Obama Administration Weak On Immigration Enforcement...

Just a couple of comments and then a question.

Arizona SB 1070 infringed upon federal authority related to immigration (as do some laws passed in other states) based upon the Supreme Court decision. I beleive we can all agree that it was the responsibility of the excutive branch, regardless of who might be president, to challenge state laws that infringe upon federal authority. We'll skip a discussion on Sheriff Joe Arpaio per se but many of us see him as a racist tyrant exceeding his authority as a sheriff which violates the Constitutional Rights of Persons.

It would appear, based upon statements made, that the previous issues related to the closing of a limited number of immigration check points to move Border Partol Agents closer to the border and improve the effectiveness of stopping people from illegally entering the United States was a positive move by the Obama Administration. If the goal is to reduce illegal border crossings then this action cannot be condemned by anyone.

There is no requirement for those immigrating to the United States to know or understand English under our immigration laws. Yes, in general criminals are prohibited from immigrating. Also excluded are millions of foreigners, overwhelmingly "brown skinned" individuals, that would choose to come here to honestly work and contribute to the American economy and society and make a better life for themselves and their families, based upon our current "quota" system. Our current immigration laws really do suck and need to be revised. My personal opinion is that we should allow any non-criminal that wants to come to the United States to make a better life for themself and their family by working, paying taxes, and embracing the American way of life to legally immigrate.

The claims that the Obama administration is encouraging illegal entry into the United States is purely partisan rhetoric.

There is a huge difference between someone that violates our immigration laws by illegally crossing the border and someone who's here working and contributing to America but that has their visa expire. As I've noted crossing the border illegally is a felony but having a visa expire is a civil offense. It is extremely myopic to lump people that commit a felony in with those that are only guilty of a civil offense. As was also noted the children of immigrants that were brought here by their parents are not guilty of breaking any US immigration laws because they can't even obtain a visa until they're 21 from what I understand. There are three different classifications and each needs to be addressed in a rational and reasonable manner.

Now to establishing a foundation for the questions.

With limited funding to enforce the immigration laws we can assume that there is a limit on the number of individuals that can be deported. Let us assume that only 300,000 people can be deported per year based upon available funding so how should we address each of the categories listed below?

1. Those that commit a felony by illegally enter the United States and/or those that commit a felony while living in the United States.
2. Those that entered the country legally but have since had their visas expire and are technically in violation of civil code but these are generally hard working individuals contributing to our economy and the American society.
3. Children of those in the country "illegally" under our immigration laws but that have not personally violated any US laws and to which the United States is the only homeland they really know.

There are at least ten million people that need to be addressed and while we could increase the number being deported that would come at the expense of less manpower to secure our borders which is the number one priority. We can assume that there is some funds that can be used to sort out the documentation problems related to visas which is relatively inexpensive when compared to deportation. Perhaps 10-20 people could be removed from the "illegal immigrant" status making them legal immigrants by simple documentation for every individual that is deported. The ultimate goal, IMO, is to stop illegal entry into the United States and to have those that are in the United States to be here legally. Is that not true? So with limited funding, which will always be the case, how do we remove over 10 million people from "illegal immigrant" status in the most expeditious manner possible?

 

First of all, we need to secure the border. Many libs like to point out that Reagan gave amnesty. Yes, he did, but part of the deal was to secure the border, which has not happened. Of course, getting rid of criminal illegals takes priority. However, giving a break to others just invites more. I think the ultimate goal is to stop illegal immigration, and send a message that it will not be tolerated. We need to do more to discourage illegals than to encourage them.

Do you think that any other country would bend over backwards to enable those that came there illegally, to stay there legally? I don't think so.

 

Hoekstra: Obama Unwilling to Keep Borders Safe Under Sequestration:

The United States borders are about to become “25 percent less secure’’ as a result of budget slashing due to automatic spending cuts triggered by the sequester, Fox News reports.

Agents will no longer work a full 10-hour shift, meaning that the borders could be open and unattended during shift changes, according to Fox.

The cuts, which are to take effect on April 7 and affect up to 4,000 agents, come because the government has eliminated overtime payments.

And because some agents have to drive for up to two hours to get to work, they may end up working as little as five hours a day during their patrols, Fox said.

Some agents told the network that the government actually has the funds to pay them, although the government denies the allegation.

