Obama is going to win the day on immigration due to the simple fact that he is acting on the bedrock of American ideals and principles - these are laid out in the words at the base of the Status of Liberty:
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The New Colossus
Obama is acting in the spirit of America's open arms to immigrants. These immigrants are here and they and their families are in a tough spot.
Obama is taking practical action in the absence of action from the GOP to fix a bad situation and invites the GOP once again to act and do something to fix the problem. That is their job and what Americans send them to Washington, D.C. to do.
And for all those who say "how can we reward illegal immigrants" - my family came here legally at the beginning, fought in the American Revolution, and every other war, helped to build this country ... my answer is, to all the immigrants affected by Obama's action tonight - more power to them!
Immigrants flatter Americans by wanting what our ancestors wanted, by walking in our ancestors footsteps.
Immigrants are a reflection of our ourselves and remind us of what a privilege it is to be an American.
Fri Nov 21, 2014 at 6:52 AM PT: A good point from TMP: "Prior to 1875’s Page Act and 1882’s Chinese Exclusion Act, there were no national immigration laws. None. There were laws related to naturalization and citizenship, to how vessels reported their passengers, to banning the slave trade. Once New York’s Castle Garden Immigration Station opened in 1855, arrivals there reported names and origins before entering the U.S. But for all pre-1875 immigrants, no laws applied to their arrival. They weren’t legal or illegal; they were just immigrants."
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