No money until the Administration enforces the law!
That's what we want to see in comments, blogs, tweets, posts, etc.
News of the surge of illegal immigration at the border keeps pouring in as Congress debates President Obama's request for $3.7 billion to address the situation as he sees fit. (Use those links to find stories to comment on).
Spread the word: No more money until the President starts enforcing immigration laws.
- The president already has the tools to reverse the surge: (1) He has enough flexibility within the current law to return the Surgers to their home countries. (2) He can stop sending signals to the world that amnesty is a major goal of his presidency and he can stop granting temporary amnesty and work permits to illegal aliens. (3) He can allow ICE to deport non-violent illegal aliens again.
- The 2008 law is largely inapplicable to the border crisis.
- Obamas $3.7 billion request is not aimed primarily at reversing the surge.
Sidenote: Some of you have raised other points related to the push factors that contribute to the surge (violence, poverty, demand for drugs). I do not mean to diminish those perspectives. Since NumbersUSA is strictly focused on U.S. immigration policy, this blog is focused on the pull factors, namely the policies that give Central Americans hope that they will be able to stay in the United States even if they enter illegally. The drug cartels and gangs that cause most violence in Central America are also the ones engaged in smuggling illegal aliens across our borders, so everyday President Obama allows this surge to continue further enriches those very cartels and gangs.
Cruz's bill address amnesty pull factors; the Cornyn/Cuellar bill weakens existing law
Sen. Ted Cruz has a bill to halt the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). The bill itself reflects the changing conversation about immigration. The surge is waking people up to the effect of signaling to the world that America does not take it's borders or immigration limits seriously.
Unlike Cruz's bill, the Cornyn/Cuellar bill (which appears to be the leading legislation in the House at this time) would only make matters worse by offering a form of amnesty to the recent illegal border crossers.
Washington Post: White House was warned about the border crisis, but focused on passing comprehensive immigration reform instead.
This weekend, the Washington Post reported that the Obama administration did too little to heed warnings over the past two years that the surge of illegal immigration was going to get worse. Instead, the focus was on passing the largest legalization and immigration expansion in U.S. history.
Excerpt:
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) said Democrats recognized the urgency but feared that if they raised too much of a public outcry, it would create political blowback for the Obama administrations push to pass a comprehensive immigration overhaul.
House Republicans had refused to move forward on a broader overhaul bill, which would include giving millions of illegal immigrants a chance to gain legal status, arguing that Obama had failed to secure the border. They pointed to the administration's decision in 2011 to order federal agents to employ "prosecutorial discretion" while enforcing deportation laws, focusing on the most violent criminals.
That was followed in 2012 by Obamas announcement during his reelection campaign that the administration would defer the deportations of certain immigrants brought to the country illegally as children before June 2007.
Democrats worried that the escalating border crisis would help Republicans make a case that the administration's policies had failed, Roybal-Allard said.
"That was always a concern of mine: How to address the issue in a way that did not detract from the need for comprehensive immigration reform," she said.
A person involved in the planning said that inside the White House, national security staffers were concerned about the growing influx of children but that the influential team of domestic policy advisers was far more focused on the legislative push.
"Was the White House told there were huge flows of Central Americans coming? Of course they were told. A lot of times," said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. "Was there a general lack of interest and a focus on the legislation? Yes, thats where the focus was."
The 2011 "prosecutorial discretion" policy and the 2012 Deferred Action program both contributed to the steep decline in deportations for illegal aliens in the interior of the country. Word that illegal aliens in the interior of the U.S. are able to stay for years (sometimes getting work permits and legal status) has spread to Central America.
JEREMY BECK is the Director of the Media Standards Project for NumbersUSA
