Parsing the media coverage of the temporary injunction

This week, a federal judge temporarily halted President Obama’s most recent executive actions on immigration. But what exactly does that mean?

Josh Gerstein of Politico explained the decision as well as anyone:

Maria Sacchetti of the Boston Globe also offered a helpful summary of the decision:

brought here as children.

ruling:

says “the affirmative act of bestowing multiple, otherwise unobtainable benefits upon an individual.”

“All we are saying is ‘we won’t deport’ you”

That’s what President Obama said in his televised November address. Until Judge Hanen’s ruling, we could safely say that the President wasn’t being completely transparent. But in preventing Obama from granting work permits, social security numbers and other benefits and privileges, Judge Hanen transformed the president’s deceptive claim into a truthful statement. Truly, all Secretary Johnson is saying now is there will be no effort to remove individuals who had been targeted for DACA or DAPA.

Are some in the media rooting for mass deportations?

Despite the clarifications from both Judge Hanen and Secretary Johnson, many news stories this week gave the impression that Hanen’s decision would unleash a flurry of deportations upon millions who could no longer be “shielded” from the law.

Fox News reported that Johnson had suspended “an expanded program shielding young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally from The Associated Press reported that “President Barack Obama’s plan to shield more than 4 million immigrants living in the country illegally from Max Ehrendfreund of Wonkblog on the Washington Post reported that the Obama administration would not be able to implement its program “to delay law, they are as deportable as anyone who is unlawfully present.

David Montero of the San Bernardino County Sun and Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan of Reuters alluded to the Fiscal Year 2014, 6,466 individuals were removed from the interior who were not convicted criminals, immigration fugitives, or repeat immigration violators – that’s .058% (less than six one-hundreths of one percent) of the approximately 11.2 million unauthorized aliens in the U.S. By comparison, .3% of the 15 million visa lottery entrants every year “win” the opportunity to apply for U.S. green cards.

Interior removals have fallen every year Obama has been in office and Secretary Johnson has pledged to expand the administration’s non-enforcement policies further. As former acting director of ICE John Sandweg told the LA Times, “If you are a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting deported are close to zero.”

I’m sure those 6,466 individuals would say the threat of deportation turned out to be very real indeed. But next time you read a news story about “millions” living with the threat of deportation due to Judge Hanen’s injunction, remember the odds and ask yourself what the bigger story is: 6,000-7,000 unauthorized aliens without criminal records could be deported this year; or 4-5 million unauthorized aliens will not be granted permission to compete with U.S. citizens and legal immigrants for the next American jobs?

JEREMY BECK is the Director of the Media Standard’s Project for NumbersUSA