Secure The Border First, Then Reform Immigration

Two bits of seemingly contradictory news were reported on Tuesday.

1. Republican Senate leaders met privately with President Obama to discuss border security and immigration issues.  After the meeting Republican Senator Brownback told reporters that the President was “not embracing” Republican calls for securing the border before Congress takes up so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”
2. Obama announced plans to deploy “up to” 1,200 National Guard troops in Arizona and add $500 Million to the border enforcement budget.

It turns out that number 2 was a cheap stunt to head off efforts by Senate Republicans to add border security amendments to a defense funding bill.

Obama’s real border policy was revealed quite clearly during his joint press appearance on the White House lawn last week with Mexican President Calderon. About four minutes into his speech President Obama said:

For the sake of our shared prosperity and security, we discussed the need for immigration that is orderly and safe…To fix our broken immigration system, I reaffirmed my deep commitment to working with Congress in a bipartisan way to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The immigration bureaucracy is indeed dysfunctional and frustrating to foreigners who wish to live here.  However, that is not the most urgent problem.  The border security system is also broken and it’s causing a crime wave throughout the South West, especially in Arizona.

The political-media establishment, is determined to prevent discussion or debate about border security as a stand-alone issue.  They conflate border enforcement with immigration.  So-called “comprehensive immigration reform” is code for amnesty for Illegal aliens, those who have crossed the border without permission.  They are now called “undocumented workers” or simply, “immigrants.”  The establishment seeks to blur the distinction between those who enter illegally and those who enter the with permission, after meeting criteria and standards set forth in immigration law.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform treats border security is a work in progress, an ambiguous intention for the future, while amnesty is granted immediately.

But the American people increasingly resist this immigration flimflam.  The People find illegal border crossing unendurable.   The people see border security as a need to be addressed immediately, and by itself, NOT as a subordinate piece of  so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”

Obama Continued his speech:

…comprehensive reform means accountability for everybody: government that is accountable for securing the border…

The federal government is already accountable for securing the border. That responsibility is mandated in Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution.  No “reform” is needed.  By failing to secure the border the Obama Administration stands in violation of the Constitution.

…people who break the law by breaching our borders being held accountable by paying taxes and a penalty and getting right with the law before they can earn their citizenship.

“Before they can earn their citizenship?”   Here Obama reveals the real goal of the Left: that the 12 million illegals who  are already here not only be allowed to stay, but that they become citizens.  So they can vote.  Democrat.

He tried to sound stern and demanding, but be assured any legislation that passes Congress will be designed to facilitate, not impede an illegal alien’s progress through easy hoops toward full citizenship.

As the President said, the immigration system is broken.  As a result, millions of people from all over the world who have applied through legal channels for a chance to live in the U.S. are in a bureaucratic limbo.  Most of them would leap at the chance to become a citizen by paying a fee.  They wait years for a response to their applications, not for citizenship, just for permission to live here.  Most are never approved.  But Obama and the Democrats would allow some 12 million people who, in Obama’s own words, broke our law “by breaching our borders” to stay here permanently, pay fines and “earn their citizenship.”

Some of the people who come here illegally from Mexico want to stay here.  They do what most Americans believe should be required of anyone who wants to be an citizen, they assimilate.  They learn English and adapt to American culture.  They don’t demand that America become more like Mexico.  I have known many such people and am sympathetic to them.  In the past I would have supported efforts to help them stay here and become citizens.  But with great reluctance I have changed my position.

America does need immigration reform, at the end of a thorough national discussion or debate over what the goals of immigration policy should be.  If one of the goals turns out to be giving a relatively large number of people from Mexico an opportunity to live and work here then appropriate visa programs should be created to facilitate that goal.  But an official policy that makes illegal border crossing an expedited application for citizenship is intolerable and sabotages legitimate immigration policy.

Closing the border to illegal entry is NOT a subordinate piece of immigration reform.

A secure border is a fundamental necessity to maintain America as a sovereign nation in control of it’s own destiny.  A secure border is a necessity to minimize the number of foreign terrorists criminals who can attack our people.  A secure border is a pre-condition to a debate over immigration policy which, after all, is about allowing some people to come in while keeping other people out.