President Obama’s immigration announcement causes controversy

“These people – our neighbors, our classmates, our friends – they did not come here in search of a free ride or an easy life. They came to work, and study, and serve in our military, and above all, contribute to America’s success,” President Obama said in an announcement Thursday night.

In that controversial announcement, he outlined his plans to fix what he calls a “broken immigration system”.

The President’s action will spare millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. from being deported. His three-part plan consists of: cracking down on illegal immigration at the border; deporting felons, not families; and holding undocumented immigrants accountable for background checks and taxes.

The announcement stirred up quite the controversy in it’s wake; some people were pleased, others didn’t like the idea. But many people that were upset told ABC 17 News crews it’s because of the way the President put this plan into action: by circumventing Congress.

Michael Coronado was one of the mid-Missourians who was happy about the changes.

“Hats off to Mr. Obama and his crew,” Coronado said.

Coronado said he hopes this immigration reform will mean he and his fiancee can get married. He’s a U.S. citizen born and raised in Missouri, but his fiancee isn’t. She’s in Mexico, along with their three daughters.

“It’s very difficult for us to be distance,” he said. “It’d be awesome to be together and a family and give the girls have a good opportunity for education.”

But not everyone shares Coronado’s opinion. In fact, many people are angry about the announcement.

Josh Hawley is one of those people that is upset. He’s a constitutional lawyer, and told ABC 17 that what the President is doing is completely unconstitutional.

“This is an extremely troubling precedent to have the President of the United States varying laws Congress has written by unilateral action,” Hawley said.

He said he’s more angry about the fact that President Obama used executive action and went around Congress than about the actual policy changes.

“It’s an issue we need to address but there are all kinds of issues we need to address and that’s why we elect people like the President and Congress so they can address them democratically…but this is not democratic. I think this comes very close to an abuse of power,” Hawley said.

Missouri Congresswoman Vicki Hartzler also expressed her disapproval saying: “Americans are divided on how to address immigration reform. President Obama’s action can only harm efforts to bring Americans together to reach consensus on this important matter.”

President Obama defended his actions, saying the system is broken and action is needed.

“I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty. Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today,” he said.

The action will be finalized tomorrow with the signing of a Presidential Memorandum in Las Vegas.