A slippery slope on immigration

The official acknowledged that there are clear limits to presidential power — he can’t hand out “green cards” or create a pathway to citizenship. But the official also noted that presidents have broad authority to set enforcement priorities in immigration; after all, there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants and budgetary capacity to deport perhaps 400,000 annually.

In addition, there is a bipartisan history of presidents taking significant, unilateral action to address humanitarian problems in the absence of congressional solutions. Thus, George H.W. Bush in 1990 extended protection in the form of deferred deportation and authorization to seek employment to the spouses and children of individuals who had been granted legal status by a new immigration law.

That relief, covering about 1.5 million, amounted to about 40 percent of the undocumented population, roughly equivalent to the share that Obama is considering protecting. In the Bush case, the official noted, the Senate had passed a measure that would have covered the spouses and children, and the House had failed to act.