A relatively small percentage of Hawaii young residents who were born abroad has begun lining up under an executive action by President Barack Obama to avoid deportation. In an extreme response, the Kansas secretary of state, who is an informal adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is challenging the policy in court, but the Obama administration should not be deterred by the insensitive challenge.
The president used proper legal authority to make the policy change, which could provide two-year reprieves to an estimated 936,930 young people — including an estimated 2,380 in Hawaii. Eligible are those who arrived in the United States before age 16, lived here continuously for at least five years, are in school, are high school graduates or are military veterans in good standing and have been no older than age 30 on June 15, when the president signed the order.
While most of the beneficiaries nationally are from Mexico, nearly three-fourths of those in Hawaii are from Asia; only 7 percent here are from Mexico. Unlike those in mainland states, most of those in Hawaii arrived by airplane, with travel documents, so many have simply overstayed their visas.
"Cheesy as it may sound, I’m undocumented, unafraid and unashamed," said California college student Maria Rodriguez, who took part in an awareness forum at the University of Hawaii at Manoa earlier this year. "I’m tired of us being marginalized and labeled as criminals when we’re not."
Individuals are required to pay $465 to apply for the two-year protection with the opportunity to reapply, have their fingerprints taken and submit to background checks in order to obtain work permits and Social Security cards. A free session of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will provide guidance at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, 1020 S. Beretania St.
The executive action is similar to the DREAM Act, legislation that Obama has long supported but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate. Unlike that legislation, the executive order’s "prosecutorial discretion" does not give them a path to citizenship.
During his time in office, Obama has deported more than 1.1 million immigrants, the most by any president since the 1950s.
Kris Kobach acted outside his job Thursday as the Kansas secretary of state to represent 10 immigration agents in a federal lawsuit in Texas against the Obama administration. Kobach said the agents would have to choose between breaking the law requiring them to arrest illegal immigrants and "facing discipline at the hands of superiors."
Is this Romney’s position? A spokesman said only that Obama’s executive action is "unprecedented and raises large questions as to whether it is within his authority." More importantly to the GOP, many of the students live in states that could be pivotal for Obama’s re-election hopes, such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico.
Kobach insists that the Romney campaign "has nothing to do with this lawsuit." However, it surely will result in the Republican candidate being known as the potential deporter-in-chief, as it should unless Romney gives his support to the Obama program.
