Obama Administration Weak On Immigration Enforcement...

Obama and his liberal cronies like to claim that deportations and immigration enforcement action has increased under his Administration. The truth is, that he has not. Much of what they are claiming was started under the Bush Administration. In fact, the Obama Administration is shying away from immigration enforcement and deportation. Over the next few years, deportation and other enforcement actions are sure to show decreasing numbers.

FAIR: DHS Misleads Public with Partial Truth of Increased Enforcement
Criminal Alien Removals Up/Non-Criminal Alien Removals Down/Overall Removals Flat:

(Washington, D.C. October 7, 2010) Yesterday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano released the FY 2010 immigration deportation numbers claiming that "it’s been another record-breaking year of record criminal alien removals." Yet, Secretary Napolitano neglects to mention that while deportation of criminal aliens has risen, the total removals are roughly the same, and the number of non-criminal aliens removed has dropped substantially.

Responding to the new report, Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR,) noted, "It is nice to hear that Secretary Janet Napolitano believes that the removal of people in the country illegally especially those who have committed violent crimes — is an important function for DHS. However, policy directives from the highest levels of DHS clearly demonstrate that the administration is refusing to enforce laws against noncriminal aliens."

Removing violent and criminal aliens from American society must obviously be DHS’s highest immigration enforcement priority. However, while DHS has acted to remove criminal aliens already in custody, they have adopted policies to assure all non-criminal aliens in the country face no threat of removal

"Secretary Napolitano is giving herself and DHS a big pat on the back for stepping up enforcement without mentioning that the department is merely completing cases initiated under the previous administration, under policies that she and President Obama have aggressively dismantled since taking office," observed Stein. Some 58,000 fewer noncriminal aliens were deported in FY 2010 over the previous year.

DHS data show that the current administration has dramatically curtailed all aspects of immigration enforcement against illegal aliens who have not committed violent crimes in this country. In the critical area of worksite enforcement, administrative arrests have fallen by 77 percent, criminal arrests are down 60 percent, indictments are down 64 percent, and convictions have fallen by 68 percent since 2008.

"Once the pipeline opened under the Bush administration has been emptied, removal of illegal aliens who are not violent criminals will be reduced to a trickle," Stein said. "Resources appropriated by Congress intended to carry out worksite and other enforcement in the interior of the country are being used for meaningless paperwork audits, rather than serious enforcement against employers and the removal of illegal aliens from jobs that are desperately needed by American workers.

"It appears that the release of the FY 2010 data, and Secretary Napolitano’s media tour, have more to do with addressing what the administration perceives as a political weakness heading into the midterm elections, than a sincere effort to deter and combat illegal immigration," said Stein. "The goal is to convince the American people that immigration enforcement is being dealt with so that the administration can move on to its real policy objective: massive amnesty for every illegal alien who is not a violent felon.

"Getting criminal aliens out of the country is important. But the American people also believe that it is important to enforce laws against other illegal aliens who are filling millions of needed jobs and consuming billions in public resources. The administration is defiantly neglecting those responsibilities, while misleading the public by taking credit for the results of policies they are now dismantling," Stein concluded.

Source: http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=23607&security=1601&news_iv_ctrl=1741

 

Administration Record on Deportations: Long on Rhetoric, Short on Results:

Demonstrating just how defensive they are about their record on immigration enforcement, the Obama administration mounted a full-scale public relations offensive to accompany release of FY 2010 data about deportations and removals. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano personally took charge of a media campaign touting what she described as “another record-breaking year of record criminal alien removals.”

In total, the DHS deported 392,862 aliens in FY 2010, which ended on September 30. Of those deported, some 195,000 had criminal records, up from about 132,000 the previous year. While no one would quibble with placing a priority on removing criminal aliens from the United States, the FY 2010 data reveal disturbing evidence of the administration’s refusal to enforce laws against illegal aliens who have not committed serious offenses once inside the country.

