Greatest Opposition to Immigration Reform: President Obama

Immigration resurged as a top issue in Congress following the 2012 election. Romney fared poorly with Hispanics in the election, although he also fared poorly on technology, outreach, grassroots, will, and the fact that a majority of Republicans did not like the guy.

　

Still, Republicans and Democrats led the fight on a massive immigration overhaul, one which provide key triggers for border security before announcing amnesty. Loud protests from civic activists and voters throughout the country denounced this legislation, which passed with 68 votes in the US Senate, yet the Republicans in the House of Representatives were willing to take up immigration reform.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor candidly shared his willingness to grant amnesty to the children of illegal immigrants, children who were brought to this country through no will or ill-will of their own. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has also recognized the importance of doing something about the current immigration laws and status of illegal immigrants in this country. As former Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had alleged in the 2012 Presidential election primaries, there is no conceivable, or moral way that the President of the United States or the federal enforcement agencies are going to force elderly and established individuals in this country to leave this country.

　

(For the record, "Self-deport" is not an option, either, for its sure unwillingness to consider the pragmatic as well as dogmatic realities of eleven to twenty million illegal immigrants already in this country)

House Speaker John Boehner had signaled his plans to consider the US Senate immigration reform bill, even though its overextended length, plus lack of thorough vetting from US Senators, and the boorish attempt to provide safeguards with a fence before amnesty have met nothing but resistance from voters and activists. The US Senate's Gang of Eight which had preferred the legislation did not meet the threshold of seventy votes for passage, either.

To reference US Senator Barack Obama's blatantly plea for bipartisanship, there is no red American, no blue American, no white or black or Hispanic American. There is the United States of American, E Pluribus Unum, a unity of the rule of law and the respect for individual liberty — religious, moral, economic. This refrain should be the guiding rhetoric for any reform

The immigration move deserved attention from the House of Representatives, including Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), a Tea Party favorite who had left the House deliberations on the legislation because of fears regarding enforcement.

His fears are well-founded, and those concerns have not diminished.

Republican President Ronald Reagan had brokered the Simpson-Mizzoli compromise in 1986, which granted amnesty for 3,000,000 illegal immigrants with a promise of greater border enforcement. That promise was never fulfilled.

Thus, Republicans are leery of repeating this mistake, and every voter, no matter what their color or party affiliation, should be grateful. Democrats should be honoring the will and skill of their constituents on this matter, too, rather than dancing on race and identity politics at the expense of the rule of law.

Yet the media demagoguery continues, one which fingers the Republicans as the greatest roadblock to immigration reform.

　

But instead of looking on the outside of things to understand the growing hesitance of Republicans to immigration "reform", let us consider the statement of two House members, who outlined their reason for breaking away

from brokering any immigration deal:

"Texas Reps. John Carter and Sam Johnson said they can no longer be part of the effort because they don't trust President Barack Obama to enforce any legislation they write."

Their concerns are well-established.

President Obama instituted a stimulus plan in 2009 which directed state funds to non-existent districts and raised bureaucrats salaries. Falsehood in advertizing.

Claiming to be post-partisan, Obama rushed the Affordable Care Act through Congress through his caucus's legislative reconciliation efforts. Not just Republicans in Washington, but protesters across the country denounced this legislation, and they still oppose it. Thirty Democrats voted against Obamacare, as well.

Even though Obamacare is his baby, President Obama has unilaterally decided not to enforce key provisions of it, like the Employer Mandate, until 2015. The President has no authority to undo this legislation by executive fiat, but he insists he will do so, nonetheless.

Regarding immigration, Obama categorically decided not to enforce the laws against illegal immigrants, and granted temporary status to the undocumented youth of illegal immigrants who were under thirty, in school, and had broken no laws. Such an order was an affront to the primary, and unique legislative authority of the United States Congress and the popular interest of the voters who elected them.

If President Obama ignores Congress, flouts his own legislation, and issues executive orders at length, every legislator in Washington, Democrat and Republican, has a respectable reason for fearing that President Obama will enforce no key provisions of reform, whether a reduction in the welfare state or a construction of a border fence, as part of any immigration compromise.

In effect, if there is any politician at fault for the stalling on immigration reform, look no further than President Obama and his legacy of distrust.