CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Romney refused to take Obama's immigration bait

Mitt Romney has outfoxed the Obama Campaign and its main stream media allies.

As explained by Breitbart's John Nolte, Obama's extralegal scheme to grant amnesty/immunity to certain "younger" illegal aliens was a clever attempt set to trap Romney in a treacherous catch-22 position:

This was the plan:

1. Obama releases the news on Friday in order to affect the Sunday talk shows. (Team Obama also knew Romney would be on "Face the Nation" with their water-carrier Bob Schieffer).

2. As they always do, the Sunday talk shows comply with White House strategy by making Obama's compassion and political brilliance The Big Story. This is also a move to set up the narrative for the coming week regardless of  how Romney answers the repeal question. 

3. Regardless of how he answers the question, Romney enters a world of media-created hurt for the following week.

Obama's media allies did their part:

• On CBS's "Face the Nation," Bob Schieffer asked Romney over and over and over again whether he would repeal Obama's extralegal amnesty/immunity scheme.

• CNN's Jack Cafferty asked, "Why is Mitt Romney refusing to answer questions on Pres. Obama's new immigration policy?"

• On MSNBC's Martin Bashir show, The Guardian’s Ana Marie Cox, Democratic strategist Julian Epstein and The Hill’s Karen Finney went on and on about "Romney’s non-answer."

We could list many more, but I think you get the idea.

Of course Romney did in fact have a response to Obama's scheme. On Friday, Romney said the problem of young illegal immigrants requires a long term solution and Obama's scheme will make a long term solution more difficult to achieve.

"I believe the status of young people who come here through no fault of their own is an important matter to be considered and should be solved on a long term basis so they know what their future would be in this country. I think the action the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution because an executive order is of course just a short term matter. It can be reversed by subsequent presidents."

Romney also explained on "Face the Nation" that Obama's extralegal scheme is a stopgap measure for a long-term problem driven in "large part" by politics:

First of all, we have to secure the border. We need to have an employment verification system to make sure that those that are working here in this country are here legally and then with regards to these kids who were brought in by their parents through no fault of their own, there needs to be a long-term solution so they know what their status is. This is something Congress has been working on, and I thought we are about to see some proposals brought forward by Senator Marco Rubio and by Democrat senators, but the President jumped in and said I'm going to take this action. He called it a stopgap measure.

[. . .]

He was President for the last three and a half years, did nothing on immigration. Two years, he had a Democrats' House in Senate, did nothing of permanent or-- or long-term basis.

As for the oft repeated repeal question, Romney addressed that as well:

Well, it would be overtaken by events, if you will, by virtue of my putting in place a long-term solution with legislation which creates law that relates to these individuals, such that they know what their status is going to be.

In other words, Romney proposes to do the truly right thing -- get Congress to pass legislation to legally address the problem of youngsters made illegal aliens by their parents. 

This is a good time to remember that Obama announced his new amnesty/immunity scheme in a desperate attempt to change the subject from his "doing fine" reelection message, to gain favor with the Latino electorate unhappy with Obama's ongoing backdoor amnesty program, and to stop the growing popularity Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida's DREAM Act light.

Contrary to White House senior adviser David Plouffe's claim that Obama's amnesty/immunity scheme was not political, there is no doubt that it was indeed political. After all, there is even video of Obama saying, less than six months ago, that he has no authority to enact such a change in immigration law. You can watch the video here.

Unfortunately, Romney was proved correct about Obama making a long term solution more difficult. Rubio has announced he has abandoned his DREAM Act light legislation, at least until after the election, because it would be hard to argue with fellow lawmakers when they say, "Why are we going to need to do anything on this now? It has been dealt with. We can wait until after the election." 

Updated. Obama goes from backdoor amnesty to immunity for on immigration reform

President Obama, desperate to change the subject from his "doing fine" reelection message, attempts to gain favor with the Latino electorate unhappy with his backdoor amnesty by revealing an immunity scheme for certain "younger" illegal aliens.

Under Obama's new scheme as many as 800,000 illegals will avoid deportation and be eligible for work permits if they arrived in the U.S. before age 16, are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military.