But Pete Hoekstra, the former chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, told Newsmax on Wednesday that predictions of the nation’s borders becoming less secure was “a very serious miscalculation by this administration.”

“There’s other things they could be cutting to meet the requirements of sequestration and, at the same time, keep America safe.”

He said that the continuing budget resolution signed into law on Monday by President Barack Obama, which funds the federal government through Sept. 30, provides the White House with enough flexibility in making the $85 billion in broad sequestration cuts.

“The kinds of changes that are being talked about and proposed really don’t have to happen,” he told Newsmax.

Expected are reductions in border agents, mandated furlough days and cuts in hours that could have some agents seeing their salaries cut by as much as 40 percent.

“This is going to hit us hard,” one border guard, Nathan LeGender, told WXYZ-TV News.
Agents said they are concerned about being able to feed their families and pay their mortgages.

Meanwhile, Hoekstra, who serves on the advisory board of LIGNET.com, a global intelligence and forecasting service based in Washington, said the border cutbacks come as President Obama seeks a vote on immigration reform next month after Congress returns from recess.

“It’s the president’s responsibility to secure the borders, to keep America safe,” Hoekstra told Newsmax. “I find this to be a very, very interesting development, when the president has also said he wants to have a debate and a vote on immigration reform in April.

“It’s going to make passing immigration reform very, very difficult.”

Source

 

The estimated number of illegal border crossings has dropped from roughly 400,000 per year under the Bush Adminstration to roughly 200,000 under the Obama Adminstration. While there are several factors related to this drop of 50% much of it has to do with better border enforcement.

While I don't have a link to an older news story I recall Republicans complaining that Obama was closing two border patrol stations in Texas but what they failed to mention was that the agents were being relocated closer to the US-Mexican border where they would be more effective.

We must also note that the Congress only authorizes limited funding for deportation proceedings so the number of cases that can be heard and people deported is fundamentally a fixed number. It probably costs more to deport a criminal illegal alien than it does a non-criminal illegal alien (often the non-criminal illegal alien has simply over-stayed a work visa and it's a documentation issue). With a fixed about of money and fundamentally a fixed number of possible deportations then it makes a lot of sense to deport the criminals first.

At the same time the Obama Adminstration has offered 2-yeard deferral of deportation for those children of illegal aliens that are under 30 and grew up in the United States. Those individuals have to self-identify themself to obtain this deferral of deportation so now the INS has them identified and knows who and where they are. This was a huge coup in addressing illegal immigration. Obama basically has many hundreds of thousands of "undocumented" illegal aliens walking into INS offices to identify themself. This literally saves hundreds of millions of dollars related to enforcement of our immigration laws. And many Republicans condemned this cost saving and very effective executive action in enforcing our immigration laws.

 

This is absolute nonsense. Reducing or cutting overtime does not imply less effective enforcement.

I might have a bias opinion but it's my belief that government workers don't "do more" when they're authorized to work overtime. All they do is collect more money in wages. Having worked in the private sector all of my life I would say that a government workers could do twice as much in half the time if they wanted to but we all know that government jobs are about not doing more than necessary for the paycheck in most cases. Give a police officer an extra hour of overtime and they'll probably spend it at the donut shop.

Of course we shouldn't forget that it was the Republicans that decided sequester was the way to go because they refused to address the issue from a bi-partisan standpoint. How many Democratic votes did Paul Ryan get in the House to avoid sequester?

 

I seriously doubt that many illegals are identifying themselves. The reason illegal immigration has slowed down is because of the dismal economy. Obama has most certainly not increased border security.

 

Obama supported the sequester, and he offered no alternative. He could have said, "let's stop the BS and cut waste elsewhere." He is now trying to maximize the sequester pain.

 

The executive order was limited to children of "illegal immgrants" under 30 years of age that had gone to school in the US and so the impact was limited because this only addressed about 900,000 people as I recall but it has been highly effective related to that percentage.

Yes, the economy did have influence but more border patrol agents have been added every year starting back under the Bush Adminstation. Currently there are about 21,000 border patrol agents which is the highest number in US history and the Obama Administration is using every single one of them. As has been noted current illegal border crossings are around 200,000 while we have historical estimates of about 1.5 million per year. While the economy has suffered, but has basically recovered today with the return of new construction in the housing market, the work preformed by immigrant labor was virtually unaffected. There has been a massive shortage of farm labor, for example, over the last serveral years and this overwhelmingly relates to immigrant labor regardless of whether the immigrant is legal or illegal. This year alone it's estimated that 25% of the California crops will go unharvested because of a lack of immigrant labor. The same was true in Washington last yeare.

