Obama’s Back Door Deal For Illegals

Submitted by our west coast editor Eowyn.

Take the “I am not a racist” pledge before the illegals argument gets to a fevered pitch. Tell the world, and Obama, that this has nothing to do with ‘racism’, it’s all about ‘the law’!

Obama to Host White House Amnesty Summit
On June 8, President Barack Obama will meet with Congressional  leaders to
discuss immigration reform legislation

(_Politico_
(http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0509/Obama_sets_WH_immigration_reform_event_for_June_8_.
html) , May 20, 2009).  In the  past, President Obama has supported
“comprehensive immigration  reform,” which has included amnesty for the more than 12 million  illegal aliens who are living in the United States.  (_Luuliyo Online_ (http://www.luuliyo.com/?p=598) , May 20, 2009).

During a  meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus this past May,
President Obama promised to hold a forum on immigration  reform. 

(WSJ_Washington Wire_
(http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/03/18/obama-tells-hispanic-caucus-hes-willing-to-tackle-immigration/) , March 18,  2009).  As FAIR
previously reported, “according to senior  administration officials, Obama will speak publicly about the  immigration issue in May.” 

(FAIR’s _Legislative Update_
(http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=20313&security=1601&news_iv_ctrl=1721) , April 13,  2009).  Despite President Obama’s
statement that “transparency  promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about  what their Government is doing,” and his promise to run a more  transparent government, the immigration meeting will not be  public.
(Obama _Transparency Memorandum_
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/) ).    Instead, it will be held behind closed doors, outside of the view of  the American public which has strongly opposed amnesty in the  past.  This initial closed-door meeting in June appears to be  in lieu of a public forum on the immigration issue.
The meeting will take place at the White House and will include  “a small
bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate,  including party
leaders and people who have worked on immigration  issues.”  (Luuliyo).  Among the lawmakers invited to the  meeting are two Democratic Members of the House of Representatives  from California: Zoe Lofgren of San Jose, who chairs the House  Immigration Subcommittee, and Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles, who is  regarded as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s point person on immigration matters. 

(_KPCC Radio_
(http://www.publicradio.org/columns/kpcc/kpccnewsinbrief/2009/05/obama-holding-bipartisan-immig.html) , May 21, 2009).  Both
Lofgren and Becerra are outspoken supporters of amnesty. (See _FAIR’s
Congressional Voting Report_
(http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/110thHouseVR.pdf?docID=2121)  for the  110th Congress).
The White House meeting comes at a time when nearly 14 million  American
workers are out of a job and desperately looking for work.  (Luuliyo).  The
last time that Congress considered  amnesty, in June 2007, unemployment stood at 4.6 percent and 7  million Americans were out of work.  However, today’s unemployment rate stands at 8.9 percent, and 13.7 million Americans  are out of work.  (See _FAIR’s Amnesty & Joblessness Report_
(http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/amnesty_joblessness.pdf?docID=%202701) ,  May 2009).
Amnesty would allow the estimated 8.3 million  illegal aliens who are in the
workforce to keep the jobs they never  should have had, instead of freeing those jobs up for the American  workers who need them.  In addition, amnesty would give those  8.3 million illegal aliens the ability to begin openly competing for  other jobs, in a time when America’s labor market is already demonstrating a lack of available jobs. Schumer Suggests Border Secure, American People  Ready for Amnesty
Last Wednesday, May 20, Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee  Chairman Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a hearing entitled “Securing the  Border and America’s Points of Entry, What Remains to Be  Done.”  The hearing was the second in a series meant to lay the  groundwork for the introduction of a massive “comprehensive  immigration reform” bill meant to grant amnesty to the approximately  12 million illegal aliens residing in the United States. Schumer opened the hearing by claiming that the American people  would only accept an amnesty “if they can be convinced that their  government is serious about drastically reducing the number of  illegal immigrants entering the United States.”  The  subcommittee chairman stated that true immigration reformers opposed  to amnesty for illegal aliens “have continually promised that  they’ll engage in conversation about immigration reform once  Congress showed it was serious about securing the border.” Schumer  then attempted to argue that this “showing has clearly been made,”  and claimed that “almost the whole border fence has been built.”

  (_Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on  Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship Hearing_
(http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3859) ,  May 20, 2009).
Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) agreed  with
Schumer that “progress has been made” on border security, but  added that “we are
not there yet.”  Sessions noted that  Congress’ original intent was that
almost 700 miles of border fence  be built, and added that the Border Patrol
had constructed two types  of fencing to count toward that total: pedestrian
fencing and  vehicle barriers.  Under questioning from Sen. Sessions, Border
Patrol Chief David Aguilar admitted that pedestrians “can get  across” the
vehicle barriers.  Sessions went on to point out  that the Border Patrol had
constructed 323 miles of single-layer  pedestrian fencing and 303 miles of
vehicle barriers, and combined  these numbers as they counted toward their
ultimate mileage goal.  (Id.).
Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth testified at the  hearing, as
well. Hayworth argued that it would make more sense for  Congress to pursue
“comprehensive border enforcement…[and]  comprehensive employee verification
before we take on comprehensive  immigration reform.” In his testimony, the
former representative  echoed the sentiments of Sen. Sessions, indicating that
the border  fence has not been built as Congress intended. (_Testimony of
The Honorable  J.D.Hayworth_ (http://judiciary
.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=3859&wit_id=7944) , May 20, 2009). 

Sen. Schumer —  who was absent
from the hearing when Sessions detailed the  differences between what Congress had intended to be built and what  the Border Patrol had actually built — took offense to Hayworth’s  statement about the border fence.  Schumer implied that  Hayworth was failing to “stick to the facts,” and then went on to say that their “is a fence, minimum ten foot high, for the vast  majority of the non-Rio Grande border” — a statement that directly  contradicted the statistics Sessions had presented while Schumer was  absent from the hearing.
Schumer concluded the hearing by saying that the subcommittee  intends to
hold “comprehensive hearings on…every difficult aspect of  immigration
reform.” (Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on  Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship Hearing, May 20,  2009). It is unclear yet as to what the topic of the next hearing  will be and when that hearing will be held.

……………….

Take the pledge!!! “I am not a racist”

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