I know that everybody is excited over this (yippee, Obama is doing something for the immigrants!), but I’m very wary of this whole thing:
Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.
The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods. It tracks closely to a proposal offered by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as an alternative to the DREAM Act.
Now, let’s just think about this. Some immigrants will not be deported on the spot. OK, that is good news, although I have got to wonder why a person who finished high school in the US is more valuable to the country than a person who got a PhD from one of the best American universities. Let’s leave that aside for a second and look at what these new measures will entail.
An army of bureaucrats will need to be hired to process this new variety of work permit. Like we didn’t have enough varieties of visas, permits, papers, etc. to complicate the lives of immigrants already.
That isn’t all, though. All of these immigrants can still be thrown out of the country whenever their work permit expires. This keeps them in a subjected position of perennially dependent people who are constantly terrified that the next permit will not be granted to them. As a result, we get thousands of young people (because this is very specifically aimed at young people who can be squeezed dry while they are still very energetic and can work hard and unpleasant jobs) who will develop short-term mentalities. This is very dangerous for the development of these people under the age of 30. When you measure your young life in 2 year increments, when you cannot plan anything beyond the next 24 months, you become a lot more reckless and incapable of long-term strategizing, which is a crucial skill one needs to be psychologically stable and successful in life.
Just imagine what it would do to you if you had no idea whether you might need to pack up and leave the country in 2 years. And went on in that position permanently.
This is an attempt at remedying a bad situation with a series of egregiously bad measures when a much easier solution is right there in front of us all.
Clarissa's Blog 
I agree with you completely. I mean, it’s understandable for the Prez to want to take the issue away from the Republicans ahead of the election, but why do it half-assed? What is the guarantee that this won’t become the new normal.
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Long time no see, my friend. 🙂 How are you doing?
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This is complicated beyond my comprehension.
First, I completely agree that President Obama’s reprieve for some young people is deeply flawed. So too, was the Health Care reform bill pushed so painfully through Congress a couple of years a go. Both deserve harsh judgment: “This is not a perfect solution.”
Unfortunately, our government has reached such an impasse that virtually NOTHING meaningful can be accomplished. As an alternative to doing NOTHING, year after year, I’m in favor of moving forward in small steps, even if flawed. IMO, it is better to dare to do SOMETHING, than to hold out for perfection.
In time of crisis, Franklin D. Roosevelt got it right: Try something. Try almost anything! Maybe what you try will work, at least a little bit. If it works, keep doing it; if it works, but imperfectly, improve it. If it doesn’t work, abandon it! And try something else! A continuous process of trial and error beats being forever stuck in the same mudhole.
I agree totally that the two-year horizon is a straitjacket for young people. But it’s better than immediate deportation. A more serious flaw is that young people will carry a burden of worry and guilt about their parents and grandparents. Generations of families will be torn apart. President Obama’s initiative is terribly flawed but it beats inaction. It is a place to start.
Finally, I agree that our entire approach to regulating immigration is obsolete in the “flat” world economy. A related problem is that international corporations have no national boundaries. We need to adjust our ways of regulating the mobility of corporations and capital, just as much as we need to reform immigration policies.
I don’t have an answer regarding business, capital, or immigration. To find answers will require great creativity and wisdom. Not to mention cooperation! Honestly, I doubt that our flawed systems of government are capable of great creativity and wisdom. So the only approach I see is small, imperfect steps.
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