Does President Obama Have Authority to Act on Immigration?

In a recent Article by David Leopold, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Asscoaition, published in the May issue of Bloomberg Law Journal exploring three concepts — prosecutorial discretion, deferred action, and parole — that are being discussed in public debates but are frequently misunderstood.

According to David Leopold, Only President Obama knows for sure whether he will act on any of the options described in his article—be it on an individual basis or on behalf of a larger category of individuals. One thing we can be sure of is that, if he does implement a major executive action, he will be promptly accused for transgressing the limits of his legal powers. Such allegations would be baseless.

The executive branch has well‐established authority as well as the duty to exercise prosecutorial discretion at all times in the enforcement of our immigration laws. Whether it is deferred action, parole, or something else, these concepts are grounded in statute, regulations and sound principles of law enforcement. Those who assail the President will no doubt have lots of arguments to draw upon. But the President’s lack of executive branch power is not one of them.

Great article, puts things in perspective. Click here for the article Download file