Posted on 07/15/2014 6:40:37 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The flood of underage — and non-underage — illegal immigrants from Central America coming across the border in Texas is, to paraphrase a former Obama administration official, a “man-caused disaster.” The man who caused it, more than anyone else, is Barack Obama.
Speaking at political fundraisers in Dallas and Austin last week — he refused to do a “photo-op” on the border, first things first — Obama placed the blame on House Republicans for not having passed a comprehensive immigration bill as the Democrat-controlled Senate did in June 2013.
But it wasn’t only Republicans who failed to pass such a bill. House Democrats didn’t pass one either in 2009 or 2010, when they had a bigger majority than Republicans have had in 80 years.
House Democrats’ priorities were the stimulus package, Obamacare, and cap-and-trade legislation to address supposed global warming. They passed all three despite negative polling — and even though cap-and-trade had no chance in the Senate.
In the short run, Barack Obama paid no political price for the Democrats’ decision to sidestep immigration. The only time he got pressed on the issue was a grilling by Univision’s Jorge Ramos in September 2012. Obama carried 71 percent of Hispanic votes in November.
But he missed the chance to pass comprehensive immigration reform — on which, unlike the stimulus, Obamacare, and cap-and-trade, he might have had significant Republican support — by his own choice.
The second thing that led to the flood of underage illegals was Obama’s declaration in June 2012, five months before the election, that he would not enforce immigration laws against so-called “DREAMers,” young adults brought over the border illegally as children who also met certain conditions.
This was a popular move not only among Hispanics but among voters generally. The idea of deporting people who have graduated from high school, are going to college, or are working or serving in the military is unappealing to almost everyone.
Obama complained then that the Republican House failed to pass a DREAM Act. But his announcement that he would not faithfully execute the law, in a systematic way involving thousands of people, has had reverberations leading to the current crisis.
One is that House Republicans are unwilling to pass any immigration legislation that gives him discretion on how to enforce the law. They seem to be bridling at passing the $3.7 billion package he’s seeking to address the problem for which he’s largely responsible — the underage-illegal flood.
They want a provision adding Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador as countries to which underage illegals can promptly be deported. Currently the William Wilberforce Anti-Trafficking Act of 2008 provides exceptions only for Canada and Mexico.
That made sense in legislation designed to protect relatively small numbers of minors brought into the country by sex traffickers. It doesn’t make sense when very large numbers of underage migrants come in with the apparent intention of remaining here permanently.
Liberals want to treat the underage illegals as something like political refugees, fleeing from countries with horrifying high crime rates. That means letting them stay here indefinitely.
That seems to be what is happening. The young people are being shipped to relatives and friends and told to come to immigration hearings when they can be held. Few probably ever will.
There seems little doubt that this is understood in Central America. There wouldn’t be such a large surge of people crossing the border illegally if people had not gotten the idea that they had permisos to do so.
The flood at the border has seriously undermined the argument that legalization will not trigger another rush of illegal immigration, as the 1986 legislation did. And it has undermined as well those in both parties who argue that this administration can be trusted to secure the border.
So the debate about immigration inevitably moves away from legalization and toward deportation and enforcement.
All this moves the focus even further away from the immigration reform that the country really needs and that the 2013 Senate bill does only a little to address: the need for more high-skill immigrants.
Canada and Australia have immigration laws that reserve most places for those with high skills. We have been reserving more places for reunification of extended families.
Texas governor Rick Perry warned Obama two years ago that the current flood would occur. Obama paid no heed.
As an old saying of mine goes, nothing is free in politics, but there is some question as to when you pay the price. Obama is paying now.
— Michael Barone is senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner.
If Obama wasn’t ORCHESTRATING this horror, he would call out the National Guard. Obama is the mortal enemy of America, as we at FR have long known.
Obama, dumb and getting dumber!!!
Obama is full of it. The immigration law passed by the Senate would do nothing to address this current flood of illegal alien children.
I get the impression that Obama is eager to find somebody to blame for problems. He is so eager to lecture us about who or what is to blame for problems, without exerting leadership himself as to what should be done.
I could swore it was BUSH’S fault!.....................and Karl Rove....................
I think I have a political solution for conservatives:
Pass a bill regarding the employment of federal employees.
50000 federal employees will immediately begin training illegal immigrants to take over their jobs. Wages for those jobs will be reduced by 25%. This will result in massive savings.
