March 1, 2013, 7:29 p.m. ET
The Wall Street Journal

The Administration keeps undermining the chances for reform.

Anyone already doubting whether President Obama is serious about immigration reform is probably even more suspicious after the stunt his Administration pulled this week.

On Tuesday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it had released several hundred detainees in an effort to prepare for the sequester budget cuts that were due to take effect Friday. White House press secretary Jay Carney insisted that "this was a decision made entirely by career officials at ICE, without any input from the White House, as a result of fiscal uncertainty." Even if that's true, and we doubt it, ICE officials know all about the Administration's Apocalypse Now sequester strategy. (See above.)

Mr. Carney didn't explain why ICE needed to release these individuals several days before the spending cuts even kicked in—and how officials could be sure that a last-minute deal to delay or avert the sequester wouldn't be reached.

As for "fiscal uncertainty," from 1986 to 2012, Border Patrol appropriations increased almost eightfold in real terms, according to the Cato Institute, and border apprehensions today are at a 40-year low as unlawful entries have steadily diminished. Yet the White House says there are no efficiencies to be found at ICE short of emptying jail cells.

The Administration also says that the freed scofflaws are considered low-level threats to public safety, that they remain under federal supervision and that their deportation cases will proceed. But that's not really the point. Mr. Obama has spent weeks detailing disaster scenarios intended to frighten the public and bully the GOP into accepting his budget demands. This action aids that political effort.

It's also hard to believe that the Administration is unaware of how its actions might affect the immigration talks in Congress, where a bipartisan group of Senators is trying to devise legislation that can pass both houses. Mr. Obama is fully aware that a main concern of Republicans is securing the border. The detainee release will only make it harder for Marco Rubio, John McCain and other reform-minded Republicans to persuade their party colleagues that Mr. Obama is serious.

This is the second time in as many weeks that the Administration has seemed to dare Senate Republicans to walk away from immigration negotiations. Last month, the White House leaked its own immigration draft proposal to the press in a clear attempt to move any potential bill leftward.

Specifically, the President's plan omitted a guest-worker program for low-skill immigrants, a key demand of business groups worried about legal access to foreign workers. Unions oppose such a program—unless they can control it—and the White House leak was an attempt to lean on the Chamber of Commerce as it tried to negotiate with the AFL-CIO over a guest-worker provision. The private talks predictably blew up.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer and other Democrats on Capitol Hill seem to be serious about reform and are trying to keep temperatures down. But they need to send an emissary to the White House to tell the President to stop sabotaging an historic reform opportunity.

Review & Outlook: Immigration Shenanigans - WSJ.com