This morning the Obama administration announced a new executive branch policy that, according to the AP, "bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military."
But as Gabriel Malor points out, just one year ago President Obama said that it would be inappropriate for the president to ignore congressional laws on immigration:
Faced by a young person who disproved his claim about his Administration’s treatment of these young people, the President now seemed to concede that students and young people eligible for the DREAM Act are being deported and says that it’s not his responsibility to change that: “America is a nation of laws, which means I, as the President, am obligated to enforce the law. I don’t have a choice about that. That’s part of my job,” he said. When Ramos asked a follow-up question about granting formal administrative relief to undocumented youth, Obama was even more forceful: “There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.”
Again in a September 2011 press conference, President Obama panned the " notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally" to implement the Dream Act:
"I just have to continue to say this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there's been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It's just not true.
So what changed between 2011 and 2012? Obviously, the presidential election is now in full-swing, and President Obama is making a play for Hispanic voters upset by the record number of deportations carried out by the Obama administration. Obama's move also may have the added political benefit of keeping Mitt Romney from selecting Florida senator and GOP star Marco Rubio as a running-mate. Rubio has been working on his own version of the Dream Act that is similar to the policy unilaterally implemented by the Obama administration today.