Noam Chomsky Asks Obama To Pardon 11Mn Undocumented Migrants

The professor asked Obama to make a historic gesture in solidarity with migrants before he leaves office.

Retired MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky urged U.S. President Barack Obama to issue a general pardon to the millions of undocumented immigrants that are facing immediate deportation under Donald Trump’s presidency.

“President Obama, to his credit, has issued personal pardons in deserving cases, but he should go far beyond,” Chomsky stated in a video posted Friday by the Immigrant Worker Center Collaborative.

“He should proceed to what is, in fact, an urgent necessity, to grant a general pardon to 11 million people who are living and working (in the United States), productive citizens … threatened with deportation by the incoming administration,” Chomsky insisted, as Trump will come into office next month, with the electoral promise of deporting 2 to 3 million people.

“It would be a horrible humanitarian tragedy, a moral outrage that can be reverted by a general pardon, and we should join to urge (Obama) to carry out this necessary step without delay.”

As part of his anti-immigration rhetoric, Trump has also expressed plans to end birthright citizenship, meaning the children of undocumented immigrants would also be considered undocumented, even if they have lived their entire lives in the U.S. He is also expected to attack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, aimed at protecting thousands of people who arrived in the country as children.

Trump has slammed Obama for being soft on immigration, despite the fact that Obama's presidency set records for deportations, with some 2.5 million people deported under such immigration enforcement policies as Secure Communities and the Priority Enforcement Program.

While the details of Trump’s proposed immigration policy remain foggy, Latinos and other immigrants are already fearful — for good reason — of the possibility of impending deportation.