If federal employees knew that their jobs were explicitly being reassigned to new illegal immigrants the political optics would reverse.
Of course there would be a surge of criminal immigrants storming the border.
I’m lost on this “immigration reform” issue. I don’t understand how NOT enforcing existing immigration laws means we need “immigration reform”.
To my perspective to start immediately to enforce our existing laws IS the proper “immigration reform”.
Right... “O” is NOT a man and THEY are not CHILDREN!!!
Obama has taken 180 golf days since taking office. He’s not serious about any problem except that nasty slice he has hitting off the tee.
RE: Obama has taken 180 golf days since taking office.
Let’s remind ourselves that he hasn’t taken even a few minutes to CALL the President of Mexico and DEMAND that our marine rotting in their jail for simply making a wrong turn, be released immediately.
But yeah, he has time to exchange 5 terrorists for a deserter.
Yes...and he’s done almost TWICE THE FUND RAISERS as Bush also
RE: I could swore it was BUSH’S fault!.....................and Karl Rove....................
Let’s be honest -— George Bush DOES deserve SOME blame. The legal vehicle for the mass child migration is an amendment added by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) to an anti-sex trafficking law in 2008. It forced the government to admit into the country any minors, other than Mexicans and Canadians, and reunite them with family or other guardians in the United States.
Bush signed the bill in 2008 that included Feinstein’s amendment.
he 2008 law provided the basis for this mess. Notice that left is very skilled at embedding things into law that Republicans can’t even begin to understand.
Republicans regularly acquiesce to broad legislation with seemingly harmless components because they don’t comprehend the devious and lawless capabilities of the left. The 2008 Feinstein amendment, signed by George Bush, is what caused the border tsunami in 2014.
The Feinstein amendment to the 2008 law was sold as a way to prevent trafficking of minor immigrant children, but it has actually ENCOURAGED it. Leftist open borders groups don’t want to tamper with the 2008 law because their original intent has come to fruition all along the southern border. The only part missing is the mass amnesty in the Senate bill (That’s why we should SCRAP all notions of this so called immigration “reform” ( note the quotes ), especially when the likes of John McCain or ANY Democrats are involved ).
There was one other glitch in the plan: too many came too quickly.
Cue Obama’s request for $3.8 billion to “fix” the problem ( again note the quotes ).
In reality, his request makes it WORSE. For example, the request includes millions from taxpayers to give the aliens free lawyers to help them fight to remain in the United States.
Right now it is against federal law to use federal funds to give illegal aliens lawyers. When Obama promised change, he meant it.
I’m so glad you said the Senate bill would have done nothing to stop this flood. I have been thinking the same thing for months.
If anything the Senate bill is contributing to this problem and so are the stories we see frequently about Boehner being ready to pass the Senate bill in the House if they can just silence the Tea Party wing.
I’m lost on this “immigration reform” issue. I don’t understand how NOT enforcing existing immigration laws means we need “immigration reform”.
To my perspective to start immediately to enforce our existing laws IS the proper “immigration reform”.
Look up Cloward - Piven.
This is just another Manufactured Crisis™ brought about to cause fear and allow the regime to enact *emergency* measures...aka “reform” (remember the financial “crisis”, the healthcare “crisis”, etc? Same thing, here.)
Only this time, these “measures” will completely change the political landscape of our country. These invaders are instantly given government subsidies...and will vote accordingly to keep said subsidies, once they’re given amnesty.
Why on Earth would the Pubbies/Boehner go along with this plan? They’ve been bought and sold by BIG $$. They’ve put power (position) over country.
And, it’s all been done without warning, massive protests or massive outrage. Don’t they feel clever, now? They’re breaking our own laws and seem to be getting away with it.
He is delusional, just like most of the Washington GOP elites.
Which will tie up the legal system for years to come, which will mean MORE JUDGES are needed, which will mean Obama can APPOINT MORE JUDGES to a LIFETIME position, which will mean they will be there doing the will of the Left, which will mean the Constitution will be torn asunder, which will mean the Republic has fallen..............
And, don’t forget...We the Taxpayers have already ponied up $80Billion to fund this invasion, in the form of grants offered to the Catholic and Baptist churches to house, feed and educate these invaders.
This has been planned since 2010, or earlier. We’ve been hoodwinked in the biggest way...by our own government.
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