There's plenty of jobs for immigrants that aren't being filled so the belief that a lack of jobs has had a substanial impact on the illegal immigrations runs contrary to the facts.

 

President Obama proposed addressing tax loopholes that would increase federal revenues as well as spending cuts. His proposal was for $1 in new revenue for every $2 in cuts and the Republicans in the House refused to address unfair tax loopholes that would have increased revenues. The American People, in general, supported a combination of both increases in revenue and spending cuts. Only a small minority (i.e, Tea Party Repubicans that aren't really serious about balancing the budget) believed that only spending cuts should be used to prevent sequester.

To address the deficits requires both more revenue (preferrably by eliminating unfair tax loopholes for the wealthy) and reducing unnecessary expendatures (i.e. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, and housing assistance are necessary expendatures).

 

You know, as well as I, that Obama has no intentions of limiting his amnesty plans for "those under 30, etc." The more the merrier to him...more Democratic voters. There may be more agents, but Obama is intent on reducing those to show an artificial impact of the sequester. Also, Obama has done everything in his power, and then some, to limit the States and other local authorities from taking part in curtailing illegal immigration. I'm sorry, but Obama is not interested in stopping it.

 

Obama and the Democrats have no interest in reducing the size of government, which is the majority of our problems. They are not interested in budgets, spending cuts or debt ceilings. They are more concerned with restricting the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens, letting illegals stay here, free condoms and giving F-16s to foreign countries, etc.

 

President Obama has not provided amnesty for anyone illegally in the United States as that would violate US immigration laws. Of note the granting of "amnesty" to the current illegal immigrants in the United States has bipartisan support in Congress. Many "Republicans" want to tie strict border enforcement to the amnesty proposal but as noted the Obama adminstration has been imposing the most effective border enforcement of any adminstration in history.

Of far greater concern for me is the bipartisan proposal by John McCain and Chuck Schumer for the immigration law being considered in Congress that would require every American to have a "national ID" card.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2013/February04/041.html

Under federal law a person's Social Security card and Social Security number were never supposed to be used for identification purposes but that is exactly what McCain and Schumer are proposing. This is far more "scary" than anything that the President has proposed.

 

This is laughable. Obama is doing everything he can to appease Hispanics and stop enforcement of our immigration laws. He has granted "de facto" amnesty, and is lawless in other areas of immigration enforcement.

I have to agree with you on this one.

 

This is an older video, but is of great concern: http://videos.allinnra.com/share#.UVseMZ0o6M8

 

Budget cuts, DC debate have illegals surging across Mexican border, experts say:

Contrary to the Obama administration's claim the border has never been more secure, high-ranking Border Patrol officials in Texas are considering the need for a "tent city" because of a surge of illegal immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley.
The wave of illegal immigrants, many from Central America, appears to be an unintended consequence of the debate raging in Washington over an immigration bill. In interviews after being apprehended, immigrants say federal budget constraints and expected amnesty or legalization for those already living here make it a no-lose proposition.

