The Obama administration has finally met a labor union it
doesn’t like, and the feeling is mutual. In June, a union
representing 7,600 employees in the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) — affiliated with both the American Federation
of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO — issued a unanimous vote
of “no confidence” against the political appointees the White House
chose to oversee immigration law enforcement.
The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council
specifically named ICE director John Morton and assistant director
Phyllis Coven, accusing them of having “abandoned the agency’s core
mission of enforcing United States Immigration Laws” and
“campaigning for programs and policies related to amnesty.” The
union leaders further charged the Obama administration with the
“creation of a special detention system for foreign nationals that
exceeds the care and services provided to most United States
citizens similarly incarcerated.”
Organizations representing border patrol agents had already
slammed their upper management at the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and ICE. The AFL-CIO-affiliated National Border
Patrol Council issued its no-confidence vote last year. The
National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO)
concurred. “The U.S. has reached a critical crossroads in dealing
with the illegal alien problem,” NAFBPO founder Buck Brandemuehl
said in a statement. “This problem must be addressed now, as it is
strangling our democracy and threatening our national
security.”
At the same time the Obama administration was requesting funding
for 1,000 additional border patrol agents, the National Border
Patrol Council complained that it was clandestinely reducing the
number of agents along the U.S.-Mexico border by cutting the
overtime hours they can work. “By lowering the statutory overtime
cap nearly 15 percent through the current administrative
restrictions, top-level managers in the Border Patrol are depriving
Americans of desperately needed coverage along the border at a time
of national crisis,” Council head T. J. Bonner told the
Washington Times.
These border patrol and customs agents aren’t just disgruntled
employees. They are outraged by an administration that is suing to
block Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law — and bragging to the
United Nations that this is a positive step for human rights — and
undercutting the removal of most illegal immigrants. The people who
are paid to put their lives on the line for the country’s border
security are outraged that their political superiors seem to have
other priorities.
Consider the firestorm set off by a leaked memo outlining ways
the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) could
effectively legalize at least tens of thousands of illegal
immigrants even in the absence of “comprehensive immigration
reform.” The USCIS could grant “parole in place,” which comes with
a work permit and the right to apply for a green card. Or it could
identify a subset of illegal aliens — like potential beneficiaries
of the DREAM Act, which Congress has pointedly failed to enact —
and give them “deferred action,” delaying deportation
indefinitely.
Then there was this brainstorm: DHS could stop issuing the
“notice to appear” letters that begin the deportation process
unless the alien in question has a “significant negative
immigration or criminal history.” That’s like a landlord being
barred from issuing pay or quit notices to tenants who refuse to
pay rent. In essence, these were proposals to give amnesty by
executive fiat, handing out green cards and refusing to enforce
immigration laws.
USCIS bureaucrats quickly backtracked, issuing a statement
saying “nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas
for final decisions.” The Obama immigration team even vowed, “DHS
will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the
nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.” How reassuring!
THE RECESSION AND STEPPED-UP enforcement have reduced illegal
immigration in recent years. According to the Pew Hispanic Center,
the total illegal population dropped from a high of 12 million in
2007 to about 11.1 million in March 2009. Only 300,000 illegal
immigrants have come in the past two years, a two-thirds drop from
the inflows experienced earlier in the decade. Some observers
believe this means conditions are ripe for further attrition
through enforcement — while the Obama administration touts these
numbers to show that despite the amnesty advocacy, it is tough on
border security.
Mainstream media outlets have been reporting that deportations
are up, based on ICE projections of 400,000 deportations this
fiscal year (it remains to be seen whether the actual numbers
support these claims). But many of the removals have occurred under
the Secure Communities program. That’s an ongoing effort, begun
when the Bush administration decided increased enforcement would
aid its amnesty campaign, to identify illegal aliens incarcerated
in state and local facilities.
Secure Communities does help relieve the burden on state and
local governments. It also is a good way to remove from the country
illegal immigrants who are guilty of other serious crimes. The
program represents the kind of state-federal cooperation in
immigration enforcement envisioned by the Arizona state
legislature. But what it does not do is treat illegal immigration
as a problem by itself or address any of the incentives to enter
the U.S. illegally.
The Obama administration has virtually stopped worksite raids.
“I think there have been very few operations that have generated
arrests of undocumented workers,” David Venturella, the acting
director in charge of such operations, said at an Urban Institute
event. According to one report, through May administrative arrests
were down 81 percent from 2008, criminal arrests down 67 percent,
indictments down 73 percent, and convictions down 75 percent.
In fact, that’s what differentiates the Arizona law from Secure
Communities — Arizona focuses on illegal status itself as a
problem and reason for referral to the federal government. The
Obama administration only wants to go after illegals nailed for
other crimes. In its lawsuit against Arizona, the Justice
Department emphasized that its enforcement priorities were
different from Arizona’s.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s enforcement priorities
also differ from those of the professionals charged with enforcing
the country’s immigration laws. The National Border Patrol Council
has even taken issue with its parent organization, the AFL-CIO, for
joining in the liberal crusade against Arizona. The border patrol
union called one of the AFL-CIO’s statements on SB 1070
“irresponsible and lacking any factual basis.”
Their words for the people President Obama has placed in charge
of them are even stronger. But the customs and border patrol agents
are about to find out that in this rare instance, the White House
is willing to turn a deaf ear to union labor.
