The administration gets its priorities right on deportation

CRITICS BLASTED the administration’s reassessment of deportation priorities as an affront to the rule of law. Some immigration advocates hailed it as a potential panacea for tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants.

It is likely to be neither — not the unauthorized power grab that some fear or the far-reaching change that some hope for.

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Over the next few months, the administration will review 300,000 or so cases in the deportation pipeline. Individuals with criminal records — especially those with convictions for violent crimes — will remain high priorities for removal, as will those who have repeatedly and illegally tried to enter the country. People caught attempting to cross the border illegally will continue to be turned away.

But at least some people who have been law-abiding residents except for their illegal entry will get to stay. This includes those who were brought here as children and so-called Dream Act youth who have graduated from U.S. high schools and have earned or are pursuing college degrees. It includes military veterans or those with immediate family members who have served. And it includes gay and lesbian foreign nationals whose spouses are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents.

Deportation proceedings against such people will be indefinitely suspended, and these factors will be weighed when determining whether to initiate proceedings against others in the future. But this administration — or the next — could still initiate deportation proceedings down the road.

The administration also announced that those who are permitted to stay may apply for work permits. Critics latched on to this as proof that the administration was circumventing the will of Congress, which has repeatedly refused to enact amnesties. But immigration law already allows the executive branch to award work permits to certain undocumented immigrants. The initiative does not change the eligibility criteria. Some who win the opportunity to stay may find themselves unable to obtain permission to work — and that is where supporters of the president’s changes may be sorely disappointed.

Critics are wrong to label the administration’s move as an “amnesty” — a reward for scofflaws. There is no green card or citizenship oath at the end of this process. The kind of comprehensive reforms needed to address problems in the immigration system can be authorized only by Congress. In the meantime, the administration’s initiative is a lawful and sensible step.

The executive branch has broad discretion in deciding which immigration cases to pursue, and the administration has correctly determined that not all undocumented immigrants are the same. The nation does not have the means or the will to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants; it ought to concentrate on those who really are causing trouble.