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The Borderline Spectator
Border Loopholes
The Obama administration is selectively enforcing immigration laws, just like the memos said.
Like Snoopy chasing the red baron, President Obama is in hot pursuit of a phantom menace in tax breaks for corporate jets. But when it comes to the real threat posed by porous borders, the evidence keeps piling up that the administration’s immigration enforcement is largely window dressing.
Despite regularly touting record deportations, the Obama administration has twice been caught red-handed discussing an administrative amnesty for illegal immigrants. Senate Republicans obtained a memo circulated within the upper reaches of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) outlining ways immigration bureaucrats and attorneys could use their discretion in individual hardship cases to effectively amnesty illegals without Congress changing the law. TAS later acquired a similar document making its way around the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Just brainstorming, administration spokesmen promised. No policymaking. DHS issued a less-than-reassuring statement that they would not grant humanitarian parole or deferred action to the entire illegal immigrant population.
Last week, the Houston Chronicle uncovered a connection between the Obama administration’s immigration words and deeds. After spending nearly a year investigating the issue, the Houston paper obtained emails and internal memos showing the administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sought to avoid removing illegal aliens who were not “top” enforcement priorities — and then to downplay their actions when controversy ensued.
Records show that hundreds of cases were dismissed against illegal aliens in the Houston area. “A string of emails shows the dismissals had the blessings of top attorneys at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C., last summer,” the Houston Chronicle reports, “and that other ICE legal offices across the country were encouraged to consider measures to better use the agency’s limited resources to target dangerous criminals.”
When first discovered last August, DHS maintained to both Congress and the press that the dismissals were very limited in scope. ICE and DHS spokesmen said that only an extremely narrow class of illegal immigrants with pending green card applications was actually affected. Nelson Peacock, DHS’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs, specifically told Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans the prosecutorial discretion only “affects very few aliens, generally non-criminals who have married a U.S. citizen.”
Not so, the Chronicle reports: “[N]ewly released documents show conclusively that government attorneys in Houston were given wide latitude to file motions to dismiss cases, including some involving immigrants with convictions for primarily misdemeanor offenses.”
What happened in Houston is likely happening all over America. According to one analysis, the number of cases dismissed against illegal aliens increased 40 percent during the 2010 fiscal year over the previous one. While the Obama administration has admirably targeted illegal aliens who are committing serious crimes, its “top priorities” do not include enforcing the law against the vast majority of people who are in this country illegally.
ICE Director John Morton told agency employees in a June 2010 memo that they only had the resources to remove about 4 percent of the illegal immigrant population annually, so they had to be picky. Many career immigration enforcement professionals have blasted Morton’s policies as too lenient.
While the evidence suggests the administration misled both the public and Congress about its selective enforcement practices, some officials are getting bolder. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified that it “doesn’t make sense” to deport illegal aliens who would benefit from the DREAM Act amnesty. But Congress has repeatedly declined to pass the DREAM Act.
These revelations come as the Obama administration is increasingly being hit from all sides of the immigration debate. Hispanic and immigrant rights groups are angry that Obama has not delivered on amnesty legislation and dislike its deportation programs, such as Secure Communities. At the same time, border patrol and customs agents are increasingly expressing a lack of confidence in their Obama-appointed political leaders.
President Obama’s people are taking the long view: have high-profile deportations of criminal aliens now, while leaving most illegal immigrants alone. Boost the official deportation statistics to show the administration is doing everything it can to enforce the law. And then use these claims to bolster support for a “comprehensive” solution — i.e., amnesty.
Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, did much the same thing.
The Bush administration noticeably stepped up enforcement after
amnesty was voted down the second time.
The Bush DHS originated the Secure Communities program that now
contributes mightily toward the Obama team’s deportation
numbers.
Whether the political gambit will pay off remains anyone’s guess. But one thing is clear. The Obama administration is riddling immigration law with loopholes big enough to fly a corporate jet through. While cleaning up the tax code, it’s time to plug up the holes in our borders too.
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment
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DaveS| 7.5.11 @ 7:29AM
Amnesty and enforcement have nothing to do with corporate jetting. Just state Obama has no heart or inclination to defend laws he doesn't like or give him no political advantage - the usual elitist expediency approach. I give you DOMA, Libya and illegal immigration as examples. Direction to stop upholding these laws or defending them is impeachable. Good luck with that, though.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 9:15AM
Political will simply doesn't exist.
My experience is a subtle underlying cause is the relative pleasantness of latinos: more accurately their relative docility from being cowed by their south of the border 'governments' (not merely Mexico, but other Latin American states).
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 9:23AM
... 15j6 mentions Central America, but there's also South America as well.
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 10:30AM
You have to be kidding? "Docility"?
South & Central Americans to be sure but the vast majority of the problem is Mexico.
