Days after Donald Trump was elected President in November 2016, Townhall.com published an article called: The list of executive orders that Trump will dispose of immediately. The “Obama orders” scheduled for termination concerned climate change, national security, trade, healthcare, and immigration (DACA).
The Townhall.com writer complained former President Obama signed 235 executive orders, but “the interesting thing about executive orders is that they are built on faulty foundations. They are more theoretical than factual.”
Then the Townhall.com writer gloated, “On day one of his presidency, Donald Trump will be able to shred and dispose of any executive order that Obama signed into law, making them 100 percent invalid … Needless to say, the Obama administration, which was built on a faulty executive overreach foundation, will quickly come crashing down.”
During Obama’s presidency, Obama stated he wasn’t going to wait for legislation to provide Americans with the help they needed, and he famously emphasized he had two tools—his phone and his pen. Republicans interpreted Obama’s “phone and pen strategy” as a declaration of an executive overthrow of constitutional procedure and congressional authority. And every time Obama signed an executive order Republicans automatically claimed the order was executive overreach or unconstitutional.
Sometimes the Republicans had strong cases against Obama’s use of executive orders, but DACA was different because the “theoretical” was the fact.
DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals) was established in 2012 by an Obama executive order. The policy protected individuals that were illegally brought here as minors by their parents who illegally entered the United States. The main concern was students. (About 65,000 illegal immigrant students graduate from U.S. high schools each year and the numbers are rising.) During Obama’s first term to 2012 Congress refused to act on immigration reform, and according to immigration groups President Obama deported more people than any other president. Obama desperately wanted Congress to act to make these students low priority for immigration enforcement.
Since Congress didn’t act, President Obama used his pen.
Recently, as the Townhall.com writer predicted, the Trump administration announced DACA will be phased out over the next six months to allow Congress to agree on a legislative solution. The Trump administration claimed DACA was unconstitutional and the Trump administration stated Obama admitted during his presidency that he didn’t have the authority to legislate the controversial matter from the executive branch.
Obama, as former president and the executive order signer of DACA, made a public response to President Trump’s decision. Obama called the Trump administration cruel and their decision wasn’t about securing the borders of the United States. It was about attacking innocent children brought to the U.S. by their families. “This is about young people who grew up in America—kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag.”
Then Obama explained the theoretical as fact. “These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one—on paper.” Obama seems to be making a naturalized vs. nurture argument, place of birth establishes one’s citizenship but where one is raised establishes cultural identity.
Obama continued, “They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.”
President Trump’s decision to force Congress to act may be correct by procedure. But Obama’s point was that DACA is easier for an executive to order than for Congress to legislate, because the wrong outcome—deportation—will be factual, not theoretical.
(J. Pharoah Doss is a contributor to the New Pittsburgh Courier. He blogs at jpharoahdoss@blogspot.com)
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