The Obama administration is likely to begin reviewing suggestions for executive action on immigration during the weeks after the election and announce the program in December. Although we are only weeks away from the expected announcement, the parameters of any program remain unclear. In fact, press reports on what is going on inside the White House on immigration are contradictory in the extreme.
The decision by the White House to delay executive action for four months has led to widespread charges by immigrant leaders that the administration is feckless in the face of anti-immigrant criticism. Rumors abound that political advisors are trying to convince the president to scale back what was hoped would be a broad program for the country’s 11.5 million undocumented.
The experience of the DACA program two years ago is that even a small program will draw heavy criticism, so the president might as well go big. A bold program will galvanize immigrants and Latinos around President Obama’s broader agenda.
