Executive Orders and Presidential Memorandums carry the wait of law but they are not laws. Executive Actions are orders that are within the scope of existing law. Unlike laws congress passes, these actions by the president are temporary and last only as long as the president is in office. They are not laws nor are they changes to the law.
Every law enforcement agency, including the agencies that enforce immigration laws, has “prosecutorial discretion” — the power to decide whom to investigate, arrest, detain, charge, and prosecute. Homeland Security can legally prioritize and delay prosecution and deportation. Immigration laws gives the administration wide latitude in granting work permits.
Executive Orders and Executive Actions can be reversed by Congress.
Yep, with a 2/3 vote of both the House and Senate Republicans can pass legislation to nullifies it and overrides a presidential veto. However, since Republicans have only 56% of the House and 54% of the Senate, there is almost no chance of it happening.
Sorry --- you missed on this one.
1) A 2/3 vote in both houses is required to override a VETO.
2) Congress can override an executive order, or executive action, simply by passing a law that conflicts with it. In this case, for example, Congress can pass a law that says the President may not grant immigration rights or benefits to illegal immigrants. That would certainly be feasible in the current Congressional structure.
3) The president would then veto the law overriding the order, and because republicans lack the votes to override that veto, the EO would remain in effect.
And your example isn't applicable in this case, as the EO neither 'grants immigration rights' nor does it afford 'benefits' to those undocumented.
Not true ... the EO is cancelled by the passage of the law ... even though the President COULD re-invoke the EO (effectively a new one)
First of all, Obama is playing word games with you --- he did NOT publish an Executive Order --- he published an Executive Action ---
His Executive Action had two primary parts:
1) A direction to HLS to not deport illegal immigrants unless they have committed a criminal act (Not in their home country, but in ours --- theoretically, a mass murderer from Guatemala could stay here - of course, that would never happen - but the structure of the EA allows it to happen)
2) The executive action granted certain privileges to illegal immigrants - i.e., Social Security, welfare benefits, Obamacare, etc. To prove that:
During a briefing earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said it was his understanding that if immigrants paid taxes, they would be eligible for Social Security and Medicare. Earnest said:
"The goal of the executive — one of the goals of the executive action program or executive action that the President announced, as it relates to immigration, about 10 days ago, was related to bringing those individuals who have been in this country for some time out of the shadows, giving them a work permit ... and under the books, and giving them a Social Security number and making them taxpayers. And that does mean that they're going to be filing their taxes on a regular basis and that does mean that if they qualify for the child tax credit, for example, as a taxpayer that would be something that they would benefit from. But we released this study from the Council of Economic Advisers who talked about the significant economic benefits for the country associated with bringing these individuals out of the shadows so they're not getting paid in cash under the table but actually sort of part of the broader economy."
Katherine Vargas, a White House spokeswoman, told us in an email that once immigrants register under deferred action, they become taxpayers, contributing their "fair share into Social Security and Medicare."
"And only after they've paid taxes for over a decade will they become eligible for Social Security," Vargas wrote. "As taxpayers, deferred action recipients will pay into these systems and receive the same benefits on these issues as other taxpayers."
(It's worth pointing out that all taxpayers have to work for at least a decade to receive benefits.)
Vargas added that immigrants protected under Obama's plan will not receive other federal benefits such as welfare, food stamps, Medicaid or benefits under the Affordable Care Act.
Under Executive Action Immigrants Are Entitled To Social Security Benefits The Two-Way NPR
Step 1 is within the purview of the president's prosecutorial discretion.
Step 2 is a violation of the separation of powers. The president does not have the authority to create benefits for illegal immigrants. Nor does he have the authority to authorize work permits for illegal immigrants. In fact, that is in direct violation of current immigration law. In short, he attempted to write a new law, AND he attempted to negate a current law. The courts will, most assuredly, find both actions unconstitutional.
He is betting that Republicans will rise up against it before it gets to court - then, he can claim that they were anti-immigration, without having to actually implement the law.
However, he got thrown a curve this week when the Congress only funded HLS for 3 months, effectively allowing the Republican Congress to move quickly on funding his EA. The Republicans, not wanting to appear anti-immigration, will not create a new law to countermand the EO. They may pass a law that specifically prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving all the benefits. But, I don't think they will do that. Instead, I think they will block funding until the courts decide. It will be clean - it will be decisive - and it will be crushing. Obama will be faced with accepting partial funding for HLS - or closing it down completely.
