By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Passing a “clean” Dream Act to legalize illegal immigrant “Dreamers” will spur a new wave of illegal immigration and create a new population that will need an amnesty 10 or 20 years in the future, the government’s chief deportation official said Tuesday.

Tom Homan, who has been acting as the chief at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since the beginning of the Trump administration, said even the talk of a renewed immigration debate on Capitol Hill will entice people to make the perilous journey to try to jump the border, saying during his nearly 35 years in immigration enforcement he’s seen it happen “every time you talk about some sort of benefit” such as legal status for illegal immigrants.

“It certainly increases illegal crossings, that’s been proven for the last three decades I’ve been around,” Mr. Homan said at an event sponsored by the Center for Immigration Studies.

In a valedictory address as he prepares for retirement at the end of this month Mr. Homan said any move by Congress to legalize Dreamers who are part of the Obama-era DACA program must also get at the root causes that spurred them to come years ago in the first place. Otherwise, he said, the country is setting itself up for yet another amnesty in the future.

The House is poised to begin such a DACA debate later this month, under pressure from Democrats and Republicans rebelling against President Trump. They back a bill that would grant full citizenship rights to illegal immigrants in exchange for a study of future border security needs.

Mr. Homan said that will do nothing to change the incentives such as jobs and easily exploited U.S. laws that serve as enticement for people to make the attempt to enter illegally.

He said cracking down on sanctuary cities and approving mandatory E-Verify checks for all businesses to validate their employees’ work status should be included if Congress is serious about tackling illegal immigration.

And he pushed back against people who have accused his agents of being the equivalent of Nazis, saying it’s the laws on the books that call for illegal immigrants to be arrested, deported, and in some cases to even face criminal charges for how they entered the U.S.

“If you think ICE is racist, is Congress racist because they enact these laws?” Mr. Homan said.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...migration-ice/