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Obama Terminates 287(g) Immigration Enforcement Program. Anyone Home?

December 2010 was not ancient history; it was a mere 18 months ago.

On December 8, 2010, using the proper legal channels to change our immigration laws, the Democrat-controlled House passed the DREAM ActJust 4.5% of Republicans supported it, even though it represented a “long-term solution” and was introduced in Congress.  A week later, the bill failed to win 60 votes in the Senate, as only 3 Republicans supported it; Lisa Murkowski, Robert Bennett, and Dick Lugar.  Some might even be brazen enough to call them RINOs.

That was 18 months ago.  Now, after Obama has illegally implemented administrative amnesty to reflect that law that failed to pass the Senate, Republicans are largely silent.  With the exception of Lamar Smith, Steve King, and a handful of rank-and-file members, Republican leaders have either remained silent, punted to Mitt Romney for a response, or offered some non-sequitur about long-term solutions vs. short-term solutions.  Not only are they terrified to oppose the underlying policy, which will bankrupt us with subsidized tuition, refundable tax credits, and sundry transfer programs, most of them have issued only a tepid response to Obama’s end-run around Congress.

But this is all about the children (anyone under 30), and we cannot be perceived as being mean to children, even though this wasn’t an issue just 18 months ago when over 90% of Republicans vocally opposed it – even when properly introduced in Congress.  Somehow there has been a cathartic transformation over the past year.

However, it is no longer just about the children.  Yesterday, the Obama administration went a step further.  After the Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s right to contact federal agents concerning the legal status of those apprehended for other lawless activity, Obama summarily terminated the 287(g) program.  The 287(g) program is a vital state-federal partnership created in 1996 in an effort to assist local law enforcement to deal with illegals apprehended in their jurisdictions.  It has enjoyed bipartisan support and has served as the basis for any “comprehensive immigration” agreement dealing with border enforcement.  Yet, with the flick of the wrist, Obama decided to terminate this act of Congress in order to punish Arizona and ensure that their immigration-related phone calls are ignored.  But fear not, they did set up a hotline for illegals to air their grievances about Arizona law enforcement officers.  Welcome to Saul Alinsky’s America.

One would think that Republicans would jump on this appalling disregard of our laws.  Unlike the first administrative amnesty granted a few weeks ago, this one essentially grants amnesty to everyone – even those who came here from “a fault of their own.”  So why is there no response?  Is it the polls?  Well, ironically, Rasmussen published a poll a few hours before the SCOTUS decision showing that, by a 55-26 margin, Americans wanted the law to be upheld.

We keep hearing this bromide about the need to exhibit “a laser-like focus on the economy.”  But does that mean we should completely cede the field on other issues, even to the extent that high-profile Republicans are prohibited from issuing a one-line press release?  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you telegraph the message to your opponent that you will not fight him on an issue, he will walk right in without a shot fired.  Obama observed the flaccid response to his administrative “Dream Act” and concluded that he could take it to the next level.  And as long as he smells blood in the water, he will continue to do so.

Anyone home?

COMMENTS

  • DerKrieger

    …but every day brings yet another story about the aggressive advance of the totalitarian state. And another day of silence from those we sent to Congress to protect us.

    If the GOP refuses to grow a spine and fight back against the mounting outrages of Obama and his socialist storm troopers I fear that what is now a cold civil war will become hot.

    We conservatives will NOT be forced into serfdom and allow our nation to be transformed into a socialist state. Push will come to shove will come to blows.

    • PaladinLostHour

      The simple fact is that the ranks of the ‘willing serfs’ at least equal, and likely outnumber, those of those of us who hold constitutional principles dear.

      An equally clear fact is the overseers have already coopted the lazy, the dim, and the fearful to their side – thus the frantic efforts to swell the ranks of the easily-led, with rampant illegal immigration encouraged from countries with a ‘strong man’ politico-cultural tradition.

      I pray every day that I’m wrong..but I can’t shake the growing sense that it’s going to end badly and in blood.

  • spinoneone

    just keeps growing. If the Senate doesn’t pass student loan relief look for Obozo to simply tell the Department of Education to stop collecting. That will give them some “relief” and cost another couple of billion. As to what’s next, don’t let your mind be restrained by past misdeeds. This lot spends inordinate amounts of time thinking up new stuff.

  • Tbone

    a President just had to start acting like one?

    Evidently, you just throw enough bread and circuses to the rabble and Congress runs in fear of losing their big fat cushy asses, er I mean seats.

    • dvdmsr

      If President Obama doesn’t like a law he simply refuses to enforce it; that is the audacity of lawlessness. I wonder what he’ll do if he doesn’t like the vote this November, will he ignore that too?

