Pres. Obama's and the mainstream media's focus on "relief from deportation" is a distraction from the real issue which is the work permits that the President's executive immigration action would provide in the millions.
It is the giving out of work permits that most strongly challenges the Constitution. And it is the work permits that deliver the most harm to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants already here.
It is one thing to claim prosecutorial discretion in deciding not to deport somebody for breaking the law. It is quite another to actively reward that law-breaking foreign citizen with cards giving legal status and work authorization.
The outrageous act of giving out millions of work permits in a time of sustained wage depression is not a logical step in reaction to the supposed rationale for taking unilateral action.
The emotional rationale? The President claims he is acting in response to the rhetoric that the government should stop deporting any illegal alien who has a family member who is a U.S. citizen because that "tears families apart." Even if we disagree with that premise for executive nullification of a law, the answer to that argument is simply to stop deporting that class of lawbreakers -- not to give them cards to directly compete with the tens of millions of American workers whose value is already undermined in a society awash in a labor surplus.
ROY BECK is Founder & President of NumbersUSA
