The Associated Press story about the court ruling on Obama’s immigration action (Herald, Feb. 15) is either very poorly written or is simply another attempt by the liberal media to not report facts that might be detrimental to Democrats.
People should read the ruling by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen and note what it says. Briefly: Although the Obama administration is claiming that they are simply using prosecutorial discretion to not implement statutory law against undocumented residents in this country, that statement makes no sense. Prosecutorial discretion is not used to help millions of people avoid the due process of written law.
But one of the main points of Obama’s executive action is to give benefits like Social Security, welfare, work permits, etc., to the undocumented immigrants in this country. By unilaterally changing the legally required actions under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, Obama has made his own law and hurriedly tried to get it rolling before the legal consequences can catch up to him. In this case, Judge Hanen seems to have caught the administration more quickly than Obama had hoped.
Pretty much everyone – Republican and Democrat – realizes that Obama tried an end-run around the Congress and U.S. laws with this immigration action and several other of his executive actions. Obama himself admitted – 22 times – that he didn’t have the authority to make the changes he has now made – after a national election, so that his lawless act wouldn’t harm Democrats. Many supporters and Democrats didn’t care that Obama was breaking the law – after all, the law means little if liberals think it’s the right thing to do.
The liberal media, prominent among them the AP, has tried to help the cause by not fully reporting the facts on both sides of the issue. The problem is that once laws become something that are shaped and enforced only by the whim of a president, law and society begin to fail. The Herald should print more objective news in the legitimate interests of its readers’ access to the facts.
Mike Sigman
Durango
