Furthermore, it was President Obama’s choice to issue Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. Whether one agrees with the policy aims of DACA or not, it seems fairly clear that the president’s unilateral decision to put it into place did serious damage to the hopes of passing immigration reform. Even Obama’s allies on the left admit that DACA preempted (and essentially destroyed the legislative chances of) a bill being drafted by Marco Rubio that would have put in place some provisions of the DREAM Act. In 2012, given the choice between working to pass bipartisan piecemeal legislation on immigration or scoring political points, Obama chose the latter.

But the president’s 2012 unilateral action has had some unpleasant consequences for the hopes of immigration reform. It poisoned the well of bipartisanship on the DREAM Act, and it also made many wonder whether the president would rigorously enforce any new laws put in place as part of a deal on immigration reform. Obama’s unilateral actions on immigration, health care, and other issues helped destroy the sense of trust that is necessary for the passage of major immigration legislation.

In many respects, then, President Obama has done far more to torpedo the passage of immigration legislation than Representative Steve King, the Iowa Republican who is a favorite target of left-wing vitriol. So it is ironic to see the president now use congressional inaction on immigration as an excuse to expand his power even further. And, should President Obama go through with some executive power grab on immigration, he may do even more damage to the prospects of passing immigration reform. Post-power grab, cooperating with the president on immigration could become so radioactive that even many Republican allies of the White House immigration agenda might back away. Even President Obama himself feared in 2010 that nullifying immigration law could lead to more illegal immigration, so an increase in it post-power grab could further polarize the nation on the issue and further undermine the economic aspirations of many immigrant communities.