{"id":2774,"date":"2009-12-14T12:58:19","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T16:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2009-12-14T12:58:19","modified_gmt":"2009-12-14T16:58:19","slug":"the-administration%e2%80%99s-phantom-immigration-enforcement-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2009\/12\/14\/the-administration%e2%80%99s-phantom-immigration-enforcement-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Administration\u2019s Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Administration\u2019s Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy<\/strong>
\nIra Mehlman<\/p>\n

December 07, 2009<\/p>\n

The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.
\nArguing the Obama administration\u2019s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the \u201cthree-legged stool\u201d for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include \u201ca commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government\u2019s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,\u201d stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. \u201cWe\u2019ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites\u2026Furthermore, we\u2019ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.\u201d <\/p>\n

If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano\u2019s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn\u2019t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano\u2019s claims. <\/p>\n

According to DHS\u2019s own reports, very little of our nation\u2019s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have \u201ceffective control\u201d over just 894 miles of border. That\u2019s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS\u2019s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles. <\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions. <\/p>\n

While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration\u2019s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages. <\/p>\n

In Janet Napolitano\u2019s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under \u201ceffective control\u201d and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration\u2019s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they\u2019re printed on. <\/p>\n

As Americans scrutinize the administration\u2019s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the \u201cthree-legged stool\u201d being offered that they like or trust. The first leg \u2013 enforcement \u2013 the administration has all but sawed off. The second \u2013 increased admissions of extended family members and workers \u2013 makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third \u2013 amnesty for millions of illegal aliens \u2013 is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play. <\/p>\n

As Americans well know, declaring \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is \u201cMission Aborted.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Administration\u2019s Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy Ira Mehlman December 07, 2009 The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}