In 2010, about 58,000 fewer noncriminal aliens were deported than in 2009. Even more significantly, the number of new cases initiated since the Obama administration took office has fallen dramatically. In the critical area of worksite enforcement, administrative arrests have fallen by 77 percent, criminal arrests are down 60 percent, indictments are down 64 percent, and convictions have fallen 68 percent since 2008. Moreover, these data do not reflect the impact of more recent DHS policies that are resulting in a growing number of dismissals of existing deportation cases.

While taking credit for maintaining relatively high numbers of deportations, the Obama administration is hoping that nobody takes note of the fact that they are initiating very few new cases. As a result, deportation numbers are certain to plummet in coming years as the administration assiduously avoids apprehending illegal aliens who have not committed major crimes and releasing others who have fallen into their hands.

Moreover, the current levels of deportation, for which Secretary Napolitano is claiming credit, are inflated by cases initiated by the previous administration. Even many of the criminal aliens who were deported in FY 2010 were likely individuals whose deportation proceedings were initiated in previous years and whose prison sentences were completed during the most recent fiscal year. These deportations also are bolstered by the increased enforcement efforts of local jurisdictions, such as the 287(g) program, which the Obama administration has moved to curtail.

Far from being an indication of the Obama administration’s commitment to immigration enforcement, the FY 2010 data confirm that, except for enforcing immigration laws against violent criminals, the administration is systematically abandoning enforcement against all other categories of immigration lawbreakers. The net result is that once the pipeline of noncriminal deportation cases is emptied — either because the aliens were removed from the country, or because DHS just dismissed the case — such deportations will all but disappear.

FAIR does not contest the administration’s stated objective of prioritizing the removal of criminal aliens. However, removal of criminal aliens — most of whom are already in state or federal prisons — should not come at the exclusion of other deportations. The drop-off in enforcement against noncriminal aliens has less to do with the administration’s focus on criminals and more to do with their political objective of allowing noncriminal aliens to remain in this country as they promote a sweeping amnesty that would give legal status to those illegal aliens.

Source: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/issues/deportations_short_on_results

 

Senate Republicans Charge Administration with Selective Enforcement of Immigration Laws:

Earlier this year, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo indicated that the Obama administration was preparing to dismiss thousands of cases against illegal aliens who could be subject to deportation. That policy is already in effect, according to a letter sent by the seven Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Consistent with the Obama administration’s policy of non-enforcement of immigration laws, cases against aliens already in deportation proceedings are being dismissed even without requests from the aliens or their lawyers. The most visible manifestation of this policy has occurred in Houston, where the number of dismissed immigration cases rose from 27 in July to 271 in August. Immigration attorneys in other cities report similar increases in unexpected dismissals of cases against their clients

The Oct. 21 letter states, “It appears that your department is enforcing the law based on criteria it arbitrarily chose, with complete disregard for the enforcement laws created by Congress.” In addition, Republican members of the Judiciary Committee charge that the administration policy has resulted in dismissal of deportation cases against criminal aliens. “Numerous criminal aliens are being released into society and are having proceedings terminated simply because ICE has decided that such cases do not fit within the Department's chosen enforcement priorities,” wrote the senators. Beyond the cases being dismissed by DHS, the policy is likely to discourage ICE officers from initiating new cases against deportable aliens, the senators warned.

Wholesale dismissal of cases already in process provides graphic evidence of the administration’s intent to defy Congress and implement what amounts to a backdoor amnesty. Having failed, so far, in their quest to grant a formal amnesty to illegal aliens, the administration has been exercising executive powers in an unprecedented fashion to ensure that all but the most violent and dangerous illegal aliens are allowed to remain in the country.

Source: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/issues/selective_enforcement

 

Congressional Research Service Questions Administration’s Immigration Enforcement Claims:

In an effort to promote amnesty for illegal aliens, the Obama administration has been portraying itself as vigorously enforcing U.S. immigration laws. The clear objective of the administration is to convince the American people that it is effectively dealing with illegal immigration and that it is time to move forward with amnesty.

