As I've said before, debate and discussion about the immigration problem in America rarely changes opinion.

Many liberal folks want open borders, sympathizing with poor people who have come to America for a better life.

Some other Americans see the illegal alien invasion as an intrusion, resulting in America changing dramatically in many ways.

Both sides are dug in and mostly un-persuadable.

So Talking Points believes the president of the United States should be the focus of the debate.

There is no question that by unilaterally giving legal status to millions of undocumented people the president is challenging the Constitution.

It was only one hour before the president's speech last night -- one hour -- that the Justice Department put forth a statement saying the president's action was legal.

In the past, the president himself said it would be illegal for him to grant millions of undocumented folks the right to stay in America.

The Wall Street Journal, very sympathetic to immigration, editorialized this way.

"Mr. Obama is issuing his order amid furious political opposition and after his own multiple previous declarations that he lacks legal authority. … The politics of immigration is already fraught, and Mr. Obama's order will make it worse."

Indeed, Texas and Oklahoma have announced they are going to sue president Obama on the grounds that he is violating the constitutional rights of those states. 

From The Factor Nov. 19

GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS GOVERNOR-ELECT: “He has a legal obligation to enforce the laws, plus, immigration is assigned by the Constitution to the United States Congress to determine, not the president.  The president has no legal authority to grant legal status to people who are here in the United States illegally.”

Of course, the Obama administration disagrees with Governor-elect Abbott, and millions of dollars will be spent defending the president's actions in the courts.

But in the end, the president may very well lose in the Supreme Court.

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, FOX NEWS SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST: “The president has this power called prosecutorial discretion. ((EDIT))  So he says to the Justice Department and DHS ratchet down the deportations.  Ronald Reagan did that.  George H. W. Bush can do that.  He can do that for a class of people a small class of people, 100,000 here, 100,000 there.  When he does it for half the foreign nationals who are in this country illegally, the practical effect of that is not just nullifying their deportations, it's nullifying the law.” 

So according to Judge Napolitano, it's about numbers, it's about an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.

The tragedy here is, none of this had to happen.

I believe the new Congress would have passed a fair immigration law if given the chance; certainly there was immense pressure on the Republican leadership to do that.

But President Obama was in a rush, and the question is why.

Speculation from the right says the president wants to trap the Republican Party into overreacting.  Also, that he wants to reinforce his reputation as a liberal icon before he leaves office.

No matter -- what Barack Obama has done is setting off a constitutional brawl that will be harmful to a nation that needs united leadership and intense problem solving.

And that's the memo