FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM
President Obama’s Record of Dismantling Immigration Enforcement
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FOREWORD
President Barack Obama came to office in 2009 and pledged that during his first year of office he would enact
amnesty legislation for illegal aliens living in the U.S. That, of course, did not happen—not because of any lack
of ideological commitment on the part of the President, but because of pragmatic considerations. Only two
years earlier, then Senator Obama watched as President George W. Bush tried to toss the American people
into the boiling cauldron of comprehensive amnesty in 2007. It didn’t work. Voters angrily crashed the Capitol
switchboard on the day the Senate was set to vote and as a result, 14 Democrats joined 39 Republicans to vote
down the amnesty legislation.
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As President, Obama concluded—correctly—that there just is not an appetite
in Congress for another politically bruising fight over comprehensive immigration “reform.”
Understanding that Members of Congress ultimately would not ignore the unequivocal objections of their
constituents to amnesty, the Obama administration opted to adopt a strategy of dismantling immigration
enforcement in order to achieve the same ends. The administration hoped that while the American people were
focused on unemployment, crashing real estate values, banking scandals, health care reform, foreign policy
crises, and countless other issues, they would not notice what was actually taking place.
This report details how the Obama administration has carried out a policy of de facto amnesty for millions of
illegal aliens through executive policy decisions. Since 2009, the Obama administration has systematically
gutted effective immigration enforcement policies, moved aggressively against State and local governments
that attempt to enforce immigration laws, and stretched the concept of “prosecutorial discretion” to a point
where it has rendered many immigration laws meaningless. Remarkably, the administration has succeeded in
doing all this without much protest from Congress.
Thus, despite the fact that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress plenary authority over immigration policy,
the Executive Branch is now making immigration policy unconstrained by constitutional checks and balances.
This report chronologically highlights the process that has unfolded over Obama’s presidency. A review of the
Obama administration’s record shows:
• The administration’s conscious effort to end policies that effectively enforce and deter illegal immigration.
This includes the cessation of meaningful worksite enforcement against employers who hire illegal aliens
and the removal of the illegal workers. It also includes ending effective partnership programs with state
and local governments, such as the 287(g) program, that provide a structure through which state and local
agencies may enforce immigration laws.
• The administration’s intimidation of State and local governments determined to enforce federal immigration
laws. President Obama has turned the Department of Justice into the administration’s attack dog,
filing lawsuits against states that pass their own immigration enforcement laws. When lawsuits fail, the
Department’s Civil Rights division launches meritless investigations designed to harass local governments
and officials who attempt to enforce the law.
http://www.fairus.org/DocServer/ObamaTimeline_2016.pdf