FAIR has repeatedly disputed those claims and has documented the administration’s unrelenting effort to dismantle effective immigration enforcement. One area in which FAIR has been highly critical involves the elimination of meaningful worksite enforcement aimed at punishing employers who hire illegal aliens and removing illegal workers from the country. Worksite enforcement, increased late in the Bush administration, has been replaced with paperwork audits of employers’ records. Under the Obama policy, employers avoid any serious consequences for having hired illegal aliens if they fire their illegal workers, while the workers themselves are allowed to remain in the country and seek employment elsewhere.

FAIR’s skepticism of the administration’s record on immigration enforcement is shared by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS examined the results of paperwork audits and found sharp declines in key areas of enforcement. According to the report, Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures, enforcement of immigration laws has dropped significantly in many key areas during the Obama administration’s first year in office.

The lone bright spot was in the area of fines collected from employers convicted of employing illegal aliens. The collections increased between 2008 and 2009, but still amounted to just $722,000. In all, a mere 52 employers nationwide were fined in 2009, which, according to CRS, “represents less than .001% of U.S. employers.”

Source: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/issues/crs_questions_enforcement_claims

 

From the Washington Post...

Unusual methods helped ICE break deportation record, e-mails and interviews show:

By Andrew Becker
Center for Investigative Reporting
Monday, December 6, 2010; 12:08 AM

For much of this year, the Obama administration touted its tougher-than-ever approach to immigration enforcement, culminating in a record number of deportations.

But in reaching 392,862 deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement included more than 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year, according to agency statistics. ICE also ran a Mexican repatriation program five weeks longer than ever before, allowing the agency to count at least 6,500 exits that, without the program, would normally have been tallied by the U.S. Border Patrol.

When ICE officials realized in the final weeks of the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, that the agency still was in jeopardy of falling short of last year's mark, it scrambled to reach the goal. Officials quietly directed immigration officers to bypass backlogged immigration courts and time-consuming deportation hearings whenever possible, internal e-mails and interviews show.

Instead, officials told immigration officers to encourage eligible foreign nationals to accept a quick pass to their countries without a negative mark on their immigration record, ICE employees said.

The option, known as voluntary return, may have allowed hundreds of immigrants - who typically would have gone before an immigration judge to contest deportation for offenses such as drunken driving, domestic violence and misdemeanor assault - to leave the country. A voluntary return doesn't bar a foreigner from applying for legal residence or traveling to the United States in the future.

Once the agency closed the books for fiscal 2010 and the record was broken, agents say they were told to stop widely offering the voluntary return option and revert to business as usual.

Without these efforts and the more than 25,000 deportations that came with them, the agency would not have topped last year's record level of 389,834, current and former ICE employees and officials said.

The Obama administration was intent on doing so even as it came under attack by some Republicans for not being tough enough on immigration enforcement and by some Democrats for failing to deliver on promises of comprehensive immigration reform.

"It's not unusual for any administration to get the numbers they need by reaching into their bag of tricks to boost figures," said Neil Clark, who retired as the Seattle field office director in late June, adding that in the 12 years he spent in management he saw the Bush and Clinton administrations do similar things.

But at a news conference Oct. 6, ICE Director John T. Morton said that no unusual practices were used to break the previous year's mark.

"When the secretary tells you that the numbers are at an all-time high, that's straight, on the merits, no cooking of the books," Morton said, referring to his boss, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "It's what happened."

ICE declined to make any officials available for interviews. In selected responses to e-mailed questions, spokesman Brian P. Hale wrote that the agency did nothing different from previous years but did not deny that ICE had focused on voluntary returns when it faced a shortfall weeks before the fiscal year ended. Rather, field offices were reminded of the voluntary return option, he said.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/05/AR2010120503230.html

 

Essentially, the corrupt anti American marxist/socialist maobama regime has created a de facto amnesty policy. Only NON AMNESTIABLE illegal alien criminals are being deported. ICE now goes right by hundreds of amnestiable illegals to get to that one non amnestiable criminal alien. Maobama knows that you can't give amnesty to an illegal mexihole future demoratic voter if amnestied if they've been deported.

