Jonathan Capehart:
Through a powerful and emotional address that was a forceful reminder of who we are as a nation and our values, President Obama declared his plan to bring an estimated five million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. [...] Today, ‘la promesa de Obama’ will become ‘la accion de Obama.’ The Latino community will remember the courage it took to get here and the tears shed along the way for generations to come,” said Gabriela Domenzain, former director of Hispanic press for Obama for America. “While it’s a bittersweet moment since a permanent fix can only be delivered by Congress, Latino families will know the President’s bold first step sets us on a path to solve a problem many others haven’t even attempted to address.”
The ball, as it has been for at least a year and a half, is in the Republicans’ court.
Marshall Fitz:
President Obama's administrative actions would not have been necessary if Congress had done its job and fixed our immigration system. But for 10 years, congressional Republicans have refused to do the people's will, leaving America with a deteriorating system that undermines our economic and national security. The president's actions are no substitute for legislation, but they are important steps that will restore order, rationality and humanity in the system.
Jon Terbush:
President Obama on Thursday announced his much-anticipated executive action on immigration, and in doing so he lobbed a grenade squarely into the 2016 Republican primary race.
Obama's order will reshape how the feds prioritize deportations of undocumented workers, shielding an estimated five million of them from being kicked out of the country. "We shall not oppress a stranger for we know the heart of a stranger — we were strangers once, too," Obama said, quoting scripture.
By moving ahead solo before the new Congress is sworn in, Obama ensured Republicans will finally have to address immigration reform next year — and on into 2016. This poses a unique problem for two of the GOP's biggest potential presidential candidates who have broken with the party on the issue.
Much more analysis below the fold.
John Cassidy:
From where this immigrant was sitting, it was an effective ending. But, of course, it is really only the beginning. Barely had Obama left the East Room when Charles Krauthammer, on Fox News, was declaring that he had issued “an invitation to anybody to come across the border and know they will ultimately be legalized.” Over on CNN, Newt Gingrich was suggesting that Republicans, in the next Congress, would methodically punish the President, refusing even to take up the nomination of Loretta Lynch to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General.
Obama knows all of this is coming, of course. For one night, though, he had his say.
Jamelle Bouiee:
Right-wing claims aside, the president’s immigration order won’t give voting rights to unauthorized immigrants. But it could bolster Democratic standing with Latinos, Asians, and other groups with deep ties to immigrant communities. Or, if that’s too much, it could at least reverse the slide—on the eve of this year’s midterm elections, just 63 percent of Latinos leaned toward or identified with the Democratic Party, down from 70 percent in 2012.
But even this frame gives a little too much agency to politicians, who are more reactive than forward-thinking. More than anything, this is a case of Democratic politicians reacting to the activists who have pressured the White House on immigration for six years, pushing legislation and demanding new avenues for action when Congress didn’t deliver. And after a year of increasingly negative pressure, the party—and the president—has relented. The right way to look at Thursday’s executive order, in short, is as a textbook case of successful interest group pressure.
Walter Dellinger:
The idea that the immigration plan just announced by President Obama is a lawless power grab is absurd. As the Justice Department legal analysis that was just released amply demonstrates, much of the advance criticism of the president’s action has been uninformed and unwarranted. The opinion is well-reasoned and at times even conservative. The president is not acting unilaterally, but pursuant to his statutory authority. Wide discretion over deportation priorities has long been conferred on the executive branch by Congress, and it is being exercised in this case consistent with policies such as family unification that have been endorsed by Congress.
Joan Walsh:
Oh, and by the way, even with all that drama — a nation on the verge of “anarchy,” a president facing threats of jail – the networks didn’t bother to air Obama’s remarks. Their reasons were craven and clearly profit-driven, yet the networks’ shoulder-shrug served to underscore how out of proportion the GOP’s histrionics really are. That was inadvertent, and they should still be scorned for snubbing the president and limiting the audience for an amazing speech. I’m not sure how many minds it could have changed, but the number is fewer thanks to the networks’ bad decision.