"We've seen a 500 percent surge in the amount of activity from August to December of last year," Janice Kephart, of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News.
Whereas people caught crossing illegally near the Mexican border once opted simply to be turned back, they now increasingly are invoking their right to a hearing, federal sources told Fox News. The reason is twofold: Budget cuts mean they are unlikely to be held pending their appearance, and they also think establishing a paper trail of their presence in the U.S. will help when the debate in Washington ends.
Border Patrol sources told Fox News the newest illegal immigrants have nothing to fear from being caught.
“With the knowledge of immigration reform, you will -- and are -- seeing a huge flow of illegals hitting the Southern border looking to stay caught,” a Border Patrol source told Fox News.
Another said, "Central Americans and South Americans are flooding the system asking for hearings knowing immigration reform/amnesty is coming."
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol, announced it was freeing thousands of non-criminal illegal aliens from detention facilities, allowing them to remain in the U.S. while awaiting their hearings. But the source told Fox News that the “notice to appear” they are issued is derisively referred to as a “notice to disappear.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are trying to reach agreement on a policy that could allow some illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S., while simultaneously discouraging continued border crossings. But the debate, along with the automatic budget cuts prompted by a mandatory action known as sequester have made the process - and its vulnerabilities - transparent. Interviews with illegal immigrants caught near the border indicate that Mexican media outlets have informed the public of about immigration reform and possible furloughs of U.S. government workers. Those are motivating factors.
Border Patrol sectors had mixed reports for last year, with some showing increases in the flow north and others decreases. But sources said the numbers have spiked dramatically in recent months - coinciding with ICE’s new “catch and release” policy and the budget cuts that make detention a more remote possibility.
Emails obtained by Fox News show Border Patrol officials in Texas feel overwhelmed by the sudden influx from Mexico.
"Not sure if you saw our last detention report, but we have approximately 700 [illegal immigrants] ready to go and another 1,000 unprocessed,” read one. "We have been at emergency levels for a while and we are now entering critical mass."
Another email was even more emphatic.
“We need to take a hard look at a tent city and maybe even broach the subject with [DHS] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano when she is here,” it read. “Our agents and stations need relief as soon as possible."
A statement from Customs and Border Protection said adequate resources are being applied to secure the border.
"Under this administration, DHS has dedicated historic levels of personnel, technology and resources to the Southwest border," read the statement, adding that the agency has more than doubled the number of agents in the last decade. "Additionally, CBP continues to deploy proven, effective surveillance technology tailored to the operational requirements along the highest trafficked areas of the Southwest Border."
The statement said that apprehensions by the Border Patrol were at or near historic lows in fiscal 2012, which ended in September. Figures were not available for the past six months, in which new factors have arisen that critics say is spurring the current wave.
Kephart said the newest illegal immigrants know just what they are doing, as Congress moves closer to a bill that would grant some measure of amnesty to those already in the U.S.
"Everybody talks about the magnet of jobs. The other magnet people are talking about is amnesty,” said Kephart. “That politically is a huge motive for people to try to get here just in time to make it through that process."

Source (with video)

 

President Obama deferred deportation for two years for those under 30 that grew up in the United States and that did not come here of their own accord. That is not "de facto" amnesty and it is supported by liberals and conservatives as well. This allows the INS to maintain it's focus on deportation of criminal aliens which remains at an all-time high while illegal border crossings are at an all-time low.

 

So the bipartisan immigration reform is resulting in more people attempting to enter the US illegally. I've read this before but don't see how this relates to the Obama adminstration per se as both parties have been calling for immigration reform and promoting amnesty for the estimated 11 million illegal aliens in the United State. Romney and Obama both promised to address the immigration laws in 2012 and Obama, because he was re-elected, is following through on this campaign promise with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

Is anyone seriously stating that they don't believe our immigration laws don't need to be fixed or that it's even feasible to deport roughly 11 million illegal immigrants? Addressing immigration reform is perhaps the only significant issue where both sides of Congress agree in principle and can reach a compromise.

 

Sure it is no fault of their own, but I guarantee you that Obama is not following his guidelines. This "de facto amnesty" is being extended beyond them. This also doesn't help to curtail illegal immigration at all.

 

Because Obama is doing everything he can to pander to illegals. Amnesty, suspending the 287G program, fighting every State on their illegal immigration legislation, etc. Some sort of amnesty seems to have bipartisan support, but any program will not work if the border is not secured first. That is the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

 

Is this a Republican conspiracy theory (Republicans are famous for their conspiracy theories) or is there any actual evidence to back up the allegation?

It never ceases to amaze me that Republicans tend to deny evidence and embrace mythical beliefs.

 

All of which appears to be contradicted by the facts.

The Obama Administration hasn't provided amnesty to any illegal immigrants I'm aware of.

The 287g program is a voluntary program between ICE and local law enforcement.

http://www.ice.gov/287g/
ICE and local law enforcement are working together in 24 states (as of 2012) but Congress did cut funding by $17 million for 2013. According to what I've read it has not been deemed as being as cost effective as the Secure Communities program by ICE.

The federal government is responsible for immigration control and not the states. Where there has been conflict between the states and the federal government is when the states attempt to supersede the federal authority for immigration control.

