the Dreamers of their immigration violations \u2013 but dozens of House Democrats disagree, and they\u2019re urging the administration to reconsider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask for the narrow reprieve of a retroactive and prospective pardon of categorical civil immigration violations for a unique group of young immigrants who have placed their trust in both you as their President and us as their lawmakers,\u201d Democratic lawmakers write in the new letter being released Wednesday. \u201cTo be clear we are not asking you to \u2018create legal status.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At the core of the House Democrats\u2019 view is that the Constitution does not explicitly limit a president\u2019s pardon authority for criminal offenses, although the White House has pointed out that that is what generally it is used for. Being in the United States illegally is a civil violation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that this action is critical, although it does not create legal status, because for many DREAMers it could clear a path to a legal status that already exists under current law,\u201d says the letter, led again by Gutierrez, Lofgren and Roybal-Allard. \u201cProviding protection and stability for immigrants is a shared goal, especially at a time when fear and uncertainty in our communities is at an all-time high.”<\/p>\n

More than 60 House Democrats endorsed the letter being sent to the White House on Wednesday. The one member of Democratic leadership who signed on is Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, the incoming House Democratic Caucus chairman.<\/p>\n

The White House \u2014 as well as key Senate Democrats \u2014 don\u2019t believe using Obama\u2019s pardon power is the answer. Cecilia Munoz, the current director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, again ruled out the option in a podcast interview released last week by an immigration advocacy group, saying pardons are generally used for criminal offenses and it won\u2019t give legal status to the Dreamers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it wouldn\u2019t protect a single soul from deportation,\u201d Munoz said during the podcast, hosted by the Center for Migration Studies. \u201cSo it\u2019s not an answer here for this population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has a similar view. He said he told Lofgren after the House Democrats\u2019 initial press conference announcing their pardon push that he and his staff had explored the pardon option, and that it would not work for the more than 740,000 Dreamers affected by Obama\u2019s action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to direct the attention and say, \u2018Oh, Obama can fix this,\u2019\u201d Durbin said in an interview last week. \u201cIf he can fix it, he\u2019d fix it. \u2026 It really is up to the new administration.\u201d<\/p>\n