Thread: Thank Trump for America's return to real immigration enforcement

BY ROBERT LAW, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 08/14/17 09:40 AM EDT

Over eight years, Barack Obama systematically dismantled our immigration enforcement apparatus. Remarkably, it only took Donald Trump 200 days as president to reverse the damage done by his predecessor and restore the rule of law.

But wait, wasn’t President Obama the “deporter-in-chief”? Hardly.

In an effort to appear tough on illegal immigration while peddling the "Gang of Eight’s" mass amnesty guest worker bill, the Obama administration began cooking the books by manipulating deportation statistics. In immigration law, deportations are the removal of illegal aliens from the interior of the country. To mask the fact that the Obama administration wasn’t doing its job within our borders, it began counting “turn-arounds”—illegal aliens detained close to the border by the Border Patrol—as interior removals. No previous administration has counted deportations this way because there is a clear distinction between border apprehensions and interior removals.

Any entry-level investigative journalist could have easily detected this statistical farce. Heck, all they had to do was read The Hill which, in 2011, quoted Obama as saying, “The [deportation] statistics are a little deceptive.” Actually, they were a lot deceptive. But why quibble? Even after newly-installed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson confirmed the manipulation (under oath during Congressional testimony), major news outlets continued to report on the “record deportations” through the final days of the Obama administration.


The truth is, deportations plummeted throughout Obama’s time in office, culminating in a mere 65,000 interior removals last year. The United States has an illegal alien population of at least 11 million, yet the Obama administration was only able to remove 0.006 percent of them in its final year. Hundreds of thousands of identified criminal aliens were ignored, while the odds of anyone being deported “merely” for being in the country illegally were virtually nil.

Recent data from the Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review conclusively show that there is a new sheriff in town. In just six months, the Trump administration issued nearly 50,000 orders of removal, reflecting a 28 percent increase compared to the same time period in 2016. Similarly, the 73,000 final decisions issued by immigration judges rendered by the Trump administration thus far is 14.5 percent higher than at this point in Obama’s final year in office. Notably, total orders of removal and voluntary departures combined (57,069) are 31 percent higher than this time last year.

Perhaps you’re familiar with a different phrase to describe voluntary departures: self-deportation. Mitt Romney was mocked relentlessly during the 2012 presidential campaign by President Obama and the media for having the audacity to suggest that illegal aliens will pack up and leave if the U.S. strictly enforces its immigration laws. Yet, this is exactly what’s happening now as nearly 7,100 illegal aliens have decided they prefer to return to their home countries on their terms rather than go through the immigration courts and wind up being deported.

This should not be surprising; illegal aliens are rational individuals. When the benefits of living here unlawfully begin to disappear—specifically the ability to work illegally—they correctly reach the conclusion that there is no reason to stay.

How did this happen so quickly?

No magical formula, just good old-fashioned enforcement of the laws passed by Congress. A week into his presidency, Trump issued an interior enforcement executive order that declared all illegal aliens subject to removal (which is exactly what our immigration laws say) but smartly identified criminal aliens and aliens who pose national security threats as priorities for enforcement. This is what real prosecutorial discretion looks like.

By comparison, President Obama’s definition of “prosecutorial discretion” was so broad that it stretched the concept to a point where it rendered many immigration laws meaningless. Through the Morton Memos, named after then-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton, and subsequently the Johnson Memos, President Obama identified several narrow categories of illegal aliens his administration would target, leaving all other illegal aliens exempt from enforcement. As a result, an estimated 87 percent of the illegal alien population was off limits from immigration enforcement, which explains the paltry ICE interior removal numbers.

The Trump Justice Department’s press release announcing these key enforcement statistics was titled, “Return to Rule of Law.” Indeed.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blo...al-immigration

When the benefits of living here unlawfully begin to disappear—specifically the ability to work illegally—they correctly reach the conclusion that there is no reason to stay. The benefits automatically given to anchors must stop also! If the parents are deported but the anchors remain here, they are technically allowed to continue collecting. That $ is probably supporting Mommy and Daddy in whatever Country they were deported to.

Hopefully, these figures are real.

Just a thought -

Have we been focusing too much on the illegal and not enough on the employer?
Not many of them come here just to get benefits. Some came to steal, some came to escape the law in their own country, but most came to work. They may work illegally, they may take all the benefits, but they did come here to get jobs.

The employers are, mostly, American companies. Companies that have benefited from being in this country. The management of these companies, their families and their stockholders have enjoyed the benefits and blessings of living in this country.
They are the ones we should hold more responsible for this.

Then we have the politicians that have allowed this to continue for decades. These, too, have enjoyed the benefits of this country - and are our employees. We continue to vote them in office, time after time. We tend to think voting Republican will fix it - we make excuses for them if they are Republicans.


They are the ones who double-crossed the American people.

Yes, send the illegals home - all of them - but let's take a long hard look at who is truly responsible for this.

The illegal alien parents are the Guardians and Custodians of THEIR minor children...not US taxpayers!

Deport the whole family...you do not DUMP your children on another country...they are YOURS...take them with you.

We cannot DUMP our children on another State to take care of and they should not be permitted to do this!

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Have we been focusing too much on the illegal and not enough on the employer?

Yes! Yes we have, and I've been saying this all along. By focusing on just the illegals, we are playing a cat and mouse game. We are treating the symptoms of the disease instead of focusing on the disease itself, the people who employ them. I should say, that we are also doing a very poor job of treating the symptoms.

We should do both. We need to heavily fine, and even imprison the people who employ them. We need to to kill the cancer instead of just treating the symptoms, which will eventually kill the host (U.S.).

Great article Jean. Thanky ou!!

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

Yes! Yes we have, and I've been saying this all along. By focusing on just the illegals, we are playing a cat and mouse game. We are treating the symptoms of the disease instead of focusing on the disease itself, the people who employ them. I should say, that we are also doing a very poor job of treating the symptoms.

We should do both. We need to heavily fine, and even imprison the people who employ them. We need to to kill the cancer instead of just treating the symptoms, which will eventually kill the host (U.S.).

That really is the magnet that brought them here and the magnet that is keeping them here.

It would be pretty hard for some people to agree that companies/businesses in this country should be punished.

Until we do something about the magnet, nothing is going to change.

Also,we have to admit that those employers are the ones that are paying politicians to fight against enforcement.

Does anyone really think those politicians in Washington are pushing amnesty just because they have such a compassionate and loving nature? Or because they truly believe it is better for the country?

Not on your life.