Obama's new immunity scheme partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, meant to establish a path toward citizenship for certain illegals but consistently rejected by Congress.

Obama intends to implement his new immunity scheme via executive fiat. In bypassing Congress, Obama blatantly ignores the rule of law that is the foundation of our democracy and violates his presidential oath to uphold the laws of this land. Obama's abuse of power will ensure that those who honestly believe that granting amnesty or immunity to illegal aliens encourages more illegal immigration will only become more determined in their opposition to congressional efforts to achieve similar results legitimately.

Obama's scheme is even more offensive when you recall that in March of 2011 at a Univision townhall he said that as president he can't just suspend deportations through executive order:

"Well, first of all, temporary protective status historically has been used for special circumstances where you have immigrants to this country who are fleeing persecution in their countries, or there is some emergency situation in their native land that required them to come to the United States. So it would not be appropriate to use that just for a particular group that came here primarily, for example, because they were looking for economic opportunity.

"With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed — and I know that everybody here at Bell is studying hard so you know that we’ve got three branches of government. Congress passes the law. The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws.

"There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role asPresident."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also opposes Obama's immunity scheme because of its "horrible consequences for unemployed Americans.":

"President Obama’s amnesty only benefits illegal immigrants, not Americans, and is a magnet for fraud. Many illegal immigrants will falsely claim they came here as children and the federal government has no way to check whether their claims are true. And once these illegal immigrants are granted deferred action, they can then apply for a work permit, which the Administration routinely grants 90% of the time."

The biggest problem holding up immigration reform proposals that include any sort of  legalization of some or all of the millions illegal aliens already in this country is that any amnesty/immunity will encourage more illegals to come expecting that eventually they too will be legalized.

That lesson was learned with the adoption of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ("IRCA"). That "immigration reform" legalized four million illegal aliens. IRCA was a monumental failure. Twenty-odd years later there are millions more illegal aliens to legalize. If some or all of these millions of illegals are now legalized, then we should only expect that twenty years from now we will have to consider granting amnesty/immunity to millions more illegal aliens.

UPDATED: Thanks to the good work of Bryan Preston at PJ Media, we now have e video of President Obama explaining that he can not do what he did today. You can watch the video here. The video comes from the White House. During a Q&A on Sept 28, 2011, the president had this exchange:

"MR. LERNER: Me again. On the DREAM Act that you mentioned before, and this is like a statement from New York City: Mr. President, I am an undocumented law graduate from New York City. I'm just writing to say that your message that you do not have a dance partner is not a message of hope. A real dancer goes out on the dance floor and picks out his or her dance partner. You're just waiting. You have the facts, numbers, dollars and votes on the side of granting administrative relief for DREAMers. We are doing our part. It is time to do yours, Mr. President.

"THE PRESIDENT: I just have to continue to say this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there's been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It's just not true.

"Now, what we can do is to prioritize enforcement, since there are limited enforcement resources, and say we're not going to go chasing after this young man or anybody else who's been acting responsibly and would otherwise qualify for legal status if the DREAM Act passed.

"But we live in a democracy. You have to pass bills through the legislature, and then I can sign it. And if all the attention is focused away from the legislative process, then that is going to lead to a constant dead-end. We have to recognize how the system works, and then apply pressure to those places where votes can be gotten and, ultimately, we can get this thing solved. And nobody will be a stronger advocate for making that happen than me."

Supreme Court upholds Arizona's restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants

The Supreme Court has upheld Arizona's Legal Arizona Workers Act. That law allows the state to shut down businesses that hire illegal immigrants:

A recently enacted Arizona statute—the Legal Arizona Workers Act—provides that the licenses of state employers that knowingly or intentionally employ unauthorized aliens may be, and in certain circumstances must be, suspended or revoked. The law also requires that all Arizona employers use a federal electronic verification system to confirm that the workers they employ are legally authorized workers. The question presented is whether federal immigration law preempts those provisions of Arizona law. Because we conclude that the State’s licensing provisions fall squarely within the federal statute’s savings clause and that the Arizona regulation does not otherwise conflict with federal law, we hold that the Arizona law is not preempted.