 

True. Obama is giving backdoor amnesty.

 

And that's just for one year...

CBO: 748,000 Foreign Nationals Granted U.S. Permanent Residency Status in 2009 Because They Had Immediate Family Legally Living in America
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 – Foreign nationals with family ties to American citizens and green-card holders accounted for about two-thirds (748,000) of the total 1.1 million individuals who were granted legal permanent residency status by the U.S. government in 2009, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

 

White House loosens border rules for 2012:

President Barack Obama’s administration is quietly offering a quasi-amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, while aiming to win reelection by mobilizing a wave of new Hispanic voters, say supporters of stronger immigration law enforcement.

The new rules were quietly announced Friday with a new memo from top officials at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The “prosecutorial discretion” memo says officials need not enforce immigration laws if illegal immigrants are enrolled in an education center or if their relatives have volunteered for the US military.

“They’re pushing the [immigration] agents to be even more lax, to go further in not enforcing the law,” said Kris Kobach, Kansas’ secretary of state. “At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed and looking for work, this is more bad news coming from the Obama administration… [if the administration] really cared about putting Americans back to work, it would be vigorously enforcing the law,” said Kobach, who has helped legislators in several states draft local immigration-related laws.

“We think it is an excellent step,” said Laura Vasquez, at the Hispanic-advocacy group, La Raza, which pushed for the policies, and which is working with other groups to register Hispanics to vote in 2012. “What’s very important is how the prosecutorial discretion memo is implemented” on the streets, she said.

The Hispanic vote could be crucial in the 2012 election, because the Obama campaign hopes to offset its declining poll ratings by registering new Hispanic voters in crucial swing states, such as Virginia and North Carolina.

To boost the Hispanic vote, the administration has enlisted support from Hispanic media figures, appointed an experienced Hispanic political operative to run the political side of the Obama reelection campaign, and has maintained close ties to Hispanic advocacy groups, including La Raza. For example, La Raza’s former senior vice president and lobbyist, Cecilia Munoz, was hired by the Obama administration as director of intergovernmental affairs in 2009.

On Friday, officials at ICE announced several new administrative changes to immigration enforcement.

The primary document was the six-page “prosecutorial discretion” memo, which provided new reasons for officials to not deport illegal immigrants.

Source: http://www.marklevinshow.com/goout.asp?u=http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/20/white-house-loosens-border-rules-for-2012/

 

President pandering to the La Raza crowd...

Obama: Idea of Changing Immigration Laws on My Own ‘Is Very Tempting’
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - President Barack Obama told a Hispanic civil rights group on Monday that the idea of reforming the U.S. immigration system on his own “is very tempting,” but under the U.S. Constitution, he is unable to do so without Congress.

 

Obama gave a speech to the hispanic La Raza organization.
http://m.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/07/25/remarks-president-national-council-la-raza

The National Council of La Raza was founded by Jose Angel Gutierrez. Here are a few quotes from Gutierrez:
"We have an aging white America. They are dying. They are (*)(*)(*)(*)ting in their pants with fear! I love it!"
"We're a new Mestizo nation." (referring to the USA)
"We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to worst, we have got to kill him."
"Our devil has pale skin and blue eyes."
Gutierrez also supports the ideology that the Mestizos will reconquer the territory formerly lost by Mexico: the present-day states of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

excerpts from speech Obama give to The National Council of La Raza:
"[Immigrants] are job creators who came here to seek opportunity and now seek to share opportunity. This country has always been made stronger by our immigrants. We have a system that separates families, and punishes innocent young people for their parents’ actions by denying them the chance to earn an education or contribute to our economy or serve in our military... but that doesn't mean I don't know very well the real pain and heartbreak that deportations cause."

OBAMA: "Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. (Applause.) And believe me, right now dealing with Congress..."

AUDIENCE: "Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can!"

OBAMA: Believe me -- believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. (Laughter.) I promise you. Not just on immigration reform. (Laughter.) But that's not how -- that's not how our system works."

