6/25/2014 - Bob Barr Townhall.com
One might think the websites of various
federal agencies tasked with protecting America’s borders would be information
resources about how the Obama Administration is handling the now crisis-level
situation at the border. Curiously, however, the “newsroom” sections of
websites for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Health and Human Services post no
information about the Administration’s current policies or plans for dealing
with the “surge” of illegal immigrants flooding across our border with Mexico.
The reason for this deafening silence
is clear to anyone following the Administration’s confusing and frequently
contradictory response: Neither Obama nor Vice President Biden have a firm
grasp on the situation. In a press release issued June 5th (and proudly
touted on the DHS homepage), Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson
exclaimed after a veiled crack at Republicans, “Almost all of us agree that a
child who crossed our border illegally with a parent, or in search of a parent
or a better life . . . should be treated differently than adult law-breakers.”
Two weeks later after the surge accelerated, making the front page of
newspapers across the nation, the Administration announced it would start
increasing deportations, going against its previous, pro-amnesty messaging.
Even this turn-around was wrapped in confusion, when Biden even more recently
implied publicly that at least some of the illegals would not be
deported.
This Administration points to
scapegoats in every direction at every opportunity. The director of White
House Domestic Policy Council went so far as
to blame “misinformation that is being deliberately planted by criminal
organizations” for creating a false perception about amnesty in the U.S.
Contrary to all the Administration’s finger-pointing, much of the blame for the
current crisis rests squarely within its own ranks.
Years
of loose talk about amnesty has precipitated this latest flood of illegal
immigrants cascading across our border, and Obama is
leaving U.S. citizens to pick up the tab as he scrambles to clean up his mess.
Obama is burning through millions of
taxpayer dollars (the true cost will likely not be known for years) with his
spit-and-duct-tape “fixes” to the border crisis. Despite knowing
for years about the looming crisis, the Feds had only a
single detention facility outfitted for families with children. This utter lack
of planning has resulted in Uncle Sam daily flying planeloads of illegals
across the country to makeshift detention facilities for “processing” in
whatever sites authorities are able to outfit for housing them; such as
abandoned nursing homes, colleges and even monasteries. They even attempted to
use what they thought to be an abandoned hotel in Grand Island, New York, only
to find it renovated as an upscale resort, occupied by
its lawful, paying guests.
This is Keystone Kops being played out
at a dangerous, national scale.
The situation could be considered
comical if not for the extremely serious health, economic and security
implications of the border overload. The U.S. Border Patrol already was badly
outmatched by the sheer volume of illegal immigrants -- including an
unprecedented number of unaccompanied babies, toddlers, children and teenagers
-- forcing them to play nanny rather than do their jobs, like actually
protecting the border.
“Smugglers wait on the southern banks
of the Rio Grande as migrant groups as large as 250 wade across at dusk and
turn themselves in to the Border Patrol,” reports The
Washington Post, talking to
Border Patrol union representative Chris Cabrera. “Then groups of single men
proceed to cross under cover of darkness, hoping to slip through” with drugs
and other illicit contraband.
It is anybody’s guess as to what else
“slips through” while our Border Patrol agents change diapers; but it is safe
to say, it is nothing good.
For all the “Amnesty Now” hoopla before
the situation at the border hit critical mass, Democrats now are oddly silent.
That is, when they are not blaming Republicans for a lack of “comprehensive
immigration reform,” as if that would help at this point. However, the
acrimonious attacks from Democrats -- in lieu of actually taking action to help
protect our borders -- is more than simply another attempt to shift blame onto
Republicans. Democrats are intentionally trying to create gridlock in Congress.
Contrary to their inflammatory
interviews with HuffPo, Slate and other liberal
outlets, Democrats love gridlock. Not only do they try to exploit the crisis
for political gain in elections and fundraising letters, but gridlock creates a
“leadership vacuum” in which Obama then can justify acting on his own without
Congress. Based on past lethargy by the Congress, Democrats know that
Obama has
no hesitancy to defy constitutional boundaries. So long as Democrats can keep Republicans on the ropes in the
press and on the floor of Congress, it opens wide a window for Obama to enact
his liberal, pro-amnesty agenda without the political liability of having their
names recorded in the Congressional Record as supporters of
these disastrous policies.
If Republicans truly want to stop
Obama, they must refuse to keep playing the Democrats’ game. For example,
rather than battling in the press regarding hypotheticals about a comprehensive
immigration package, the Republican-controlled House should pass simple, basic
measures such as beefing-up border security. The GOP also should immediately
employ its one, true “Big Stick” – the power to deny funding for the
Administration’s immigration game-playing.
Engaging in such hard-nosed, but
necessary actions would throw the ball directly into Senate Majority Leader
Reid’s lap, and stop Obama’s “one man immigration show” dead in its tracks.
This also would afford the GOP time to develop a longer-term legislative
package on the heels of those smaller, but crucial, measures to secure the
border.
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