Obama-hold: Someone needs to decide -- once and for all -- who is in charge

Who knows how it is going to turn out. After all, there has been back and forth and up and down and every argument in the book over who should be deciding immigration policy.

So the fact that a federal judge is actually calling out President Barack Obama for stepping out of his boundaries and issuing executive orders with regard to how illegal immigration is handled is actually a good thing.

It is really time to decide who is in charge.

The argument is that the president is unilaterally usurping powers that should belong to the states, imposing a burden that he does not have the right to order.

The bottom line: The separation of powers and the sovereign rights of the states that are outlined in the Constitution vs. executive power.

The other side says that since Congress has not acted on immigration policy, the president has no choice but to take action and to get some decisions made.

If the states don't like the decisions, they say, tough luck, blame the representatives in the Capitol.

A debate over the merits of each argument would be too lengthy to go into in its entirety here, but suffice it to say that this is one battle that is not going to end in the exchange of a few words.

But it is time for someone to start that discussion and to determine a direction to move forward.

Millions of lives and decisions that could affect this nation's future for generations are in the balance.

Published in Editorials on February 19, 2015 10:35 AM