AUDIENCE MEMBER: "Change it!"

OBAMA: "Republicans helped write the DREAM Act because they knew it was the right thing to do for the country. Today, they’ve walked away. Last year, we passed the DREAM Act through the House only to see it blocked by Senate Republicans. Now, all that has to change. And part of the problem is, is that the political winds have changed. That’s left states to come up with patchwork versions of reform that don’t solve the problem. You and I know that's not the right way to go. We can’t have 50 immigration laws across the country. The Democrats and your President are with you."

(Applause from audience)

OBAMA: "Remember who it is that we need to move in order to actually change the laws. Now, as soon as I come out in favor of something, about half of Congress is immediately against it. So I need you to keep building a movement for change outside of Washington, one that they can’t stop."

(Applause from audience)

 

Obama and La Raza can go (*)(*)(*)(*) themselves.

 

Uncle Ferd says, "Namby-pamby, bleedin'-heart lib'rals...

ACLU Sues Feds for Shackling Immigrant Detainees
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court seeking to halt a practice in which alleged illegal immigrants are shackled at the feet, waist and wrists while appearing in immigration court.

 

I would assume that everyone knows this relates to legal immigration into the United States. Why it would be posted related to illegal immigration is sort of confusing.

Starting in 2008 the number of illegal immigrants in the Unites States has been going down. This started with the Bush adminstration enforcement of immigration laws and has continued under the Obama adminstration.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/1/illegal-immigration-down-dramatically/

I also find it somewhat confusing why there appear to be some that oppose the focus of the Obama administration on criminal illegal aliens. If we're going to target any sector of the illegal immigration problem with limited resources, and financial resources are certainly limited considering the annual deficits and national debt, then it makes sense to focus on criminals as opposed those that present no threat to American society. Does it really make sense to target an undocumented 14 yo in high school for deportation and ignore an illegal immigrant that might be a burgler, drug smuggler, or rapist?

As noted above number of undocumented aliens in the United States increased by almost 4 million during the first seven years of the Bush adminstration but has been going down since then. It appears that our enforcement of the immigration laws, which weren't working under the first seven years of the Bush adminstration, have finally become effective in reducing the number of undocumented aliens and that positive enforcement has certainly continued under the Obama adminstration. How anyone can find fault with something that is actually working is beyond me. Of course it might take another five years or more before the number of undocumented aliens falls below the number when Bush took office.

 

Once again, Obama does everything he can to help illegals (future Democratic voters) enter this country...

Closure of Border Patrol stations across four states triggers alarm:

The Obama administration is moving to shut down nine Border Patrol stations across four states, triggering a backlash from local law enforcement, members of Congress and Border Patrol agents themselves.

Critics of the move warn the closures will undercut efforts to intercept drug and human traffickers in well-traveled corridors north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Though the affected stations are scattered throughout northern and central Texas, and three other states, the coverage areas still see plenty of illegal immigrant activity -- one soon-to-be-shuttered station in Amarillo, Texas, is right in the middle of the I-40 corridor; another in Riverside, Calif., is outside Los Angeles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it's closing the stations in order to reassign agents to high-priority areas closer to the border.

"These deactivations are consistent with the strategic goal of securing America's borders, and our objective of increasing and sustaining the certainty of arrest of those trying to enter our country illegally," CBP spokesman Bill Brooks said in a statement. "By redeploying and reallocating resources at or near the border, CBP will maximize the effectiveness of its enforcement mandate and align our investments with our mission."

But at least one Border Patrol supervisor in Texas has called on local officers to "voice your concerns" to elected officials, warning that the "deactivation" will remove agents from the Texas Panhandle, among other places. Several members of Congress have asked Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher to reconsider the plan. And local officials are getting worried about what will happen once the Border Patrol leaves town, since they rely on those federal officials to assist in making immigration arrests.

"It could impact us tremendously since we've only got two agents up here now for 26 counties," Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas told FoxNews.com.