    • norris

      Has two ends a sitting and a thinking end. His success depends on his seat .Why bother friend?

    • Common_Cents

      the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

      America is starting to wake up w/ the rise of the tea party but lots of work to be done.

    • cbartlett

      nt

  • windwaker24

    The focus should have been on the Constitution. A president pledges to defend and uphold the Constitution, not the economy. The reason our country and economy look the way it does is because politicians have failed to uphold their oaths of office. I guarantee if they were following the Founders’ intent, our economy wouldn’t be in shambles. If Romney truly believes in the Constitution he needs to be hammering this day and night!

  • gracepmc

    if my phone calls to McConnell, Boehner, Rubio and Rooney’s offices are any indication. When asked about the increasing lawlessness of the Administration, DOJ, and DHS and how the Republicans planned to respond to a President and government that operates outside the law no one had a plan or an idea or even a response that indicates there could be a problem. Unfortunately, this is not surprising. But the lack of a sense of urgency or alarm was mind numbing. Perhaps when Obama turns Boehner’s office into a storage closet for his golf gear and Eric Holder sets up a call center for distraught illegal aliens in Mitch McConnell’s office they might pick up the pace.

  • AndrewHyman

    I entirely agree that Obama’s semi-amnesty program is blarantly unlawful, as I explained here at RedState:

    http://www.redstate.com/andrewhyman/2012/06/23/krauthammer-is-right-the-immigration-edict-is-lawless/

    I expect that it WILL be challenged in court, by a plaintiff who is NOT hired because an illegal immigrant is hired instead. I doubt that a congressional plaintiff has standing, unless by a vote of the full House.

    The tepid GOP response is probably due to several things in combination: (1) like I said, this will probably be going to court; (2) Romney very ubderstandably does not want to alienate some hispanics by making a big stink about it; (3) the misguided GOP Attorney General of Utah, Mark Shurtleff, says what Obama did is fine and dandy and legal; and (4) we may all have a huge event on Thursday so let’s not distract from it.

  • lineholder

    It’s about reducing resistance to the agenda that the left has for this country by modifying behaviors, and they’re using negative reinforcement methods as the means to an end in succeeding.

    Every time something happens that doesn’t fit in with the agenda of the left via the current admin, such as the outcome of the ruling yesterday by SCOTUS, the executive branch implements some sort of negative reinforcement (which most of us call “doubling down”).

    It’s intended to persuade people to peaceably conform to a very specific scope of behaviors that the left and this admin want to see become a reality…one of simply allowing the Executive branch to do whatever it chooses to do whenever it chooses to do it out of a spirit of fear of what the outcomes will end up being if the desired behavioral expectations are not met.

    The state of AZ is being made an example of for daring to “defy the agenda”. So is SCOTUS for that matter.

    More of less, it’s a message from the Obama admin to any and all parties involved basically saying “if you work with us, in the context of what we choose to do, things will be okay….if you defy us, in any way, shape, form, or fashion, you will pay dearly for it”

    Fairly common behavior for narcissists who badly need to feel “in control” of things all the time.

  • General_Confusion

    Action on the budget: NONE
    Action on the border: NONE
    Action on out of control regulation: NONE
    Action on executive overreach: NONE

    Come on Republican representatives what is the point of electing you if you?re only going to defer to the Democrats?!

  • AndrewHyman

    Forgot another reason: (5) all of the recent immigration decisions by both Obama and by the Supreme Court were not on constitutional grounds, and so theoretically Congress could overturn them all (though one may doubt whether Obama would pay any attention).

  • hunter

    staring at the bright lights coming at high speed.
    I think too few of our leaders can imagine just how fast this amazing set of events are unfloding. Obama is moving, nearly by the day, farther and farther from the realm of Constitutional rule and into that of ‘whatever he decides to do today’.
    The implications of this are amazingly dangerous for all of this.So far, Obama is facing nothing even close to strong resistance, much less strong and coordinated resistance.
    This has festered since the log rolling of GM creditors, and only gotten worse.
    We are in deep trouble and may experience things few of us in America could have dreamed of, very soon.

