Can Obama Pardon Illegal Aliens?
November 22, 2016 By Matt O'Brien 6 Comments
Donald Trump has promised to end President Obama’s Deferred Action for Children of Aliens program (DACA). As a result, advocacy groups have been calling on President Obama to pardon the approximately 750,000 applicants approved under DACA. According to the pro-illegal alien narrative, this would place the DACA applicants on a “path to citizenship.”
But there is a problem with this narrative: the pardon power doesn’t apply to civil offenses. Although crimes are most often perpetrated upon individuals, criminal acts are considered to be offenses against the community as a whole. Criminals are prosecuted in the name of the government, e.g., State v. John Doe. And they are punished by imprisonment, in order to deter antisocial behavior.
http://immigrationreform.com/2016/11/22/can-obama-pardon-illegal-aliens/