The high court's majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts rejected Obama administration arguments that the Arizona law conflicted with federal immigration law:

• Arizona’s licensing law falls well within the confines of the authority Congress chose to leave to the States and therefore is not expressly preempted.

• The state law requires no more than that an employer, after hiring an employee, “verify the employment eligibility of the employee” through E-Verify.

• Arizona’s requirement that employers use E-Verify in no way obstructs achieving the aims of the federal program. In fact, the Government has consistently expanded and encouraged the use of E-Verify, and Congress has directed that E-Verify be made available in all 50 States.

This is a huge win for those trying to do something about the never-ending flow of illegal aliens across our southern border. It is a huge loss for President Obama who will no doubt use it to continue to demonize the Supreme Court and rally his supporters for his reelection battle.

You can read the decision (pdf) here.

Schooling Eric Holder

The good folks a BulletPeople.com put together a great video schooling Eric Holder on Arizona's illegal immigration problem.  In the video Eric Holder’s reasons for fighting Arizona’s immigration law (SB 1070 -- intended to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants) with the realities faced by Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu in dealing with illegal immigration.

Watch the video:

Obama admin gives illegal aliens backdoor amnesty

The so-called backdoor amnesty for illegal aliens is no longer merely another bad idea from the Obama administration. According to the Houston Chronicle, the Department of Homeland Security is trying to dismiss thousands of deportation cases against "suspected illegal immigrants."

The Chronicle reports the Obama amnesty effort began "about a month ago" in Houston, where the Department of Homeland Security now has five attorneys working full-time on this backdoor amnesty for illegal aliens. The amnesty program is expected to be rolled out nationwide soon.

Senator John Cornyn blasted the Obama amnesty:

This situation is just another side effect of President Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year. Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens.

Earlier this year, President Obama affirmed his support for the Schumer/Graham immigration legislation outline.

Obama ran for president promising secure borders, increased number of legal immigrants, to remove incentives for illegal immigration, and to allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

President Obama promised to make immigration reform a top priority of the first year of his presidency. When Obama backed away from that promise, Politifact rated his promise stalled.

As I have said before, Amnesty for illegal, whether it is backdoor or contained in a comprehensive reform bill, sends a simple message - get into the United States anyway you can because eventually you will be legalized. That message will be heard loud and clear just as it was with the adoption of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ("IRCA"). That "immigration reform" legalized four million illegal aliens. IRCA was a monumental failure. Twenty years later there millions of new illegal aliens to legalize.

Democrats seek Obamacare for illegals

A group of House Democrats wants illegal aliens to be included in Obamacare.

President Obama has said he does not want health care proposals to cover illegal immigrants. The bill drafted by Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, specifically excludes illegals from the proposed health care exchange.

In response, California Democrat Congressman Michael M. Honda says it is unfair to exclude illegals. Honda, and more than 20 of his colleagues sent letters to key players in the health care reform debate in the House of Representatives and the Senate urging inclusion of illegals in Obamacare.

According to the Washington Times, the National Council of La Raza tried to pressure Baucus to drop verification language in the legislation that could prevent illegals from participating in Obamacare.

It makes no sense to me to reward those who came here illegally by providing them with health care. It will only further encourage more illegal immigration.

Obama hit over driving illegals

There is a new ad being broadcast in Ohio. It takes Obama to task for his position favoring driver's licenses for illegal immigrants:

Remember the Democrats' debate at Drexel University? Tim Russert asked Hillary about giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants:

MR. RUSSERT: Thank you, Brian.

Senator Clinton, Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer has proposed giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. You told the Nashua, New Hampshire editorial board it makes a lot of sense. Why does it make a lot of sense to give an illegal immigrant a driver's license?

Hillary's failure to give a straight response was the beginning of the end of her presidential campaign.

When pressed to say whether he was for it or against it, Obama said it was the right idea:

MR. WILLIAMS: Are you for it or against it?