  • http://conservativemormonmom.blogspot.com ew88

    The Supreme Court has spoken. Obama stepped around Congress. The Obama administration obviously refuses to enforce existing border laws because its an election year and they want votes whether legal or not. I’m as frustrated about this as the next person, but what can anyone do about this? I’m all open to suggestions. A super-PAC showcasing Obama’s flagrant law-breaking? Can Congress do anything at all about this? “Contempting” Holder is better than nothing but we need more than that. A few brave representatives have condemned Obama’s actions but that gets little notice. Romney has wisely not responded to a no-win situation and he shouldn’t be punted to.
    www.conservativemormonmom.blogspot.com

  • codenametimna

    Now you understand why Americans are so outraged. If Obama doesn’t like a certain law he simply refuses to enforce it. The Obama administration is becoming a dictatorship and if that’s not enough to scare the living daylights out of the American people I don’t know what would. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia slammed the Obama administration for selectively enforcing the law at the peril of the country and American citizens, who end up being harmed by Obama’s treacherous laxity and/or dismissal of laws currently on the books.

    Barack Hussein Obama is trying to “rule” America like a dictator and if the American people can’t muster the courage and strength to defeat Obama’s threat to democracy and our freedoms and liberties, then America will get what it deserves. And that will be bankruptcy, insolvency, Greece II, chaos, upheaval, division, uncertainty, morose, economic DEPRESSION, a weakened military, a moral collapse within society, SOCIALISM/MARXISM/COMMUNISM replacing democracy, capitalism and the rule of law. And lastly, America will turn into a mirror image of Russia and/or Venezuela, ruled by dictators who demean their citizens and seek to rule with an iron fist. Just like Barack Hussein Obama is trying to do even as we speak. And his deluded and deceived “minions” within his own administration are following him in lockstep… goose-stepping in subservience at Obama’s every whim. Even as the United States of America falls into economic disarray and off an economic cliff, under Herr Obama’s ruthless push toward tyranny and, in my opinion, the destruction of democracy.

    Obama should be impeached for his treasonous actions yet the Republican weaklings in Congress probably won’t do a darn thing. Worried, no doubt, that their actions might be misconstrued as divisive, when in fact, it would really be seen by – the vast majority of Americans – as an act of valor and nobility, in an effort to save the country from dictatorial nincompoops such as Obama.

    We can dream at least. Darrel Issa is one of only a handful of stalwart Republicans in Congress who have the fortitude to confront this disastrous administration’s lawless deeds and ineptitude. Republicans need to stand strong in face of progressive Democrats’ ruthless descent into lawlessness and tyranny. For the sake of the American people and America’s own survival, if not for themselves.

    If our elected leaders refuse to act at a time when democracy, liberty and freedom hang precariously in the balance – with the possible loss of all three if Obama remains in power – then they don’t deserve to be in public office either and the American people should seriously consider voting each and every one of them out of office come this November. You are not supposed to be mouses running in fear of Obama’s tyrannical overreach. You are supposed to be “men” with spines and moral courage. Who, like our Forefathers, risked their blood, treasure and sacred honor to create the greatest nation on Earth and were willing to die for its continued survival as the world’s “city on a hill” in the midst of tyranny and oppression. Republicans should not run in fear at the mere mention of Obama’s name… like a bunch of scared little mice who morph into spineless jellyfish, in a sea of complacency and inaction.

    Republicans must take a forceful stand against this ruthless Obama regime. And if Mittens doesn’t take the “gloves off” soon and hit Obama where it hurts, I fear Republicans might not win the White House or take control of the Senate and may even lose control of the House of Representatives. Yes, it’s that serious.

    No more Mister nice guy(s)! America’s survival is at stake and the American people are looking for “true” leadership from their candidates and elected officials. That’s why Sarah Palin – a woman no less – garners so much accolade and praise from conservatives and from the Tea Party itself. Because she’s not afraid to “take on” Obama and hit him where it hurts – on his miserable record and his lawless deeds that are destroying the country. Republican men in Congress should take note and follow Sarah Palin’s approach. She has more testosterone running through her veins than most Republican men in Congress could ever dream of having. Mittens looks like the ‘tooth fairy’ compared to Sarah Palin. He exhibits little fortitude, no real boldness, no moral rectitude to speak of, no real convictions or much of anything else you’d come to expect from a Republican presidential candidate in my opinion. Mitt might be a nice guy who had 20 years working in the private sector etc., etc.,… but boldness and strong convictions and a strong willingness to “take on” Obama and hit him where it hurts… he does not, in my opinion. Hopefully things will change in the run up to the election… less than five months away.

    Mitt Romney acts like a “wet” noodle with little to no spine to speak of in my opinion. And if he’s not careful the ruthless Obama machine will gobble him up and spit him out without so much as batting an eye. If Mittens doesn’t take the “gloves off” soon… Obama will likely get another four years to continue destroying America like he’s doing right now. Oh the PAIN! WAKE UP AMERICA!! WAKE UP REPUBLICANS!!!!

    • PowerToThePeople

      hope you feel better now that you got that idiotic lecture out of your system.