Potter County, in the Texas Panhandle, would be affected by the planned closure of the Amarillo station.

Thomas said that while his area is far from the border, it's still a major "corridor" for illegal immigrants -- and he said his office depends on Border Patrol to respond to their calls.

"I can't hold a carload of people out there on I-40 for eight hours while somebody comes from El Paso," he said. "I mean, that's just crazy."

Border Patrol's resident agent in charge in Amarillo expressed similar worries, in a recent memo to local law enforcement alerting them to the planned closure. The official, Robert Green, warned that the "entire complement" of two agents would be reassigned from Amarillo to somewhere closer to the border. He said "there is no active plan" right now for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fill the void on assisting local officials with stops.

Empathizing with local officials, he wrote: "As a former deputy I found myself on the other end of the radio hoping to contact USBP to assist me with a vehicle full of undocumented foreign nationals on the side of the road."

And in an unusual plea, he urged the recipients of his memo to contact elected officials about the change. "I would encourage you, if you have found USBP assistance valuable in the past, to contact your political representatives and voice your concerns," Green wrote.

The letter was first posted online by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Thomas confirmed to FoxNews.com that he received it. Bob Dane, communications director with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, also said he's confirmed the letter's authenticity with ICE.
CBP later acknowledged the memo, but said in its statement that Green was expressing his "personal opinion."

Lawmakers have started to get involved. Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, who represents Amarillo, joined two other Texas lawmakers whose districts would be affected in asking the Border Patrol chief to "reconsider the proposal."

A letter sent Tuesday to Fisher warned the plan would "leave our area vulnerable." They noted that the Amarillo and Lubbock stations alone, two of those affected, accounted for 638 apprehensions of illegal immigrants just this year.

FAIR also blasted the Obama administration for the plans.

"It's part of the systematic dismantling of both border and interior enforcement," Dane told FoxNews.com. "It complements the non-enforcement policy of this administration."

He warned that local officials in those areas will have a hard time summoning far-away Border Patrol agents to assist, and said the tone of Green's memo was a "not-so-subtle shout-out" that the agency feels "outmanned, outgunned ... by their own government."

The stations set for closure in about six months include six in Texas. They are in: Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, San Angelo, Abilene and San Antonio. The other three are in Billings, Mont.; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Riverside, Calif.

Brooks said that the closures do not mean agents will be out of contact.

"Though Border Patrol agents would no longer be located in these areas, the Border Patrol intends to maintain strong and meaningful law enforcement partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies in these areas through continuing to actively share intelligence and information" and other avenues, he said.

Detractors, though, say the changes are part of a pattern. The administration recently announced it would stop deporting young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have not committed a serious crime. And after the Supreme Court upheld one plank of Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law last month, federal officials said ICE would be selective in responding to calls about immigration status - prioritizing cases that meet certain criteria, like whether the suspect is wanted for a felony.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, who signed the Thornberry letter, also voiced concern about the latest announcement on station closings in a written statement.

"The Department of Homeland Security hasn't demonstrated that sending additional resources to the border will be a more efficient use of resources than maintaining a presence further north," Neugebauer said. "I'd like to see numbers that reassure me that this strategy change won't ultimately result in fewer arrests."

Source

 

more reich wing horse bleep - everybody knows that Obama has slowed down illegal immigration into the USA and has forced a mass exodus of Mexican illegals back home

the one thing he failed to do was to forced illegal white immigrants from Europe to go back home but that's no real surprise

 

This is s joke, right?

 

So the closures are to move Border Patrol agents to high priority locations closer to the border to further reduce illegal crossings. Does anyone seriously have a problem with this? Are "Republicans" opposed to using the Border Patrol in a more effective manner now? Are they now opposed to making more arrests by strategically locating the agents closer to the border?

 

Obama is not really interested in stopping illegal immigration. He uses defacto amnesty via executive order, which only condones more illegal immigration, he fights States that are trying to protect themselves, rescinded a LOA that enabled local LEO officials to help out federal ICE agents, and refuses to crack down on sanctuary cities, among other things.