SEN. OBAMA: I think that it is a -- the right idea.

Obama couldn't be more wrong on this issue. The American people do not support giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Even Democrats don't support the wrongheaded proposal that Obama calls "the right idea."

Number of Illegal Immigrants Declines

The flow of illegal immigrants into the country appears to have declined over the last year:

The study by the Center for Immigration Studies based its findings on Census data indicating that the number of less-educated, working-aged Hispanic immigrants--defined as 18- to 40-year-olds with a high school diploma or less--has dropped by more than 10 percent, or about 830,000 people since last August.

Good news indeed.

There is a debate as to how much the recent crackdown on illegal immigrants contributed to the drop in the number of illegals:

"The evidence is consistent with the idea that at least initially more robust enforcement caused the number of illegal immigrants to decline significantly," said Steven A. Camarota, one of the study's authors. "Some people seem to think illegals are so permanently anchored in the United States that there is no possibility of them leaving. . . . This suggests they're not correct. Some significant share might respond to changing incentives and leave."

Several demographers who specialize in estimating the illegal immigrant population expressed concern about the limits of the study's methodology, but said they found the possibility that the illegal immigrant population is decreasing plausible.

Determining the actual amount of that decline, however, is a far more controversial matter.

Recently the Washington Post reported immigration prosecutions have hit new highs:

Federal law enforcement agencies have increased criminal prosecutions of immigration violators to record levels, in part by filing minor charges against virtually every person caught illegally crossing some stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to new U.S. data.

Officials say the threat of prison and a criminal record is a powerful deterrent, one that is helping drive down illegal immigration along the nearly 2,000-mile frontier between the United States and Mexico. Skeptics say that the government lacks the resources to sustain the strategy on the border and that the effort is diverting resources from more serious crimes such as drug and human smuggling.

Federal officials say there was a 20 percent drop in apprehensions of illegal immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border in 2007, to 859,000.

There has also been a decrease in financial remittances from illegal immigrants in the United States to families in Mexico.

States are also cracking down on illegal immigrants and that is also having an impact.

Fred was right. Attrition by enforcement works. When illegal aliens don't have jobs, they don't stick around:

McCain Honors Hispanic Servicemembers

McCain courts Hispanic voters with a television advertisement honoring Hispanic members of the armed services:

Latinos constituted about 8% of the 2004 electorate and voted for Democrat John Kerry 53% to 44% for President Bush. But immigration activists and Democrats say that since then, hard-line Republican bluster on illegal immigration, a top issue among Hispanic voters, has galvanized the demographic segment and driven them away from the Republican party.

In 2006 and 2007, McCain was a driving force behind unsuccessful legislative efforts to reform the US immigration system and create a path to legal status for the about 12m illegal immigrants already in the country. McCain is a senator from Arizona, a border state with a large Hispanic population.

[. . .]

The advertisement features a short speech McCain made at a New Hampshire primary debate in June 2007. McCain, who despite his rightward maneuvering was among the more moderate Republican candidates on immigration, exhorts the audience to visit the black granite Vietnam war memorial in Washington, D.C., and note the Hispanic names chiseled into it.

He also praises military service members in Iraq and Afghanistan "who are of Hispanic background," even those "who are not even citizens of this country."

McCain has a lot of ground to make up in the campaign for Hispanic votes. A recent Gallup poll found Hispanic registered voters preferring Democrat Obama 59% to 29% for McCain.

I give McCain credit for his efforts to take on immigration reform. I'm on record as willing to give the Senate's great immigration compromise a chance. Too bad the Democrats killed the deal because New York Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer reportedly made the case that the failure to get a bill would be good for the Democrats.

McCain doesn't get the credit he deserves for his bipartisan efforts to solve the flood of illegal immigrants. As he said in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 7, 2008:

On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which provoked the outspoken opposition of many conservatives, I stood my ground aware that my position would imperil my campaign. I respect your opposition for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. And while I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince Americans that we were. I accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.

Even if you disagree with McCain's approach, he deserves credit for trying to solve such an important issue.

