Links: A. Incoming Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson
B. Number of Deportations Plummet
As of late, the Federal Government has been focusing a great deal of attention on the issue of amnesty for illegal immigrants. The Obama Administration has come to the conclusion that the only solution to the "problem" of illegal immigrants is to create a law that will allow them to become U.S. citizens. Lets begin this discussion with an agreement that we will try and keep the issue as simple as possible. Lets start at the beginning: why do persons cross the border into the United States from Mexico without documentation? What is their intention? The simple answer is, that some cross the border to deliver narcotics to drug smugglers, but most persons cross in the hope of finding a better life. The governments of Mexico and Central America (and some in South America) are ineffectual at best and corrupt at worst, and regular jobs are very hard to find. For some reason, everyone seems to have access to a television, and they see in the USA a country that provides education, jobs, and security. So they scrounge up their last few pesos, and risk their lives just getting to the Mexican side of the border, before locating a Coyote (smuggler) to get them across. Some of those traveling from south of Mexico never make it to the Rio Grande. Mexico has very strict immigration laws which are enforced, unless, of course, you have the appropriate baksheesh (bribe money).
So where were we? Oh yes, people crossing the border into the United States sin documentos because they believe that the United States might provide them with the opportunity for a better life. But at the end of the day, every nation on this planet has laws. Those laws are intended to serve a purpose, usually to provide rules that allow us to interact in public (speed limits, traffic lights, etc.) and also to provide us with security. The United States is a nation of immigrants, so to speak. At various times in the history of our Republic, we have welcomed large numbers of immigrants from overseas, including Italy, Russia, Ireland, England, China and Vietnam. At the time, we needed the kind of labor that tis population surge provided. Our nation was growing up....and out. We needed roads, buildings, railroads, factories, ships, and on and on. Our demographics have changed considerably since those days. Now we are in need of highly skilled, educated immigrants, to work in the computer and high tech fields. Sure there will always be construction jobs, lawn maintenance, and similar types of manual labor, but even those jobs will become more competitive if we don't enforce our border laws.
While the Administration and the Congress discuss the amnesty issue, the Administration has ordered a review of all criminal orders of removal (Deportation Orders). Simply put, when a person without legal status commits a crime which requires incarceration, Homeland Security officials are obliged to arrange travel documents and escort this individual back to their country of birth, following the completion of their sentence. Well, the Obama Administration, without probable cause (no history of abuse in this program), has suspended these deportations until a judge can review the deportation order and confirm that everything is copacetic. Until then, the individual is released onto the streets, on their own recognizance. Oddly enough, overall deportations have dropped considerably as well. No doubt the Obama Administration has decided that Spring, 2015, is the time to overload us all with so much immigration stuff, that we will just throw up our hands and say, "you win"! Not so fast.
The lack of border enforcement and the suspension of deportation orders has one purpose: to seduce the Hispanic community in the United States. Hispanic Americans have always supported Democratic candidates over Republicans. I think the trend really took off with President John F. Kennedy, but I could be wrong. And the Latino community has been tremendously loyal to the Democratic Party. If you take a poll along the southern border, and write down the party affiliation of every county sheriff, every judge, every chief of police, every mayor, every superintendent and member of the school board, you will notice the one commonality is that they are all Democrats. Of course, the border areas of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are heavily Hispanic. Which means a Republican candidate for any of the above-named offices will never win. But here is where things gets tricky; another problem with our border communities? Ineffectual leadership and corruption. Communities with no running water and no paved roads, problems with the schools, infrastructure collapse, etc., would be a problem anywhere, but add to that almost endemic corruption. In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, it seems as if the FBI is taking out one group of corrupt cops after another. And the judges, who facilitate so much of the operations, get rounded up as well. Its always persons who belong to and are loyal to the Democratic Party Machine. What would it take, after five decades and more of the same garbage, to try something different, and elect someone else? Heck, if Republicans truly are monsters, then vote Libertarian. But at the end of the day, the Democrats in Austin and in Washington DC know that they are guaranteed Representatives from those communities. And that is the real tragedy, to be taken for granted year after year after year......
In the title of this post, I mentioned a few questions that I wanted to present to the Department of Homeland Security. But after I started to type, I realized that I already knew the answer, and I was only hoping against hope that my questions might just put someone on the spot. But that is an unreasonable dream, because, just like you, in the big scheme of things, I'm nobody. Sometimes I get angry about politics and current events, but at the end of the day, I can only be responsible for myself and my own actions. And that should be enough. My perspective on the issue of amnesty is not complicated. If we provide a path to citizenship to persons whose entire presence in our country is predicated on breaking our laws, then how in the future, do we decide which laws to enforce and which ones to ignore? Its a slippery slope (HATE that cliché), but there it is. The issue has already presented itself as a bit of a problem. Should the police officer continue to enforce laws against possession of Marijuana, when, just five miles away in Colorado, its legal? Another bit of annoyance for me regarding this amnesty plan is, what about all those people who followed the law, and have been waiting patiently for their turn to arrive, where they are granted legal residency? Should we take that list, and just put them on the pathway as well? How can we not? These are people who respected our country enough to actually follow the legal path to residency. Will they be punished for FOLLOWING the law, by being excluding from Obama's largesse?
And at the end of the day, most people who chose to be honest, will admit that they understand the motivation for this focus on amnesty. Its all about votes. First and foremost, it solidifies the Democratic Party as the friend of Hispanic Americans, at least in their eyes. And if the program grows, and eventually includes as many as fifteen to twenty million persons, who transition from no status to citizenship, what does that do to our political process? try to imagine twenty million new Democratic votes in the next Presidential election. President Obama defeated Mitt Romney, roughly sixty-five million votes to sixty million votes. Even if you were generous and gave the Republican candidate twenty-five percent, it still will end up creating a one-party state in the United States. Its not complicated, and it very doable. And the whole process starts at the border. If you allow them to skirt the law, and stay in the United States, you have gained someone's gratitude for life. Voting Democrat in return is an easy repayment.
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