Immigration Enforcement Isn’t Smart, Obama Says
4:44 PM 05/13/2014
Neil Munro
The Daily Caller
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Enforcing immigration law “isn’t smart,” President Barack Obama told law enforcement officials Tuesday, just one day after the public learned he had released 36,007 illegal-immigrant murderers, rapists, thieves and other criminals into the nation’s communities.
Cops should be going after major criminals, not the many illegal immigrants that are quietly living in their districts, said Obama, who has twice sworn to uphold the nation’s laws.
“You’ve got to spend time dealing with somebody who is not causing any other trouble other than the fact that they were trying to make a living for their families,” Obama said.
“That’s just not a good use of our resources. It’s not smart. It doesn’t make sense,” said Obama, who has already directed immigration police to minimize enforcement of illegal living far from the border.
The statement will likely spur concerns among Republicans and the public that Obama can’t be trusted to implement the enforcement features of any immigration compromise.
A March 2013 Gallup poll showed that 138 million foreigners would like to settle in the United States. The total included an estimated 18 million people in China, 13 million people in Nigeria and three million people in Kenya.
Polls consistently show the public favors a stronger crackdown on employment of illegal immigrants.
On May 12, the Center for Immigration Studies released government documents showing that Obama’s deputies released foreign 36,007 foreign criminals who had committed crimes in the country, instead of deporting them.
The 88,000 convictions included 193 murders, 426 sexual assaults, 303 kidnappings, 1,075 aggravated assaults, 1,160 vehicle thefts, and 16,000 convictions for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Obama’s call to end the enforcement of immigration law came during a staged event at the White House. The purpose was to stimulate his supporters’ declining interest in the largely defunct and unpopular 18-month campaign to sharply increase the inflow of immigrants and guest-workers. Obama needs to keep the issue boiling to boost turnout by Latinos in November.
During the May 13 event, Obama reprised his familiar claims that adding roughly 33 million people to the population of 315 million would stimulate the economy and create new jobs.
But his audience consisted of state and local law enforcement officials, so he also argued that conditional legalization for the nation’s illegal immigrants would make the cops’ jobs easier. The large number of illegal immigrants inside the country — estimated at more than 11 million people — “makes it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs,” Obama said.
“Large segments of the community are afraid to report crimes or serve as witnesses because they fear the [possible deportation] consequences for themselves or their families,” Obama said.
The illegals “are folks who are woven into the fabrics of our communities,” he said. ”Their kids are going to school with our kids. Most of them are not making trouble; most of them are not causing crimes. And yet, we put them in this tenuous position, and it creates a situation in which your personnel, who have got to go after gang-bangers and need to be going after violent criminals and deal with the whole range of challenges, and who have to cooperate with [the federal government] around our counterterrorism activities.”
http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/13/im...rt-obama-says/
Obama: Immigration bill with amnesty provisions would make U.S. safer
By Dave Boyer
The Washington Times
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Just a day after the release of a report showing his administration has set free hundreds of illegal immigrants convicted of murder and other serious crimes, President Obama told law enforcement groups Tuesday that an immigration bill with amnesty provisions would make America safer.
During a meeting at the White House, Mr. Obama said fixing the nation's immigration system and allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens is "the right thing to do for safety and security in communities all across America."
"It would allow law enforcement to focus on its primary mission, which is keeping our communities safe," Mr. Obama said.
But a report on Monday showed that the Obama administration in 2013 released tens of thousands of criminals awaiting possible deportation, including some accused of murder, sexual assault, arson and kidnapping. A total of 36,007 illegal immigrants who committed nearly 88,000 crimes combined were freed last year while being processed for deportation, according to the report from the Center of Immigration Studies.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency gathered the statistics in response to a congressional inquiry. Besides violent criminals, ICE released 16,000 illegal immigrants convicted of driving under the influence. The report also showed that ICE released nearly 2,700 illegal immigrants convicted of assault, 1,300 convicted for domestic violence, and nearly 1,300 convicted for battery.
"These figures call into question President Obama's request to Congress for permission to reduce immigration detention capacity by 10 percent in favor of permission to make wider use of experimental alternatives to detention," the report said.
Mr. Obama is seeking the support of law enforcement agencies such as the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Sheriffs' Association in a final push to persuade the Republican-led House to approve immigration reform. The president said there is a "narrow window" of time remaining before the midterm election campaigns dominate the political agenda.
"The immigration system that we have right now makes it harder, not easier, for law enforcement agencies to do their jobs," Mr. Obama said. "It makes it harder for law enforcement to know when dangerous people cross our borders. And it makes it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs when large segments of the community are afraid to report crimes or serve as witnesses because they fear the consequences for themselves or their families."
The president said most illegal immigrants "are not making trouble."
"Most of them are not causing crimes," he said.
House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, has said he wants to coax GOP lawmakers into approving a deal this year on immigration, although some conservatives oppose the so-called amnesty provisions and others say they distrust Mr. Obama's willingness to carry out all of the reforms.
An aide to Mr. Boehner said Tuesday the administration needs to show good faith about enforcing current immigration laws before the system can be reformed.
"We have a broken immigration system, but it is impossible to make progress until the American people — and their elected representatives — have faith that the president himself will actually enforce the law as written," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.
The president said House Republicans will be influenced on immigration when they hear from "unexpected voices" such as the law enforcement officials.
"To their credit, I think Speaker Boehner and some of the other leaders there do believe that immigration reform is the right thing, but they've got to have a political space that allows them to go ahead and get it through their caucus and get it done," Mr. Obama said.
The president said he's "not hell-bent" on getting every provision of the bipartisan Senate bill that passed in June 2013, but said the legislation must include "core principles" such as addressing companies that are not "doing the right thing by workers."
"We've got to have stronger border security," Mr. Obama said. "And we've got to make sure that there's a way for people to earn some pathway to citizenship."
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