Not Over Easy: Border Crisis Scrambling the Politics of Immigration Policy

Posted: July 13, 2014 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Cecilia Muñoz, Central America, Democratic, Henry Cuellar, John Boehner, Karen Tumulty, Obama, Washington Post |1 Comment

For the The Washington Post, Karen Tumulty and David Nakamura report: Until now, the politics of immigration have been *seen as a no-lose proposition for President Obama and the Democrats. If they could get a comprehensive overhaul passed, they would win. And if Republicans blocked it, the GOP would further alienate crucial Hispanic and moderate voters.

“Seen as” means “seen as, by the president’s supporters, senior White House staff , and Democrat-leaning members of the press”

— The Butcher

But with the current crisis on the Southwest border, where authorities have apprehended tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children since October, that calculus may be shifting.

“He can’t even go 242 miles to the Texas border? Border community leaders want to see him down there on the border.”

— Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.)

Republicans and even some Democrats have accused Obama of being insufficiently engaged in a calamity that many say he should have seen coming.

And the president’s own party is deeply divided over what must be done now — particularly on the sensitive question of deporting children who have traveled thousands of miles and turned themselves in to U.S. authorities to escape from the desperate situations they faced in countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

The emergency has also renewed questions about the administration’s competence, reminiscent of those raised during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, last year’s botched rollout of the health-care law and more recent revelations of mismanagement that jeopardized care of patients at veterans hospitals.

President Obama took questions after making a statement on the border crisis on Wednesday in Dallas. Obama explained his reason for not using his executive power to push immigration reform, citing House Speaker John Boehner‘s recent lawsuit against him.

Obama’s goal now is to make clear to adults in Central America that there is no payoff for sending their children on the dangerous journey northward, said Cecilia Muñoz, the White House domestic policy director. “He feels intensely a responsibility to prevent an even greater humanitarian crisis,” she said.

That, however, means speeding the deportation of most of those who have already arrived, which many in Obama’s own party are resisting…(read more)

The Washington Post

Dan Balz contributed to this report from Nashville.