If Mr. Obama acts, as he should, and the right wing explodes, it will be worth taking time to consider what Senator Jeff Sessions, Representative Steve King and their hard-core colleagues and allies would have Mr. Obama do. For them, the right number of unauthorized immigrants to welcome is zero; the right time is never. They would let the system rot in place, to maintain the fiction that the country can deport its way to lawfulness. Their dishonesty is repellent, as is their blindness to the lawless status quo, and to the cruelty of denying the hopes of millions whose labor is welcomed but whose humanity is not.
Mr. Obama’s critics in Congress belong to a branch of government that has chosen to do nothing constructive about immigration — not even to resolve this summer’s crisis of migrant children at the border, which they looked at and punted on, before going on vacation. This is, after all, an election year. They have abandoned a difficult job to the care of Mr. Obama. They are in no position to complain when he does it.The obstructionist Republican/ New Confederate right-wingers will complain if the President does nothing and they'll complain if he does something. The President has broad authority on immigration policy, and he should not be afraid to do the right thing.
It's not really about the policy. It's about a Democrat being in the White House. Oh, and did we mention he's African-American, too? That's what really chaffs them. It would drive them nuts if they weren't nuts already.
