19
Feb

Amnesty Advocates Arrested at White House: Reid Supports Them, Obama Hedges; Where’s Enforcement?

Published on February 19th, 2014

Not that more evidence is needed to prove that forces pushing a blanket amnesty refuse to take “no” for an answer, but here’s the latest.

On President’s Day, U.S. Park police arrested about 30 demonstrators who the United Methodist Church and the National Day Labor Organizing Network had gathered at the White House north gate. Before acting, the police issued three warnings asking that the protestors tone down their anti-deportation chanting.

Amnesty advocates, including religious organizations and unions, have focused on President Obama’s allegedly aggressive deportation record, claiming that in the five years since he was inaugurated, 2 million illegal immigrants have been returned to their home countries. But a Center for Immigration Studies’ backgrounder found that the current White House has deported fewer illegal immigrants than any president since Richard Nixon.

While the protestors were capturing headlines in the D.C. press, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined the choir when he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he wants President Obama to “do what he can” to end deportations. Reid added that he realizes that President Obama is “burdened by the law, and we need to do what we can to prevent it.” In other words, Reid wants Obama to issue an executive order that would unilaterally rewrite immigration laws without congressional input.

At a minimum, the demonstrators want deferred action similar to what President Obama’s 2012 executive action granted to so-called childhood arrivals. But deferred action extended to 12 million illegal immigrants would also mean 12 million work permits, 12 million social security cards and would incentivize millions from all corners of the world to come to America illegally. Then, once the existing illegal alien population was removed from possible deportation, intense lobbying to give them permanent residency and eventual citizenship would begin.

So far, President Obama has resisted the blanket approach to deferred action. He recently told the Spanish-language Univision Radio audience that “It’s not yet the law passed by Congress.” Despite his tough-sounding words, last year President Obama removed from possible deportation certain parents of minor children and family members whose relatives are in the military.

As he has done before, President Obama urged advocates to pressure their House representatives to legalize illegal immigrants and expand visas for overseas workers.

The immigration reform debate could grind on indefinitely unless the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE suddenly enforce the laws currently on the books and add mandatory E-Verify into the mix. That would send a strong message that the U.S. is serious about upholding immigration laws. At that point, Congress could accurately use one of its pet phrases: “We’re a nation of laws.”

Amnesty is bad for all Americans. Send that message to Congress through the CAPS Action Alert page here.

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