Warning to Republicans: be very, very careful of the ugly things you choose to say about President Obama and his recently announced executive action. Latino Decisions released new polling today, and Latinos are not going to be too pleased with anyone who blocks the implementation of Obama’s announcement.
Also, you might have to deal with Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA).
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) recently compared Obama’s executive order to the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans, saying:
The president issued an executive order. He said to Japanese people ‘we’re going to put you in a camp. We’re going to take away all your rights and liberties and we’re going to intern you in a camp.’
We shouldn’t allow that much power to gravitate to one individual. We need to separate the power.
Honda, a seven-term member of Congress who as a child was forced to live in such a camp, slammed Paul in a statement:
Rand Paul’s comments comparing President Obama’s executive order on Immigration with President Roosevelt’s executive order that imprisoned thousands of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II could not be more misguided. At best, he is confused. At worst, he is just wrong.
President Roosevelt’s action was based on racism, fear, hysteria, war, and the lack of real political leadership. He succumbed to political pressure to deny Constitutional protections to 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of who were US-born citizens.
President Obama, on the other hand, through his commitment to immigration reform and American values, is using his Executive Order to include, not exclude, people. He is working to keep intact immigrant families who play by the rules, not exclude undocumented parents and other DACA eligible individuals.
President Obama is showing true leadership by taking action when the Republican leadership of the House has failed to let Congress do so.
The incarceration of US citizens of Japanese origin, including me and my family, was a misuse of executive order. As someone who as victim of executive order 9066, I can say without hesitation that Roosevelt was wrong. It was a misuse of power. President Obama’s order is an appropriate use of executive order because Congress did not do its job.
Every President has the Constitutional right to use Executive Orders. What Senator Paul fails to say, recognize, or admit to, is the motive and outcome of the use of this power. President Obama is using this power correctly – President Roosevelt did not.
Caution, GOP.
