On Friday, President Obama once again displayed his utter contempt for Congress and the rule of law by unilaterally announcing that his administration would no longer deport up to 800,000 illegal immigrants who arrived in this country at a young age.
Along with his pledge to stop deportations, the President announced that these illegal immigrants would be able to apply for work permits.
This new policy was hailed by Democrats such U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who admitted that the decision did “go around the legislative process. “ In an interview, Gutierrez gushed that the pronouncement was supported by the “majority” of Americans and that the President was finally starting to act like “the Barack Obama we voted for.”
Gutierrez must have observed an alternate reality in 2008. In that presidential campaign, Barack Obama played the role of fiscal conservative, blasting President Bush’s deficit spending. He adopted the “hope and change” theme and promised to bring Americans together. After his election, Obama ditched the lofty rhetoric and began pursuing a radical course of government expansion, deficit spending and class warfare. Under Obama’s leadership, the national debt has exploded by more than $5 trillion. His conflict-ridden administration regularly engages in racially divisive initiatives which foment conflict not cooperation.
If Americans understood Obama’s radical agenda, he would have never won the presidency. His immigration decision follows a clear path of divisive policies which have characterized his administration. According to David Schweikert (R-AZ), Obama decided to “grant amnesty and hand out work permits to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, while over 23 million Americans remain unemployed and the civilian participation rate is at a 30-year low. This amounts to an abdication of duty to the American people who are struggling in this economy. Instead of working with Congress to secure our border and reform our immigration policy, President Obama sought to circumvent Congress once again."
The President’s new policy will surely upset unemployed Americans who are looking for jobs and will now face increased competition from illegal aliens with work permits and no fear of deportation. "The White House decree is bad for America. It is unconscionable for the White House to pit unemployed Americans against illegal aliens in a competition for scarce jobs," said U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL).
The 23 million out of work Americans must realize that Obama’s only answer to their problems is to extend their unemployment benefits. He certainly has not been able to create more jobs in this economy and his administration will be the first to show an overall decline in employment during a term in office. According to the Fact Check website, there has been an overall loss of 552,000 jobs during the Obama administration.
Because of his concerns about the legislation, Schweikert is proposing a bill in Congress that will prevent implementation of the President’s policy. In Schweikert’s view, Obama is “dictating” on this issue and Congress needs to take action. As noted by many Republicans, immigration laws have historically been drafted by Congress, not the President.
Of course, the real motivation for President Obama’s bold proclamation is to win re-election. He realizes that this de-facto “amnesty” decision will please the majority of Latino voters, the largest minority population in the United States.
The President waited until five months before re-election to announce this policy. He did not seek such legislation when Democrats controlled Congress during the first two years of his administration; he delayed the initiative until it had the maximum political impact.
If enacted, Obama’s policies will be damaging as selective enforcement of immigration laws will set a very bad precedent in our country. It will only further deteriorate any type of national resolve to reduce the number of illegal aliens.
This new policy continues a disturbing trend in the Obama administration in which decisions are made without congressional input or approval. Whether the issue is gay marriage, the defense of marriage act, implementation of the healthcare bill, drug enforcement, Internet gambling, or educational testing, the Obama administration acts as though Congress is irrelevant.
As President Obama chooses which immigration laws to follow, his Justice Department is taking legal action against states such as Alabama and Arizona which are trying to curtail the flow of illegal aliens into their state. Attorney General Eric Holder believes that the new immigration laws in Arizona and Alabama violate the civil rights of illegal immigrants.
If unemployed Americans are upset about the administration’s efforts to retain and secure work permits for illegal aliens, there is a clear option available to them on November 6, 2012, add another person to the unemployment rolls, Barack Obama.
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Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m.weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at
www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