There has been no change in the number of "illegal" immigrants in the United States according to the reports I've read.
Illegal border crossings have been reduced to an estimate 200,000/yr from a high of roughly 1,5 million/yr under the prior adminstration.
More criminal aliens are being deported than at any time in US history.

I hate to inform the Republicans but we probably have the best border security in the history of the United States.

 

In reality, the numbers will be higher – FAR higher. Why? Because, as House Judiciary chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told DHS Secretary Napolitano in an August 13th letter, there are no mechanisms in place to detect, deter, or to punish fraud.
NONE. Nothing to stop illegals who either fall slightly outside the criteria, or far beyond its provisions to submit fraudulent documents and gain an automatic 2-year stay from deportation, and no consequences if they do. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) does not even require original or certified documents to be submitted – opening up a Pandora’s box of potential fraud from a group of individuals accustomed to a lifetime of employment and Social Security fraud, tax evasion and identity theft.

 

The DHS has suspended the 287G program in many areas. They should be utilizing local authorities wherever they can, as a much needed resource.

The federal government is failing at immigration control. They are cutting a source of assistance by suspending 287G in many areas.

This is not true at all. Obama is counting those caught at the border and immediately deported as deportations, while that has not been done before. He is inflating his numbers artificially.

What a joke. Keep drinking the koolaide.

 

While I don't know the regulatory criteria related to detecting fraud those eligible for the two-year deferral cannot be "criminal" aliens and I would assume this is being checked out. Whether there is an actual check on other criteria, such as attendence at a US school (required for the deferral) for those under 30 that establishes that they actually grew up here as opposed to coming here in their 20's is questionable. It's very easy for Immigration to contact the school and verify the attendance and that might be as simple as a phone call.

But fraud is fraud and the government needs to address this as a criminal violation of the law. If an "illegal" alien commits fraud they they would forefeit there ability to stay in the US. The "Republicans are complaining about something that they can't even establish as happening. They think it might but there are no examples that they can point to of it ever happening.

The fact is that we know that about 900,000 (as I recall from memory) are eligible for the deferrment of deportation for two years. It is not amnesty but instead deferral of deportation, acceptable under the current immigration law, and few political leaders from either side of Congress objected to it. Even Mitt Romney refused to say he would reverse that executive order but instead stated he would ultimately render it moot by revisions to the immigration laws.

Only a few extremists don't believe that those brought here by their parents and raised in the US should be deported. Virtually all conservative and liberal groups advocate allowing them a path to US citizenship and the don't disagree with President Obama's executive order that allowed them to stay pending a revision to the immigration law.

Of note the reason that there is "employment and Social Security fraud, tax evasion and identity theft" is because these individuals are denied legal immigration. This is a complaint about our laws that cause "criminal" acts. If we had open immigration based upon Capitalism then this "criminal" activity wouldn't exist. By imposing "socialistic" protectionist immigration policies to control the means of production we created a black market of labor that fills the demand for labor in our nation. Capitalism requires a free (and fair) flow of goods and labor across international borders.

Limiting immigration violates the fundamental principle of "supply and demand" of market capitalism. We have a demand for immigrant labor where the labor is artificially restricted and that creates the "black market" of labor represented by "illegal" immigration. Where there is a "demand" that "demand" will be eventually met by an increase in supply regardless of whether it's "legal" or "illegal" under the law.

Those that avocated restricted immigration don't even know the basics of capitalism because they're ignoring the "supply and demand" related to labor in capitalism. They're like the idiots that advocate the War On Drugs which creates violent crime in the United States and around the world. They condemn the illegal, often violent, activities of the black market but fail to realize that it is the prohibition that creates the crime because the demand will always result in the supply necessary to meet the demand even if it has to be a black market suppy.

We have the demand for immigrant labor but we're not allowing the immigration necessary to meet that demand so it comes here via the black market. What part of that do people fail to understand?

 

First of all, I still find that it will be difficult to confirm that the guidelines are being followed, and I see major abuse of this process. There is a demand for illegal aliens because they are cheap and are being exploited. When they are given permission to work here legally, do you think they will still work for peanuts under the table? They will want more, but will have to pay taxes. Then, what is the point of the cheap labor. This is why I am against condoning illegal immigration. This "pathway to citizenship" or "guest worker program" is just empowering more illegals to come since they do not fear an Obama Administration.