When Democrats and Republicans speak of “fixing” our “broken” immigration system, there is one aspect they ignore as if it works fine — but in reality is a major threat to national security.  One of the worst aspects of our immigration system is our policy of letting in security threats under the guise of refugee and asylum.  Now, according to the Daily Caller, DHS is making the problem worse by exempting those with “limited” ties to terror groups from the ban against terrorists in the refugee and asylum programs.

The Daily Caller reports that a DHS official explained this situations as follows:

“The Obama administration has issued new exemptions to a law that bars certain asylum-seekers and refugees who provided ‘limited material support’ to terrorists who are believed to pose no threat from the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department published the new exemptions Wednesday in the Federal Register to narrow a ban in the Immigration and Nationality Act excluding refugees and asylum seekers who had provided limited material support, no matter how minor, to terrorists.

These exemptions cover five kinds of limited material support that have adversely and unfairly affected refugees and asylum seekers with no tangible connection to terrorism: material support that was insignificant in amount or provided incidentally in the course of everyday social, commercial, family or humanitarian interactions, or under significant pressure.”

And how does DHS have the authority?  Through wide discretion granted to the executive branch, of course.

The Daily Caller continued: “According to DHS, Section 212(d)(3)(B) of the INA allows either the secretary of state or DHS secretary in consultation with each other and with the U.S. Attorney General ‘to determine that certain terrorism bars of the INA do not apply.’”

Remember, the “Gang of 8” bill was riddled with clauses granting the Secretary of DHS unilaterally authority to void out any restrictions and enforcement triggers.  And until we have an administration that values the rule of law and national security, that discretion will be abused.

Obviously, Obama’s entire DACA administrative amnesty was illegal, but if you use their screening process as a litmus test for future amnesties it’s not surprising that we are letting in terrorists through our front door.  Out of roughly 525,000 applicants for DACA, only 14,614 have been denied.

Put it this way, not all of them are here to do the “jobs Americans won’t do.”  And when you look back at the Boston bombers, it’s not hard to envision how our policy of open borders will create a lot of ticking time bombs.

Members of Congress need to be reminded that to the extent we focus on “immigration reform,” this is the sort of reform that must be pursued.  Senator Jeff Sessions, who has been an indefatigable statesman on this issue, released a report detailing the timeline of Obama’s disregard for the rule of law.  If they want to talk about immigration reform, hold hearings and fight back against the policies mentioned in the Sessions memo instead of rewarding Obama for his malfeasance.

Sadly, there is no multi-million-dollar lobby pressuring Congress to protect Americans first.  On the other hand, there is a well-funded, truculent lobby pushing open borders, including further liberalization of refugee and asylum policy.  They will not surrender easily.  That is exactly why conservatives should not let their guard down and play into the latest rope-a-dope strategy employed by those who couldn’t care less about our national security.