(NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
By Robert Morgenthau
President Obama famously — or, in the minds of some, infamously — took executive action last week to halt deportations and grant work permits to an estimated 4 million undocumented immigrants. He explained that he decided to act because the Republican-controlled House has repeatedly refused to bring a comprehensive immigration reform bill up for a vote.
I applaud the President’s announcement. He has taken a major step forward, keeping families together and allowing undocumented immigrants to work legally and pay taxes.
But Obama should not stop here. There are additional steps the administration should take to fix immigration policy that do not require either congressional support or more funding.
First, the administration should reallocate resources to provide support to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, three countries have become significant sources of illegal migration to the U.S.
Anticipating criticism of his executive orders from the right wing, President Obama touted in his speech the fact that “we have more agents and technology deployed to secure our southern border than at any time in our history.”
However, the administration’s focus on militarizing the border is misguided. To reduce the flight of children and women from Central America, we should help these three countries attack the root causes of the migration: drug-related violence and severe poverty.
