Americans have differing views on immigration, but the overwhelming majority agree that our current immigration system is broken and the government is not doing enough to solve the problem.[1] The President is blaming Republicans for his failure to secure our borders and solve these problems.[2] But the facts show that the responsibility for these failures lies with the President and his allies, who are more interested in scoring political points than fixing a problem of national concern.
The President claims to want a bipartisan deal for “comprehensive immigration reform,” but actually defeated the last attempt at such a deal. Recently, the President said that in 2007 he joined a group of Senators to work on a bipartisan immigration reform bill, but “the effort eventually came apart.”[3] The President did not mention that he played a leading role in sinking that bill by supporting two “poison pill” amendments supported by unions and left-wing allies. He was the lead sponsor of one of those amendments, which sought to end merit-based immigration.[4] That amendment failed,[5] but another, which eliminated a key part of the compromise — the guest worker program — passed with then-Senator Obama casting the deciding vote.[6] As CQ Weekly noted, Republicans supporting the legislation considered a guest worker program to be essential and passage of the amendment striking it, which Obama personally made possible, was seen as “a deal-breaker.”[7]
The President has failed to enforce existing law. The Administration has failed to use all the tools at its disposal to enforce existing law. For example, it has ceased physical inspections of companies suspected of employing illegal workers, shifting its efforts instead to paper audits. When those audits have found workers who were in this country illegally, the workers lost their jobs but were allowed to remain in the country illegally.[8] The Administration also appears reluctant to penalize employers as a result of paper audits. Remarkably, a Minnesota audit that found one company illegally employing approximately 1,200 janitors resulted in no civil or criminal action against the employees or the employer, not even a fine.[9] This is part of a clear trend. Between 2008 and 2009, workplace arrests, indictments, and convictions fell by more than 50 percent.[10]
Advocates of immigration enforcement have encouraged the President to vigorously enforce current law and build on successful initiatives of the past Administration.[11] These include the “Secure Communities” program that identifies illegal aliens who have been charged or convicted of crimes and prioritizes the most dangerous — such as those such as those charged with or convicted of murder, rape, robbery, or kidnapping — for prompt removal from the country.[12] This program has resulted in the deportation of tens of thousands of dangerous illegal immigrants.[13] Removal of these individuals benefits all Americans, but particularly those who live in immigrant communities where these criminals attempt to hide and so often prey. While the White House pays lip service to such programs, it has allowed liberal critics to block expansion of these common sense efforts to find and deport dangerous aliens.[14]
The President has vilified Arizona rather than accept its help combating illegal immigration. Faced with an ongoing failure by the federal government to secure the borders and enforce immigration law, Arizona adopted a new law to address the influx of illegal immigrants into that state.[15] Instead of waiting to see whether and how enforcement of this law works, the Obama Administration immediately launched rhetorical and legal attacks, seeking to block the law in federal court.[16] The lawsuit has already had the effect of temporarily halting some of the law’s provisions.[17]
The Administration also has filed an amicus brief challenging another Arizona law, the Legal Arizona Workers Act, which takes action against employers who persist in hiring illegal immigrants and requires employers to verify the immigration status of employees through a federal on-line system.[18] Meanwhile, the Administration has made no move against “sanctuary cities” that actively refuse to cooperate with the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts.[19]
Senate Democrats have routinely blocked Republican border security legislation. On multiple occasions this Congress, Senate Republicans have offered border security amendments on the Senate floor. Republicans have sought to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border,[20] to complete the southwest border fence,[21] to increase funding for successful border initiatives,[22] and to deny certain federal aid to sanctuary cities.[23] Senate Democrats have overwhelmingly opposed, and successfully blocked, all of these efforts.[24] The Administration ultimately announced that it would send a mere 1,200 troops to the border, less than one troop for each mile of the southern border.[25] Leading Arizona Democrats have criticized this commitment as insufficient and called for “a much larger commitment of National Guard troops right away.”[26]
The President’s union allies have made clear that they are not open to compromise, and he has made no effort to bring them to the table. As mentioned above, a guest worker program has long been seen as a key part of any bipartisan immigration compromise, and it was a part of the 2007 deal that then-Senator Obama killed. Although elements of organized labor, including the AFL-CIO, opposed the guest worker provisions in the 2007 law, other organized labor groups, including the SEIU, supported the compromise.[27] Last year, those unions indicated they no longer support any guest worker program.[28] The President has done little to bring those parties to the negotiating table, preferring instead to attack Republicans.[29]
While the President and his Senate allies claim they want to fix the immigration problem, they have failed to act on that rhetoric. There is little time left in this Congress, and despite historic majorities in the Senate, Democrats have still not introduced immigration reform legislation. The Senate Judiciary Committee has not held a hearing on the subject in well over a year. No wonder press reports have suggested that White House posturing on immigration is “not about legislation but about keeping the politics of immigration simmering for a key part of the Democratic base.”[30]
[1] ABC News/Washington Post Poll, June 3-6, 2010 (75% of respondents say the government “is not doing enough to keep illegal immigrants from coming into this country”), http://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm
[2] See, e.g., Remarks by the President on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, American University, July 1, 2010, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/01/transcript-of-obamas-immigration-speech/
[3] Id.
