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Obama immigration power play ultimately will proof divisive

President Obama gave an effective, compassionate speech Thursday night that constituted a strong case for long-overdue reform of the nation’s immigration reform.

Unfortunately, the point of the speech was an executive order that threatens to further tear the nation apart over the immigration issue rather than join it together with practical reform.

After claiming dozens of times in recent years that he does not have the power, the president unveiled expansive executive actions sparing nearly 5 million people in the United States illegally from deportation, many of them the parents of legal permanent residents.

Despite invoking biblical imperatives for his actions, there’s a reason the president did not pursue this inspiration at the beginning of his tenure, when he had majorities in the House and Senate. There’s a reason he did not pursue executive actions prior to the recent midterms. And there’s a reason he’s doing it now, six weeks before the House and Senate become Republican majorities.

This is the only time that made political sense for the president.

While his legal right to do this may or may not be on shaky ground, the action doesn’t make practical sense without secure borders. It also is not welcomed by the majority of Americans, according to all polls.

Most Americans don’t want chaos at our borders. They don’t see how the country is going to accommodate the 4.1 million illegals now getting work permits, and the next 4.1 million who likely follow after they observe that once in America they probably can stay in America. And most Americans probably don’t understand how this is not a slap in the face of the millions of immigrants over two centuries who have become Amerian citizens at significant expense through the existing system.

This is the president who promised to unite us. Apparently, he meant he would unite us under his policies only. Six years later, he has chosen to divide the country over immigration rather than waiting to work with the new Congress Americans voted into power, largely as a protest of his policies.

The president’s actions may serve his political itch well. But saying you want to work with the new majority in Congress, then cutting them off at the knees with executive action six weeks before they take over, is no way to start a productive partnership.

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