Slacker| 7.5.11 @ 3:40PM
Pleasantness and docility eh? I'm guessing you no entiendedo espanol.
I'll say one thing for latinos, they are as politically incorrect as anybody. Laugh so hard my stomach hurts un-PC. Then again, most of my interaction occurs on construction sites. Maybe your experience takes place in more polite places.
The left is going to go nuts trying to train these guys to "think" properly.
masly | 7.6.11 @ 4:25AM
Politicians understand political activism. If they ignore it, they're unemployed. Worked for the tea parties. Sort of. Works for the unions, illegals and jihadis.
I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Andromeda2002 on--s'e'ek'c'ou'ga'r.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 7:41AM
Why pretend we have borders and immigration laws? The political class in DC (of both parties), believe in open borders and they desire to balloon our population (with half of Mexico and in fact, half the world's population) because a huge population is in need of more and more social programs, which is after all, what govt. does, what politicians do - they think up new policies, programs and laws.
Millions of poor, lowly educated illegal amigos (as well as Mohammedans, poor Filipinos, Chinese, etc.) create new constituencies for the politicians to cater to.
A limited government republic can not exist with a huge, highly "diverse" (read: native born Americans replaced by foreigners) population.
But that's the point after all, to destroy US independence and the independence of the individual.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 9:20AM
" (as well as Mohammedans, poor Filipinos, Chinese, etc.) create new constituencies for the politicians to cater to."
The Latins dwarf the others. One reason might be what I glean from overhearing fragments of bubba conversations: "she's Spanish, best piece of [....]
I ever had" (this is a family site).
You know how men are.
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 9:30AM
Huh? A true non-sequiter. Thanks for that great comment.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 10:04AM
I'm saying it is for more than merely business or political reasons that illegals gain entry? do you understand yet, or would you like more detail?
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 10:07AM
...and why is it you can grasp the political reasons but you cannot get it how businesses want illegals even more than the govt does?
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 10:28AM
And what might that be, beyond political and business reasons? Please do tell......
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 11:31AM
I referenced the sexual reason above. I live in an ever-increasingly latin location, and more & more I hear guys talking about dates with latinas-- they are quite pretty, you might have noticed. political, business, sexual; many reasons.
Frankly, though it isn't right to be pessimistic, it may be too late in the day. A genie is difficult to put back in a bottle; it is hard to put toothpaste back into a tube.
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 1:22PM
Yeah, sure.......sounds like masturbatory dreams. Latinas are "quite pretty"? Perhaps the ones on Univision (who are almost universally "white Mexicans", that is, descendants of the conquring Spanish, not Mexican-Indians, who make up the vast majority of Mexicans) but the Mestizo's who "migrate" here across the border? Ha, ha, ha......masturbatory dreams, nothing more.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 5:23PM
Here guys talk about them, the guys aren't exactly stand-up guys, but latinas are more popular than blacks.
Anyway, what I said about it being late in the day still stands-- 20 years ago you should have been discussing this important topic-- rather than the legality of flag burning, or Anita Hill v Clarence Thomas.
Alan Brooks| 7.5.11 @ 6:52PM
It is merely a game, isn't it? you know businesses want cheap labor; you know yahoos want cheap sex from illegals, don't you?
You are just going through the motions, right?
Alan Brooks| 7.6.11 @ 6:21AM
I should point that I have no interest in Latina, Filipinio, or any other women. My interest is soley in minority men who look like women.
l5j6| 7.5.11 @ 7:48AM
It was decided years ago, that the US will allow tens of millions of Mexicans and Central Americans to "migrate" here. This is one big reason why Spanish language is everywhere in our society.
Of course the American public was never asked if we agreed to this, for the average American is the one who has to live with their hometown/neighborhood being over-run by poor, uneducated Latinos, who do not speak English and who take advantage of many government social programs, which the typical American does not qualify for because you see, the lawyer/politician class classified "immigrants" as "minorities" back in the 1990s and therefore deserving of government help. Of course this is laughable since these "immigrants" were never here in this country to be unfairly discriminated against, like some Black Americans were decades and centuries ago.
All part of the Latino-ization of the USA.....
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.5.11 @ 7:54AM
Whomever wins the Presidency should immediately start firing government officials who circumvented the laws.
Redstateboy| 7.5.11 @ 8:28AM
while pessimistic about the Fed (either Party) securing our borders and enforcing Existing Law, I do find encouragement in a number of States passing their own strict Immigration enforcement laws.. let the illegals burden the Social Services roles of already dysfunctional States like the People's Republics of CA., IL., & NY. (for example) and I believe Even They will become fed up with illegals being welcomed to their States and if not? These States can go to Blazes.. It's a State's Rights Issue.. Let the States who want the burden of illegals on their own population(s) Have em!