[4] S. Amend # 1202
[5] Roll Call Vote, 110th Congress, First Session, # 200, http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00200
[6] S. Amend. #1316, Roll Call Vote, 110th Congress, First Session, # 235, http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00201
[7] “Reid Pull Immigration Overhaul,” by Michael Sandler, CQ Weekly, June 11, 2007.
[8] “Audits, Not Raids Mark U.S. Immigration Crackdown,” by James B. Kelleher, Reuters, July 10, 2010.
[9] See, e.g., “1,200 Janitors Fired in ‘Quiet’ Immigration Raid,” by Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio, November 9, 2009, http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/11/09/immigrants-fired/
[10] In fiscal years, according to data provided from the Department of Homeland Security to the House Judiciary Committee (Minority Staff). See “Workplace Enforcement in Freefall,” Press Release, House Judiciary Committee Republicans, http://republicans.judiciary.house.gov/News/Read.aspx?id=263
[11] “Secure Communities, A Model for Obama’s 2010 Immigration Enforcement Strategy,” by Jena Baker McNeill, Heritage Foundation Web Memo #2746, http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/Secure-Communities-A-Model-for-Obamas-2010-Immigration-Enforcement-Strategy
[12] Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secure Communities Brochure http://www.ice.gov/doclib/secure_communities/pdf/sc_brochure_508.pdf
[13] Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secure Communities, “Activated Jurisdictions,” July 13, 2010, http://www.ice.gov/doclib/secure_communities/pdf/sc_activated.pdf
[14] E.g., “Immigrant Groups Criticize Fingerprint Initiative,” by Ivan Moreno, AP, July 26, 2010 (discussing opposition to the program delaying expansion in Washington, D.C., Colorado, and San Francisco), http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38417091/ns/us_news-immigration_a_nation_divided
[15] “Arizona Governor Signs New Immigration Law, Foes Promise Fight,” by Craig Harris, Arizona Republic, April 24, 2010, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/04/23/20100423arizona-immigration-law-passed.html
[16] “Justice Department Sues Over Arizona Immigration Law,” by Josh Gerstein, Politico, July 7, 2010, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39413.html
[17] “Arizona Immigration Law Takes Effect as Legal Battle Continues,” by Devin Dwyer, ABC News, July 29, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/arizona-immigration-law-takes-effect-key-sb-1070/story?id=11274472
[18] Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria, No. 09-115, Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae, http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/US-brief-on-immigration1.pdf
[19] “Critics Question Why Obama Administration Doesn’t Crack Down on Sanctuary Cities,” by Molly Hennenberg, Fox News, July 15, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/14/critics-question-obama-administration-doesnt-crack-sanctuary-cities/
[20] S. Amend # 4214
[21] S. Amend. #4177
[22] S. Amend. # 4202, S. Amend. #4228
[23] S. Amend. # 2630
[24] See Roll Call Vote, 111 Congress, First Session # 316; Roll Call Votes 111 Congress, Second Session #165, Second #166, #167, http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/a_three_sections_with_teasers/votes.htm
[25] “National Guard to Head to Border States August 1,” AP, July 19, 2010, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38310914/
[26] Id., noting that “U.S. Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Gabrielle Giffords, both Arizona Democrats, separately called the announced actions welcome but insufficient.” Rep. Kirkpatrick is quoted above.
[27] “Boxer’s Vote Switch Helps Revive Immigration Bill,” by Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, 2007, http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-06-27/news/17250237_1_green-cards-h-1b-guest-worker
[28] “Republicans Focus on Guest Workers in Immigration Debate,” by Jeff Zeleny and Ginger Thompson, New York Times, June 26, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/politics/26immig.html?_r=1
[29] See, e.g., Remarks by the President, supra n. 2
[30] “Obama still pressing immigration,” by Scott Wong, Politico, June 28, 2010, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39136.html
