The last time an essay question on immigration came up was in January 2013 and it's very likely it will come up this year given the fact that immigration reform has been in the news a lot lately and is still considered a hot topic in US politics, especially after Obama's executive order on immigration reform in November 2014. This is just a rough plan of some ideas you can include in your essay.
| Failure | Not a failure | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|
| DEPORTED-IN-CHIEF. The press dubbed Obama as the deporter-in chief as the number of deportations under Obama exceeds that of his predecessor, by 2014 he had already deported 2 million illegals. The Obama administration seemed to have focused too much on deportations and not enough on passing bills on comprehensive immigration reform as they had initially pledged in 2008. | The deporter-in-chief is not accurate, given the fact that Obama once said that he is deporting “felons, not families” so his high number of deportations are justified and the deportation of criminals is a crucial aspect of comprehensive immigration reform for which Obama has been successful in as further illustrated by his work with Congress increase in spending on border protection, exceeding $17 billion in 2010. | However, this still continues to illustrate the Obama administrations failure given that although border spending rose, a bill failed to appear in Congress proposing reforming the immigration system. These may be good achievements but it’s not what he was hoping to achieve. |
| STATE LAWS. To emphasise the Obama administrations failure at immigration reform states have taken matters into their own hands. Some have gradually achieved what Obama failed to do, such as the California Dream Act (2011), which granted access to private colleges, scholarships and state schools to illegal immigrants and was primarily introduced because of Obama’s failure to implement the DREAM Act. Others have exploited Obama’s failure by passing some of the strictest anti-immigration bills most notably Arizona SB 1070 and Alabama HB 56 (‘reasonable suspicion’) | States have indeed resorted to passing their own laws, however, the defeat of the DREAM Act was not a consequence of Obama’s own failure but a consequence of an obstructionist Congress dominated by the GOP who have sought to oppose Democrat attempts at immigration reform. Also, Obama and the Justice Department have worked closely to strike down sections of Arizona’s law in US v. Arizona (2012), so attempts have been made at immigration reform. | However, only minor sections (3, 5(C) and 6) of Arizona’s state law have actually been struck down, large portions of it still remain intact and the fact the law remains is living proof that Obama has ultimately failed at living up to his key pledge of creating a fairer and more sensible immigration system. |
| WASTED 2 YEARS. During the first two years of the Obama administration Congress was a Democratic stronghold and comprehensive immigration bills were very likely. However, Obama decided to prioritise other issues such as a stimulus package and healthcare reform instead – this Obama acknowledged saying during his campaign for 2nd term “took up a huge amount of time in the first year”. This can be seen as a wasted opportunity and since then, no major attempts at reform have been made. | Although the Obama administration realised they had wasted time they did eventually introduce some extensive reforms, most notably Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012, which allowed immigrants who arrived before 2007 & their 16th birthday to be exempt from deportations. | DACA, although not a failure, is not a revolutionary reform and not as ‘comprehensive’ as Obama had initially been anticipating on – an estimated 1.7m illegal immigrants are eligible to its provisions, however, only 500k have actually benefited from it, thus illustrating it’s shortcomings. |
| GANG OF 8 & EXECUTIVE ORDER. The Gang of 8 Bill was introduced in 2013 and seemed like a brilliant bipartisanship bill proposing a path to citizenship. The bill passed the Senate but failed in the House. This was a bill that put immigration reform back on the legislative agenda; however, the Obama administration had failed to capitalize on its success in the House and failed to endorse it enough which eventually led to its downfall. Focused too much on gun control such as the Manchin-Toomey bill which was being debated around the same time. | However, the Gang of 8 bill was not Obama’s final attempt at immigration reform given the fact he passed an executive order following the 2014 midterm elections. The executive order will help 11 million illegal immigrants from deportation and is arguably, one of Obama’s most decisive actions towards achieving immigration reform, bringing millions ‘out of the shadows’ & ‘with our without Congress.’ | Critics have pointed out that the executive order has given an impression of panic among the Obama administration knowing there’s two years remaining and not much has been achieved. The executive order arguably demonstrates Obama has failed sine he has had to resort to presidential action as all other attempts have failed and even the EO isn’t as ‘comprehensive’ as had been anticipated nor will it last, next President can override it. |
| OBAMA ADMITS IT. Even President Obama himself has acknowledged that his inability to implement his key pledge of a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants is his own failure, saying that he was naïve for believing that the GOP (who were initially in favour of reform) would walk away from working with him on immigration reform. (During 2012 presidential campaign) | However, there is still to 2016 in which Obama still has time to enact change within the immigration system. The GOP have previously been very obstructionist towards immigration reform (DREA Act, Gang of 8) but have begun to realise its political significance and many have become more lenient on immigration reform. After 2012 the Republicans realised they cant win without reaching out to minority voters (only 27% Hispanics voted Romney) – commentators suggest GOP Pres can’t win 2016 without sensible immigration reform – Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush favour a path to citizenship, so there’s still some hope for close cooperation between Obama and GOP Congress. | Congress is dominated by the GOP and arguably, a conclusion on Obama’s immigration reform legacy can now be drawn considering the fact that it is unlikely he will pass anything through an increasingly polarised Congress. |