 

While I oppose many of the Obama adminstrations agenda items and policies I also oppose misrepresentation of the facts. When it comes to enforcement of the immigration laws the Republican Myth Machine is working overtime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...7/25/AR2010072501790.html?sid=ST2010082704452

So the Republican myth that the Obama adminstration isn't deporting aliens is fundamentally false as he's deporting more aliens than the Bush adminstration and is especially effective because he's targeting criminal aliens for deportation and that is the highest priority for both Republicans, Democrats and the American People.

Next we need to address who isn't being deported. There are two different groups of aliens that we're concerned with. First and foremost are those that enter the country illegally. That is a criminal offense under the immigration laws and the Obama adminstration is deporting those individuals. We also have those that enter the country legally to work but their visas have expired usually because of bureaucratic red tape. The INS, instead of automatic deportation, is working with these individual to cut through the red tape and re-issue the proper documents for legal residency. Republicans, perhaps moreso than anyone else, are opposed to the bureaucratic red tape of government and, in fact, they approve of this immigration action by the Obama adminstration. These are hard working immigrants and simply using the existing laws to re-issue their work visas is good for America.

Finally there are the children of these undocumented or illegal aliens that were brought to the United States as children and have grown up here. To them the United States is the only country they've ever know. Social conservatives, progressive liberals, Republicans and Democrats alike all believe that these individuals should not be deported. They cannot file for legal residency until they're 21 and President Obama, after consulting with everyone including social conservatives issued an executive order to not deport these individuals but instead to have the INS work with them to provide visas for legal immigration status. Even Mitt Romney didn't oppose this executive order when the news media grilled him on it. If elected Romney would not repeal this executive order because literally everyone agrees it was the right thing to do.

Finally the issue of the Obama Adminstrations efforts to curtail the efforts of the States to override federal immigration laws and enforcement. This is a matter of Constitutional authority and the Arizona laws have been reviewed by the US Supreme Court.

http://news.yahoo.com/why-supreme-c...on-clear-rebuke-arizona-140610354.html?_esi=1

I don't see any Republicans that can logically argue against the fact that the US Congress is responsible for all immigration laws and that the President is responsible for the enforcement of those laws.

Of note in reading the Arizona State Constitution there are no clauses which authorize the Arizona State legislature to pass any laws related to immigration, period. The only mention of "immigration" in the Arizona Constitution is:

http://www.azleg.gov/const/Arizona_Constitution.pdf

The last time I checked Republicans were opposed to any level of government "assuming" powers that are not delegated by the Constitution, in this case the State Constitution, so by what State Constitutional authority did Arizona pass SB 1070?

 

On the contrary, this Truth has already been thoroughly documented on the many other threads on this subject. The repeated right wing lies are the only jokes on this forum.

 

First of all, I don't care what Bush did or didn't do. Both Repubicans and Democraps are guilty of not giving a crap about illegal immigration.

Arizona was only picking up the slack from the federal government, and not adding anything that went above and beyond federal law. Obama also rescinded the LOA between federal and local law enforcement officials that enabled the local authorities to deal with illegal immigration. Obama cut off a huge resource.

Obama has also just made illegal immigration worse by giving de facto amnesty to over a million illegals. They are illegals, right? They did break our immigration laws, right? Obama has just giving illegals all over the world hope. More will come.

Unfortunately, most politicians are not willing to do what will really curtail illegal immigration: SECURE OUR BORDERS!

 

Your quote: "Everybody knows that Obama has slowed down illegal immigration into the USA and has forced a mass exodus of Mexican illegals back home."

Maybe you are right. The terrible economy Obama has created has curtailed illegal immigration.

 

The point made was that the Obama adminstration has been deporting more individuals than prior adminstrations and that he's targeting those that all of us would agree are the most important as far as deportation. With limited funding from Congress the Obama adminstration is doing more than any prior adminstration. Remember that funding is always limited and any President has to establish the priorities for spending those funds. Can anyone actually condemn the priorities that the Obama adminstration has applied in addressing deportation? Isn't deporting criminal aliens the most important category to address? Does anyone argue with that priority?