      • Viet71

        n/t

    • audax

      nt

      • audax

        he is one of the resident CRUD-mudgeons

    • 10ab

      I will admit freely I am no tea party fan and most assuredly NO Palin fan…but I am convinced that Romney is the man for 2012. The country is not in the mood for vacuous Palinesque snarky one liners. Romney has the brains and dogged determination to go one on one with Obama. The debates will be most telling. Have a little faith.

  • justperhaps45

    Isn?t it past time for us to quit calling them illegal?s and start using traditional terms, not the dishonest PC labels? They are INVAIDERS, and are either economic criminals just here for money and public services, or violent criminals here to do things that would be crimes even for citizens.

    Obama?s paradigm is that they are voters for him. The fact that they have no right to vote is not his concern. He did, after all, come into politics through the Chicago machine where legality is a commentary not a constraint.

    To voters they diffuse and distort the vote. We end up with people in office who are less accountable to the citizens and more likely to take unfair advantage of their positions. Even if we can?t prove their elections to be false, they know. It must have an effect on their attitudes.

    To my friends in the black community the ?criminal laborers? are unfair competitors for jobs. Making it more difficult for the experienced person to find work at a fair wage, and nearly impossible for the new worker to find any employment.

    To tax payers they are a drain on the social services provided to the point that we will soon not be able to maintain the level of service. They clog the emergency rooms of our hospitals as they get, free to them, services while further inflating the health care cost for those of us who pay our own way.

    To some employers they provide cheap laborers that cannot complain if they are abused or not paid fairly. They can be a really good deal compared to citizens. Like having discard able slaves without any of the traditional slave-owner responsibilities. As fear of deportation recedes the unscrupulous employers may lose their cheap help.

    To legal immigrants they depress the market and stigmatize their hard earned status. I bet it is hard to swallow someone getting benefits you have earned while at the same time costing you wages and esteem.

    To themselves the destructive effect of living in fear and the knowledge of living a lie must have negative long term effects. It is cruel to perpetuate a system allowing the invader behavior.

    We must endeavor to force politicians to live up to their oath and, seal the border from inflow, encourage self deporting behavior by reducing the advantage of hiring invaders, jail the violent invaders (possibly in native country jails maintained to their local standards), literally make it worth their while to not come here to take from us. If we need their labor, a ?green card? system with licensed importers responsible for tracking and personal services but with no path to citizenship through the temporary worker status beyond the references normally afforded an exemplary employee.
    I am so tired of being taken advantage of by incompetent and self-serving politicians and beurocrats who refuse to do their jobs that I?m sometimes tempted to lay off my employees, sell out and move somewhere balmy.

    • audax

      it is too good for just a comment. Thanks

  • mike2013

    Obama has done more to help illegals than he has regular Americans. I am amazed at the coddling we do for illegals. They can drive illegally or yes, they can can get a drivers license and cause accidents and do not have to pay for insurance. They can go to American hospitals and not pay a dime. They can even get free food and collect welfare. And now the US Supreme Court has set a precedence that says either the US Govt can lazily enforce or choose not to enforce the immigration laws but the states cannot enforce the US immigration laws. They cannot even make up their own laws. That was an interesting interpretation by the Supremes.

  • audax

    Lisa Murkowski, Robert Bennett, and Dick Lugar. All of you ARE RINOs!

  • http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php kralizec

    …is open defiance of this lawless Obama Regime. States need to reassert their 10th Amendment rights and take to their own defense of the law and the protection of their people, period. If congresscritters get in the way or fail to uphold the law or repeal these intrusive regulations then they should be defied as well. Until that happens get used to more intrusive centralized government.

  • celador2

    The Republicans are running scared because there is no ethnic group in the US growing faster than Hispanics. By hook or crook their numbers grow so fast they are rapidly becoming the largest group in US. Hispanics all speak a common language whatever their origin and that is Spanish.

    Spanish is on its way to becoming as widely used as English, the de facto official language in the US. Did the people here consent to making Spanish such a prominent cultural presence? Is it not disruptive? That Spanish dominance is one consequence of amnesty when the consent to be a citizen is granted AFTER not befoer entry into US.

    Sealing the borders is not going to happen because no Republican ever has, not Reagan nor Bush after 9/11. They want the Hispanic legal votes so they allow them to enter illegally have childlren and then grant some others ‘path to citizenship’ in measured rations to subgroups..Its still amnesty.

    Amnesty is a path to citizenship in a two tier system of immigration that allows the back channel routers amnesty to outnumber the legal routers and of course it favors Mexico over all nations. This unorderly process is contrary to US law, by the way.

