Immigration is the issue closest to Sessions' heart. It's what he has been fighting for all along. And to the extent that Obama's illegal alien amnesty is being wound down, it's entirely due to him and the lawsuits by Republican AGs. Sessions had to fight a pitched battle to get this much of a withdrawal from DACA and it's deeply flawed with a two year renewal option.
Like ObamaCare, Republicans love to run against lefty policies. They just have a limited appetite for actually scrapping them once they get in power.
Still it's almost amazing that Sessions got this much. And it's an opportunity for him to remind the media of how immigration law really works. We can't take everyone who wants to come here. Not if we want an immigration system that serves our national interest.
Which is exactly what the left doesn't want. And quite a few GOPers don't want it either.
So what Sessions won is a really soft winding down of the illegal Obama amnesty.
No new applications from people who hope to be DACA recipients will be taken after today.
While framed as a six-month phase-out, however, the new guidelines still allow for DACA enrollees to remain in the program and retain work permits well beyond that date, in some cases.
For example, for those whose eligibility is set to expire within the next six months, DHS is accepting renewal applications until Oct. 5 — creating the potential for enrollees to remain in the program almost two years after the so-called phase out.
Sessions said the Department of Justice advised President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to "begin an orderly, lawful wind down, including the cancellation of the memo that authorized this program."
States have already announced that they'll sue. And activist judges will no doubt block it. There's less than zero legal basis for them to block the withdrawal of a presidential action that was itself illegal. And that was withdrawn partly because it couldn't withstand iegal challenges. But that doesn't mean it won't happen anyway.
Federal judges have declared that they can override the president on refugee caps and take away all his control over immigration because the University of Hawaii wants more ISIS Sociology grad students. When it comes to lefty core issues and Trump, there's nothing Federal judges won't exercise complete and total veto power over. At least until this administration decides to go Jackson on them.
Meanwhile Paul Ryan will come hat in hand offering a DREAM deal while the Dems will hold out and call the GOP bluff.