 The President has made no secret about his preference in putting in place a
reform that would ultimately change the "illegal" status to that of "legal"
status for as many as six million illegal immigrants who have crossed the
U.S. border illegally, or simply have overstayed their visas by melting into
the population after their visa expired. For those people, the President
believes he can simply again use his "pen and phone" to trump Congressional
purgatives to do with an Executive Order what Congress refuses to do with
legislation. Regardless of the curtailment of the Constitution's content
regarding the President's inability to usurp that task from Congress and
claim it for himself, the President seems willing to once again push the
envelope even further by taking action.
Of course the President's base and those advocates for immigration reform to
include citizenship for those who have entered illegally are energized by
the President's bold talk and possible action. Those in the democrat party
see it as a further building of the base given the statistics of 70 to 80
percent of those "legalized" through his action would garner votes for the
democrat party. The fact that the President has considered his actions to be
political and would have an effect on the mid-term election seems evident he
is thinking not for the welfare of the nation, but for the betterment of the
political party to which he belongs. It seems every decision this President
makes is more for political ramifications rather than for the betterment of
all citizens of the country.
By taking the political route in making this decision, one has to wonder
what the democrats and the President think of the intelligence of the
American people in general. The larger percentage of Americans have spoken
their will over and over as being against making the illegal immigrants
legal with the so-called, "fast-track" to citizenship. Too many realize
there has been very little vetting completed for those who have come
illegally. The U.S. borders have been open for so long with this
Administration refusing to enforce the crossing laws on the books, even to
the extent of suing those states that try to enforce the federal laws
already written, there is a fear that many of the illegal immigrants who
have crossed have intentions of repeating terrorist activities similar to
those of 9/11/2001. Yet the Administration insists on paving the way for
reforming the immigration laws with or without the participation of
Congress.
Therefore, how can the President be trusted by the people regarding an act
of circumventing Congress simply by changing his mind from changing before
the mid-term election to a time after the mid-term election? When the
democrats in the Senate have lost their election and will be sitting as
"lame ducks" to the end of their terms, what reasonably prudent person
believes they will not continue to support the President's attempts to
initiate a comprehensive law by the stroke of his pen through Executive
Order? We have to believe on the basis of the President's past behavior that
he will not hesitate to circumvent the Congress during the lame duck session
while he still has the support of the majority of democrats in the Senate
and the Majority Leader, Harry Reid, remains in power until the new members
are sworn in. This would throw the country into a Constitutional crisis that
will keep the country in turmoil for the remainder of the President's term
in office. A dangerous position in which to be given the conditions around
the world regarding terror and possible wars.
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We have seen the behavior of the President prior to his vacation to
Martha's Vineyard and the Congressional Summer break. He had asked
Congress for $3.7 billion dollars simply to address the crisis of
thousands of children and others coming across the border illegally.
Congress responded by passing a bill in the House of Representatives
prior to their adjournment, even after the Senate had already left
for their break, by granting only a fraction of that amount of money
to the President. Additionally, during his trip to Wales during the
first week of September the President restated his intent to act
unilaterally by outlining his objectives with his executive actions.
Even in the Summer recess there continues to be a dispute between
the President and Congress over the proper methods to handle the
surge of children from the South American countries. Neither the
President nor the Congress has determined how they are going to
handle the crisis of border crossings of tens of thousands of
children into the United States. The President continues to speak to
the issue by vowing to offer illegal immigrants a pathway to become
legal residents so they can pay the proper taxes, pay a fine for
their illegal crossing, and learn English so they can compete for
American jobs without "living in the shadows." This was exemplified
in his speech when he promised, "I want to be very clear: My
intention is, in the absence of ... action by Congress, I'm going to
do what I can do within the legal constraints of my office, because
it's the right thing to do for the country."
Regardless of what the President does by the end of the Summer as he
had promised, he has stated he will do something after the election.
It is difficult to understand why he would postpone his dubious
actions of circumventing Congress on the matter since he knows it is
absolutely the wrong thing to do because it would create dire
consequences for his fellow democrats who are running hard to be
re-elected. Then turn around and bring those who lost their
re-election bid into an action that might very well be found illegal
and beyond his executive power to do. With that kind of trust level
this side of the election, what kind of trust can the citizens of
America place in his actions, or the actions of his party in a lame
duck session, after the election is over? My guess is, he is showing
himself to be untrustworthy.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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