President Obama stands tall with illegal immigration stance

The illegal immigration story is as not black and white as the republicans would you like you to believe. Thankfully, President Obama shares that opinion  and it showed with a decision he made on the morning of June 15.

On that day, the Obama administration and Department of Homeland Security announced it would no longer seek the deportation of 800,000 illegal immigrants who came to the United States when they were children. Those who qualify would be allowed to live and work in the U.S. for two years and could be eligible for extensions.

The five criteria of this new policy includes the following: Having come to the U.S. under the age of 16, be no older than 30, be currently enrolled in school, have graduated high school or served in the military, have been in this country for five consecutive years and have a clean criminal record.

“The decision was intended to make America’s immigration system more fair, more efficient and more just. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants, and oftentimes had no idea they were undocumented until they applied for a job,” Obama said in a statement at the Rose Garden. “They are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: On paper,” he said.

This is a positive step in dealing with an issue we have struggled with for far too long because both parties aren’t doing enough to solve this complicated issue which will not be solved by one party alone and especially by one who believes that deportation and putting troops on the board will alone solve the problem.

The conservative backlash began right as Obama was giving this speech by right-wing reporter Neil Munro, who works for the political website The Daily Caller. Munro interrupted  Obama during his speech regarding the immigration policy saying that he “mistimed” the question.

After reviewing the tape several times and seeing Obama and Munro get into an argument after the heckling began, the President without question came out on top for that day. I do not care who your press pass says you work for — you do not interrupt a speech given by the leader of our nation.

The President has also attempted to be effective on immigration first with The DREAM Act, which passed in the House but failed to get past the filibuster in the Senate and now by standing up for young illegal immigrants who have called America their home for years.

Ed Schultz said it best on his MSNBC program when he said on June 18 that this policy is bigger than politics because it will help people similar to many of the policies and actions President Obama has taken in his first term in office.

Obama needs to say why this policy is effective on the campaign trail and when it is brought up in the three debates against Romney. I do believe if Romney runs on his “self-deportation” idea again, Obama will be seen as more effective on immigration no matter how the conservative media attempt to spin the issue.

It will also help if Obama gets the Latino base fired up as well because he has a huge lead with them that I cannot see Romney catching up to.

I should point out that eight Republicans voted for The DREAM Act in the House and the bill only needed five more votes to get the 60 votes needed to pass in the Senate.

Obama won the battle on this issue for now but his base will need to be enthusiastic and understand what he has accomplished because without a loud base to sound out millions of dollars in 30-second attack ads, we may see a one-term president, which would be a scary thought for the young immigrants that  Obama stood up for while the Republicans heckled from the peanut gallery.