Speech #1130121427

As I have learned from my experience in law enforcement. it best serves citizens when it uses those resources efficiently. effectively. and humanely in a concerted effort to address a direct threat to public safety. Law enforcement has a job to do. and it cant do everything all the time everywhere. Decisions are necessary in the real world in practical circumstances to preserve public order and protect public safety. and that is what the President is doing by issuing an Executive order which. in effect. directs Federal resources to deport undocumented immigrants who represent a threat to this country by virtue of their criminal activity or criminal background or other circumstances that justify that rational and selective approach to law enforcement. This approach is hardly novel. and it is highly unoriginal. In fact. President Obamas authority to direct how Federal immigration resources will be marshaled in the service of protecting public safety is very much in the tradition and history of this office. Every President since Dwight Eisenhower. whether Democratic or Republican. has done exactly what President Obama is doing in this Executive order. In 1990 President George H.W. Bush took Executive action to defer removal and grant work permits to roughly 1.5 million undocumented individualsnearly half the undocumented population at the time. Think about that for a moment. Out of 3 million people.