INVASION USA

Congress ignores Obama, takes up 'amnesty'

President endorses Dem plan that would close door on 'misguided' states

Posted: April 29, 2010
8:06 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily



What a difference 24 hours makes.

Yesterday President Obama appeared to close the door on addressing immigration reform this year, saying, "We've gone through a very tough year, and I've been working Congress pretty hard. I know there may not be an appetite to dive into another controversial issue."

But today, Democrat leaders in Washington announced a new effort just days after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill that enables her state to enforce illegal immigration.

The reaction to the Arizona law has ranged from condemnation by Obama to the sometimes violent protests by illegals who don't want to face police questioning about their status and the Mexican government's new warning about travel by Mexicans in Arizona.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the new Democrat effort, noting its requirement that illegal aliens learn English and pay taxes.

"I say to my Republican colleagues, work with us to fix this broken system, and secure our borders," Reid said.

But Rep. John Boehner, the House minority leader, said Republican support wasn't likely after the president's massive health-care reform plan was "shoved down our throats."

Nevertheless, some opponents of illegal immigration worried that the federal plan was being assembled as a deliberate attack on Arizona's new efforts to protect its citizens.

Obama's statement today seemed to lend credence to their concerns.

"It is the federal government's responsibility to enforce the law and secure our borders, as well as to set clear rules and priorities for future immigration," Obama's prepared statement released by the White House said.

"The continued failure of the federal government to fix the broken immigration system will leave the door open to a patchwork of actions at the state and local level that are inconsistent and as we have seen recently, often misguided," he said.

Obama said it is "unacceptable to have 11 million people in the United States who are living here illegally and outside the system."

Critics such as Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, agree, but they argue that simply enforcing the nation's existing immigration laws would make a great deal of difference.

The group, which obtained an advance copy of the legislation outline, said Americans need to call their representatives in Washington.

"Tell them you want enforcement, not amnesty," FAIR said.

"The [new] proposal offers all kinds of promises regarding the future enforcement of our immigration laws. But we know through years of experience and hard lessons that the federal government has broken virtually every enforcement promise it has made to the American people. Now, Senators Reid, Schumer and Menendez go so far as to say: 'there will be zero tolerance for illegal entry and reentry into the U.S.' Who can believe this?" the organization said.

The group warned that the new plan would pre-empt state and locals laws encouraging immigration enforcement and would grant amnesty.

Spokesman Dustin Carnevale told WND the proposal appears to be a preventive maneuver – to halt other states from taking action similar to Arizona's. He noted that Brewer received a 16-point bump in her popularity within her state immediately after she signed the bill.

FAIR President Dan Stein earlier congratulated the governor.

"FAIR applauds Gov. Jan Brewer, Sen. Russell Pearce and other Arizona leaders for acting decisively to protect Arizonans as they cope with a crisis brought on by mass illegal immigration. Once again, Arizona is showing the rest of the nation that in the face of federal indifference to border security, state and local governments have the ability to protect their citizens and public resources."

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, told WND he believes the Democrats will try to "ram" the issue through with or without any GOP support – or at least lead Hispanic populations to believe they will.

"What they're doing may be a tactic to decrease the amount of time illegals understand they won't be getting what they want," he said.

He said the situation puts Democrats in a dangerous position politically.

"We're talking about 60-85 percent of the public in opposition. This is going to be a strictly partisan issue in the elections with the GOP not supporting and Dems supporting amnesty," he said.

"That is going to increase their political casualties. The public is fed up with illegal immigration. They know the immigration system isn't broken. There is no reason Congress should even be considering legislation until the constitutional structure, having the president enforce the law, is in place," he said.

Already, a Texas lawmaker has announced plans to seek legislation similar to Arizona's.

WND reported earlier when Gheen's organization suggested using information from the 2010 Census to track down, apprehend and deport illegal aliens.

"We'd like for Congress to pass a special bill demanding that the census data be used," Gheen told WND at the time. "The alarm that needs to be raised is that every illegal alien that fills out the census is stealing taxpayer resources and political representation."

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