Dave| 7.5.11 @ 8:52AM
They are letting illegals with pending green card applications stay. How do illegals get a green card. Nothing makes sense in this whole scenario. In politics, if nothing makes sense it means the citizens are getting screwed and the politicians are profiting.
PAUL| 7.5.11 @ 9:00AM
This is easy to figure out - more illegals, more democratic voters.
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 9:32AM
Exactly right but don't forget, even legal immigrants tend to favor dems too and by a comfortable majority. That's one reason why legal immigration should be greatly reduced over the next 10-20 years. Since most immgrants today and for the past 30 years are "non-white", they tend to favor more government and policies which redistribute wealth from middle class Americans, who historically have been mostly white.
SeattleBred| 7.5.11 @ 10:02AM
Executive power is manifest more in the laws it chooses to ignore than in the ones it enforces.
tatosian| 7.5.11 @ 10:17AM
The minuteman organizations went silent for the McCain debacle.
Up to that point, there were Americans demonstrating, rallying and flooding their respective congressskanks with phone calls, emails and letters signifying our opposition to the open borders policies.
You may not like it but it's time to hit the streets again. It's the only tactic these floozies understand and it will help to solidify the opposition to the open borders traitors.
Time to fight.
jppc| 7.5.11 @ 1:24PM
The Minuteman groups were endlessly demonized in the news media as Nazi's, KKK'ers and the like. Can't blame them for receding....
tatosian| 7.5.11 @ 3:40PM
Demonized in the news media? So what?
Everyone who stands against the mexification of the US is vilified and attacked. Just as anyone who stands against the elimination of the American culture, people, morality, beliefs and ethics is attacked. So what.
What're the choices here? Be quiet? Recede? Do nothing but "pull that lever" every two years"? Yeah, that'll show the multiculti/pc hordes arrayed against us that we mean business.
Sure that hermaphrodite in the white house has instituted an executive amnesty for those illegals, but you just wait till those levers get pulled again in 2012. Dang it.
Each day puts us further and further into a collectivist hole but we dare not shovel out of it because we're afraid of being called names? Is that it?
Swell.
Al Adab| 7.5.11 @ 11:21AM
One of the enumerated powers, the reason for being of the national government, is to "protect the States from invasion." What we witness instead is that government opposing the efforts of the states to protect themselves as the federal government refuses to do so. The question which follows is, what may the States themselves do when the national government refuses and opposes its avowed purpose?
Margie| 7.5.11 @ 4:30PM
"When in the course of Human Events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve...
Ann Coulter:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21399
Al Adab| 7.5.11 @ 5:01PM
Hi Margie,
It's the question we've been asking. Are we as a nation up against that "destructive of these ends" clause and of course if so, what follows is the "alter or abolish" part. We face a serious crisis of our national life. The answers we find and the road we travel will determine human history for the next couple hundren years.
Margie| 7.6.11 @ 12:45AM
And I doubt very much if we have another 200 yrs. before His return.
Oldefarte| 7.5.11 @ 11:32AM
The political corruption of this administration is simply mind boggling. Not only with immigration, but with Justice, Interior and Homeland Security Depts as well. It's like we have Hugo Chavez as our president. Again, the one/only solution rests with November of next year's elections. Pull the Republican lever as a remedy start. After most of the Democrats [as many as possible] are defeated, then we can begin the weeding-out process of replacing RINOS with conservative Republicans on a case-by-case basis. The Democratic Party has simply been taken over by extremist-radicals and their candidates are no longer viable or dependable!!!!!!!!!!
Margie| 7.5.11 @ 4:17PM
http://media.photobucket.com/image/obama chavez/justpolitics/0bamachavez.gif?o=8&sortby=sevendaysview
Margie| 7.5.11 @ 4:24PM
Oops, here it is:
http://i949.photobucket.com/al.....1254971184
Oldefarte| 7.6.11 @ 5:06PM
Margie, my favorite is El Chosen One donning a cowboy hat. What a hoot! Yippietieyeah!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 7.6.11 @ 5:09PM
Appropriately, it was a BLACK HAT that he was wearing also!!!!!!!!!
ABNCP| 7.5.11 @ 12:26PM
Of course the political demographics equation is the driving force for the Obama Administration. The Democrat Party has 95+ percent of the black vote and they are hoping to get that from the Hispanics. They don't have it yet, but lets face it the primary reason the Hispanics are not happy with Obama is because he has not delilvered on an open borders amnesty policy. Big Sis has been busting her rather substantial butt trying to figure out ways to go around the Congress to get that done. However, the real danger in all this malfeasance is the absolute fact that for the last several years our southern border has been an open door for terrorist sleeper cells. We know there has been a Hezbollah threat in Latin America for some time. According to Intel experts it now has a military capability in Latin America. What should concern any real American Government is the latent military threat Hezbollah now has in the United States. I fear we are going to come to a point where the Iranian Mullahs can use their surrogates in Hezbollah to attack Americans in America. Example, if we finally get serious about stopping the Iranian nuclear capability. They will be able to activate cells that we have allowed to enter our country because of the insane border policys that have been in place for too many years, but have become far more dangerous under this terrible Obama Administration. Can anyone say 9/11 all over again???