"Arizona was only picking up the slack" is a false representation of the truth. In fact what has been found is that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's department was violating the US Constitution in racially profiling Hispanics.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2012/05/10/feds-sue-joe-arpaio-alleging.html

The issue was malfeasance by Arizona law enforcement, predominately by Sheriff Joe Arpaio that is a known racist, which was violating the US Constitution. Had Arizona law enforcement, or law enforcement in any state, been following the federal guidelines there would have been no problems but they have demonstrated that they won't follow the federal guidelines related to immigration. As was also documented the Arizona legislature also over-stepped it's authority related to immigration according to the US Supreme Court. The federal government, not the states, defines immigration policy. Is there any dispute with this fact?

I draw the line with the term "illegal" as that, to me, represents someone that has violated a criminal law. Being undocumented is not a criminal offense, it is a civil matter. The so-called "de facto" amnesty is nor related to any criminal aliens. It is addressing those that, for whatever reason, entered the US legally and have since had their visas expire. These are overwhelmingly members of working families that contribute to the success of the US economy, pay taxed, and are immigrants that we want in the United States. They did not "break our immigration laws" by entering the country illegally nor have they committed any criminal act. The only issue for them is a documentation issue. Once they have their visas re-instated under the US immigration laws then they will be legal immigrants as they should be. Is there really any argument about this?

The vast majority of individuals we're concerned with didn't cross the border illegally but instead are undocumented aliens which entered the country legally. Securing our borders does little related to the overall issues of immigration. As also noted even when the Obama adminstration makes an effort to improve our border security by closing down ineffective check points and moving agents closer to the border where they can be more effective some complain about it. How absurd is that? Remember that there are only so many dollars that can be spent so either we keep ineffective check points and let more individuals illegally cross into the United States or close them and move the Border Patrol agents closer to the border where they can stop more of those illegally entering the country. This is about improving our border security so how can someone logically oppose it? The actual number of individuals entering the country illegally has been down since Obama took office so we're actually moving in the right direction, are we not?

But here is a point I would make and it does address Congress which controls the immigration laws and not the Obama adminstration which merely enforces them with the limited resources provided by Congress. The current immigration laws are absurd and both Republicans and Democrats agree on this fact. I have long proposed eliminating the "quota" system which is discriminatory. Instead we need a simple immigration law and I've proposed three criteria for it.

1. Prohibit Criminals that have violated laws related to property or persons (i.e. crimes with a victim) or those that have nefarious purposes (e.g. terrorists) from immigrating to the US
2. Require a person wanting to immgrate to have a job offer before the visa is issued and that they miust remain basically employed as long as they are in the United States (e.g. some unemployment would be allowed but not chronic unemployment).
3. Require those immigrating to the US to be able to speak English.

If they meet this these requirements then they should be allowed to legally immigrate to the United States. That would solve so many problems especially related to illegal crossing of our border because we would then be focused on those trying to cross the border for criminal purposes and not for those that just want to come here to work for a better life. A simple revision to the immigration laws that can be captured in three sentences.

 

Of course, criminals are a priority. However, Obama's policies for the rest is just inviting more illegal immigration.

I was talking about SB 1070, not Joe. I like Joe.

You may be correct. Then why rescind the LOA?

This is complete BS. They most certainly broke immigration laws, both by entering illegaly and by staying and/or working. Why give this class of criminal a free pass? What's next? Yes, they are illegals. By the way, if you were illegaly in Mexico, it is a felony.

The border needs to be secure if ANY actions to reduce illegal aliens is going to last. Yes, there is less illegal immigration now, but that is mostly due to the lack of jobs in this country, so I guess Obama gets credit for that.

Criminals are already not allowed to immigrate. Immigrants are already supposed to be able to read, speak and understand the English language. Many come here on work/education visas, but over-stay. It doesn't matter what the requirements are, there will still be droves of illegals that do not care.