John Sexton: Timeline Shows that Border Surge Began Shortly After Obama's "Prosecutorial Discretion" Amnesty

We've all had this intuition -- but it takes a careful researcher and writer to prove it is more than a mere intuition, but an actual fact.

Note that Sexton points out a common rhetorical error, that the uptick began after Obama's announcement of DACA. That's not quite true; it intensified after that, but began before it.

It began, in fact, with Obama's first, less ambitious announcement of executive amnesty, his proclamation that he would order Justice to employ "prosecutorial discretion" and not deport anyone except those who were guilty of serious crimes (apart from immigration violations).

Progressives looking to dismiss this claim [that DACA spurred the border surge] have pointed out that the first indications of a surge in the number of children took place in FY2012. Fiscal Year 2012 included the last part of 2011 as well as the first half of 2012, i.e. about eight months before DACA even existed. This, they claim, proves the problem could not have been caused by DACA. For example, this Vox explainer on whether the President's policies encouraged the trend currently reads:

while the Obama administration itself has stressed that it doesn't think DACA is a factor, officials including Vice President Joe Biden have also tried to tell Central American families that children shouldn't come because they won't be eligible for DACA -- which reinforces the notion that the two are connected.

However, the influx of unaccompanied children started in the fall of 2011 --DACA wasn't announced until June of 2012.

The card's exculpatory statement about DACA is misleading. While it's true the surge of minors began before DACA, it's also true that DACA was not the first time the President used his executive authority on immigration.

A year earlier in June 2011, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released the so-called Morton memos. The Morton memos were internal ICE memos which spelled out an expansion of "prosecutorial discretion" for certain individuals who might otherwise be facing deportation. This was one of the solutions to bypass Congress which progressive groups had recommended earlier in 2011.

He goes on to remind everyone that this wasn't any secret amnesty; it was well-publicized, including in, of course, the illegal immigrant community.

Vox's New Explanojournalism: When There Is a Political Dispute Between the President and Congress, and the President's Policies Are Unpopular and He Cannot Whip Congress into Alignment With Him, He Actually Gains the Power to Begin Passing Laws by His Own Whim. At Hot Air.

posted by Ace at 02:30 PM

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