    But even if borders were secured , the ease with which one becomes a citizen would still give this group an advanatge. They want citizenship and how easy that is. And they are all on that road. Have no doubt-living here illegally or legally with work permits is not enough.

    The issue before most Americans and Republicans is only how fast and how many at a time does the US cut a deal to allow Spanish speakers here illegally a spot on the road to citizenship. Family members get to come into US also on that same path.

    Not everyone has the sympathy and empathy for rewarding this group as do elected officials. No matter.

    The Republicans in Senate cower and think that its a matter of time before they are overrun and replaced with pandering Democrats. They know math. And they fear they will lose more Hispanic votes so they quiver in fear and punt to flip flopper Romney. Republicans ponder only how to plug the dyke but feel guillty about even a patch for fear of looking mean.

    They are afraid to fight on a fundamental point of rule of law and culture. NO amnesty and no talk of it should prevail.

    Is the US capable of defending itself with laws that are enforced and backed with force? Or have we descended into the realm of arbitrary rule of Man once again? Pacify and pander is the poliitcal strategy in DC

    All the campaign buzz offers a tactical quik fix to pacify Hispanics

    Put a Hispanic on the GOP ticket with a personal grant of amnesty to one subgroup of youth, say some Republicans, But the DNC and Obama beat the GOP every time. They just did.

    • justperhaps45

      The fairy tales from the politicians lull us to sleep ignoring the monster hiding in the closet or under the bed. False security is so restful.

      Our problems do not stem from pandering, compromise or puffery. Complacency and complaisance are core traits of the electorate. We are much too comfortable in our situations and too, too willing to please those in power. We want but not enough to do. Until we get personal with our future we will continue to swim while the water in the pot starts to boil. That sound you hear when the TV is off is the roar of combusting gas.

      As I was growing up we had some wonderful long sledding hills. The ride to the bottom was exhilarating but the climb back was strenuous and slick. You arrived back at the top with nose, ears, fingers and toes frozen but panting for breath and dripping with sweat. Enjoy the ride, there is a future coming.

    • cbartlett

      the first stop in the path of citizenship? Whatever other compromises end up on the table ** once the border is secured **, it seems like requiring a mastery of the English language as a priority in receiving citizenship would go a long way in solving some of the problems you mention.

      • checkmate2012

        crap. It exasperates the problem for them and us and never leads to assimilation, the bigger problem IMO. Lots of $$ too as you know (I’m in TX too) to print all gov docs in two languages etc.

  • malvernpa

    The timing here is important. There may be some cathartic benefit to displays of righteous indignation but we need to remember that we are dealing with a temporary visitor in the white house that is an adolescent. The list of scandals and WTF moments is already so long that there is no way to fight with vigor all of these without numbing the very people who need to be energized. The disease is the Democrat party and the symptom is Obama. The Democrats are DINOS (Democrats in name only) THEY are at their core progressives, liberals, socialists, Marxists, fascists go ahead and name your poison, they are ALL the same varying only by degrees in the democrat party. There is no democracy left in the democrat party, they rule they do not govern. They are responsible for the nomination of Obama. Those that are staying away from the convention are trying to distance themselves from Obama claiming it is not their fault what Obama is. Yes it is their fault. The Democrats molded the image of who Obama was supposed to look like to be elected. The democrats had to know who he was, we as conservatives did. The democrats tossed that aside or agreed with who Obama is or will willing to look the other way. So we got what we knew we were going to get. Read the Art of War tonight. We cannot go charging into the tall grass each time this reprobate does something despicable. That IS ALINSKY methodology, set so many fires that it overwhelms the system. Calm down, take a deep breath, wash out your head gear and lets pick the hills we want to defend so that we win in the end.

    • justperhaps45

      Defending dosen’t often lead to winning.

    • justperhaps45

      Defending dosen’t often lead to winning.

  • ihateliberals

    I have concluded that this might just be a good way to handle things until the election is over and we win. What I mean by that is some of these issues even though they are very popular with the public to be against are not worth fighting with the Democrats on because you will be crucified in the media. The Media doesn?t care that the populous is 55-26 for upholding the law the media isn?t of that mindset. Sometimes you have to pick fights where you know you can win and this isn?t one of them. Just by staying quite it takes the steam out of the Democrats campaigns because no one is arguing with them. That doesn?t mean they are making headway. Whether on purpose or by accident, this strategy of not arguing with the Democrats on the illegals might just work in the Republicans favor.

    • justperhaps45

      ?If you can’t convince them, confuse them.?

      Though, just perhaps we should figure out how to make the unintended consequences of their actions real to their constituents? The next meal is real.

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