Oldefarte| 7.5.11 @ 1:17PM
You're absolutely correct concerning this terrorism threat through our illegal immigration policies. Muslim terrorists are infiltrating Europe similarly, with the intent of getting their operatives in place as sleeper cells [awaiting the call to action]. When these moronic Democrats propagandize about the Dream Act, everyone should instead mentally picture trojun-horsed terrorists emersed within illegals streaming across our purposefully open sourthern border instead!!!!!!!!!
l5j6| 7.5.11 @ 1:28PM
Well put and exactly right......it's the demographics, stooopid (not you!).
Non-caucasian, non-native born Americans vote mostly for the Dems, period. That's is a big driving reason for high immigration. Because it grows the "organism", the state. Therefore more lawyers, more politicisans, more social programs are needed which in turn justifies the existence of said politicians, lawyers, activists, etc.
JP| 7.5.11 @ 2:08PM
It is one thing to passively resist Congress; it is another to actively circumvent its laws. Congress can prosecute federal bureaucrats right up to the top of the ladder (impeachment). If these federal agencies are caught granting defacto amnesty, it could indict the entire executive wing of USCIS and DHS.
tatosian| 7.5.11 @ 4:12PM
ICE is already releasing illegals with numerous misdemeanor convictions JP. What's that if not a defacto amnesty issued by dhs? Where's the republican call or threat of impeachment?
Three or four weapons from BATFE's gunrunner operation, an operation sanctioned by "my people" holders doj and the dhs, have turned up at the murder sites of two American Law Enforcement agents. Any calls for impeachment there?
Politicians understand political activism. If they ignore it, they're unemployed. Worked for the tea parties. Sort of. Works for the unions, illegals and jihadis.
There's an election coming up and they need to feel our pain a little bit. Putting some bodies in the street would help them (politicians) be a little more, uh, sensitive to our needs. That's all I'm saying.
POST American| 7.5.11 @ 10:25PM
"We are using MASSIVE third world immigration
to destroy British culture once and for all ---FOREVER."
-TONY BLAIR
Fmr PM/ Globalist/ Cultural EUGENIST
(Daily Mail interview)
---And so, in perfect RIIA/CFR/Globalist lockstep fashion, likewise here in the USA.
Bush Sr., Rockefeller connected Clinton, Bush Jr.
and, of course the 'wildcard', son of Globalist
establishment types and former Kissinger intern
---Bar-rock O-BAM-a.
AGAIN
Mexico's been collapsed
California's going
America and Canada are set to follow
U.S. taxpayer underwritten, U.S. economy
transferred, Globalist-RED China is set to
be not only EUGENICS 'model for all' ---BUT
set to be our 'world enforcer' ---certainly by
2015-2020.
Check out those RC bases operating on BOTH
our coasts, and the Panama Canal, and the design
aims of the NAFTA super-highway, and the
announced huge RC sovereign economic zone south
of Boise (the first of many), and that huge tunnel project connecting Pidgeon Lake B.C. with Asia------and ------and-----------and
"Did you just hear me? ---THIS IS TREASON."
-ALEX JONES
It truly is.
Margie| 7.6.11 @ 12:23PM
Doesn't Alex Jones believe in creatures from outer space or some such thing?
weddingdress | 7.7.11 @ 5:16AM
"We are using MASSIVE third world immigration
to destroy British culture once and for all ---FOREVER."
-TONY BLAIR
Fmr PM/ Globalist/ Cultural EUGENIST
(Daily Mail interview)
Mark in LA| 7.9.11 @ 1:29PM
Maybe that statue of Reagan can have him carrying two illegals across the border on his back into the US as a reminder of what he meant to illegal Mexicans everywhere.
Occam's Tool| 8.30.11 @ 3:30PM
Again, the approach to solving problem is easy: no schooling, no welfare, no (unpaid) medical care, no driver's licenses.
Border: Mines, MeatChoppers, Moat; Artillery, Airsupport; walls, wire. Shoot to kill. We owe Mexico nothing.
Occam's Tool| 8.30.11 @ 3:31PM
And illegals in our jails: give 'em a one way ticket and boot them out at 30,000 feet over Mexico Citywith a parachute they packed themselves (or, if they refuse, without one). Bad neighbor policy.