Jackson Free Press

A leader with the state's largest immigrant-rights groups says President Barack Obama's plan to use his executive authority to protect millions of undocumented people isn't perfect, but it's a good step.

Announced on primetime television last night, what Obama is calling Immigration Accountability Executive Action focuses on toughening border protections against people entering the U.S. illegally, deporting people who have been convicted of felonies and expanding previous executive action protecting children who were brought to the country illegally.

Under Obama's executive plan, undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more than five years and are parents of U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents can register with the government and submit to background checks to avoid deportation.

Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, said the move represented a departure for Democratic officials—including Obama himself, who deported record numbers of people—who he said have a tendency to kowtow to conservatives on immigration issues.

"Democrats, from president on down, need to do what the president did last night and stand up for human rights," Chandler told the Jackson Free Press today.

Protecting families is at the core of the executive order, Chandler said. Israel Martinez, a Jackson-area businessman who came to the U.S. as an undocumented teenager, agreed that Obama's plan is a boon to local families. Martinez said it's common for the children of undocumented people to come home from school and realize their parents have been detained and face deportation.

Martinez also believes that removing the threat of deportation may encourage people to pursue better-paying jobs or start businesses.

"It's a great benefit for the children—the dreamers—and also the people who have children," he said of Obama's decision. "This action is going to help them."

As optimistic as he his, Martinez does fear that Mississippi policymakers who have made no secrets of their disdain for extending protections to undocumented people may try to undermine Obama's action in some way.

Already, Mississippi Republicans in Congress say Obama is overstepping his authority and ignoring the wishes of voters by issuing an executive order protecting millions of immigrants from deportation.

"I am firmly opposed to the president's plan to take unilateral action on immigration," said GOP Rep. Steven Palazzo in a statement after Obama's Thursday speech. "While the president grants amnesty to countless illegal immigrants, millions of American citizens are still struggling to find work. It's time for the president to stop playing politics and instead put the American people first. I will do everything within my power to prevent this unconstitutional and unwelcomed action."

Sen. Thad Cochran, who recently won reelection to a seventh term in the Senate, said there is "no justifiable reason for President Obama to act alone now to allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States."

"The same pressures to secure our borders and reform our legal immigration system will exist in January when the new Congress convenes. By circumventing the legislative process now, I believe the president is making it much harder to address those problems," Cochran told the Associated Press.

Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, recently elected to head the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that beginning next year, "The new Republican Congress will look to use the power of the purse and the judicial system to rein in this executive overreach. No president has the authority to act unilaterally in this manner, something that the courts will surely determine."

"Our country has a broken immigration system that needs a real solution, not a quick fix," GOP Rep. Gregg Harper said. "The president's unilateral action on immigration is not an effective, long-term solution to our broken system, and it will set back the American peoples' goal to move forward with effective and accountable solutions."

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the lone Democrat in Mississippi's congressional delegation, applauded Obama's effort, calling it a "bold step" to begin changing "the broken immigration system." Thompson, however, says the plan should have included farm workers.

"This action, similar to those taken by previous presidents, is simply the right thing to do in the wake of inaction by Congress," said Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.