Have We Progressed Enough To Embrace Comprehensive Immigration Reform?

According to Newsweek, immigrants are leaving the United States -- willingly and unwillingly -- and countless others are deciding not to come.

The reasons cited by Newsweek for the new trend include:

More stringent Border Controls

Apprehensions are down sharply along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border—in fiscal 2007, 859,000 illegal immigrants were stopped, compared with 1.07 million in 2006. This suggests, at least to Newsweek, that fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.

Expanded Border Patrol

Use of the National Guard to Support the Border Patrol

Deportations of Illegal Immigrants

Deportations rose from 178,657 in fiscal 2005 to 282,548 in fiscal 2007—up 58 percent.

Prosecutions for Illegal Entry

Prosecuting Employers Who Employ Undocumented Workers

The Slowing Economy

The slowing economy means less work for immigrants, and for the people who make a living providing services to them.

The Weaker Dollar

Mexico's central bank said remittances from the United States fell 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008

A survey released by the Inter-American Development Bank in April found that 3 million fewer Latino immigrants are sending money home from the United States this year compared with two years ago.

Strength In Emerging Economies

Today, about 84 percent of the graduates of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology decide to pursue careers at home, compared with only 65 percent seven years ago.

That's the good news. On the other hand, U.S.News & World Report tells us about a new study confirms that what many of us who have been arguing for controlling the border have long suspected: Mexican immigrants are assimilating to life in the United States less successfully than other immigrants.

Using such factors as intermarriage, English ability, military service, homeownership, citizenship, and earnings, the Vigdor study uses a novel 100-point assimilation index. The closer to 100, the more assimilated an immigrant group:

Overall, the report shows immigrants are weaving into the American fabric at a remarkable clip, despite arriving poorer and knowing less English than immigrants of a century ago. And they are gaining speed, with new arrivals assimilating faster than those who came more than 20 years ago. With a score of 53, Canadians are the most assimilated, followed closely by Filipinos, Cubans, and Vietnamese. The main outlier: Mexicans, with a score of 13—followed by Salvadorans.

According to U.S.News, the root cause of the Mexicans' slower assimilation is that so many of them are illegals:

"There are certain jobs or certain services you just can't get [as an illegal immigrant]," Vigdor says. "There are plenty of indications here that for those Mexican immigrants who are interested in making a more permanent attachment to the United States, their legal status puts very severe barriers in that path."

Since the 1990s, Mexicans' immigrant story has differed from that of their peers. When comparing Mexicans and Asians, "Asians show up with a lot more money, oftentimes," notes Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California. "They have a higher education to begin with, and many of them are entrepreneurs." Past decades saw influxes of refugees from countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines. Today's Asian immigrants are some of the best and brightest, which puts them on a faster track to assimilation via economic success.

The Asian experience recalls a general rule of today's immigrants. The farther you have to migrate, the wealthier you probably were in your country of origin. "Poor people can't afford a plane trip across the ocean, but poor people can walk across the border," Myers says. "Poor Africans and poor Chinese can't do it." Because of their proximity to the United States, poor Mexicans can make the trip. Indeed, their poverty impels them to risk the border crossing. But when they arrive, they arrive significantly disadvantaged, and they often qualify for jobs that offer little opportunity for social advancement. Other factors may also contribute but are more difficult to quantify: The leading contender is that the sheer number of Latinos in the United States has created a subculture that slows assimilation.

Other reasons offered for the slow assimilation include segregation and lower education.

In reporting on the Vigdor study Boston Globe poses some important questions that should be answered before we can address what needs to be done about the "anemic progress of Mexican immigrants:"

- Should the goal of our immigration policy be to satisfy industrial demand for low-skilled labor? Or should we place a higher priority on admitting new residents who seek to build a permanent attachment with American society?

- Should our policy toward immigrants place a greater value on cultural or civic assimilation?

All that said, the question remains: are we ready to again try and achieve comprehensive immigration reform? I don't think we are, at least not in the midst of the presidential election. There will be a window of opportunity for the new President to again attempt comprehensive reform after the November election.

Nevertheless, until we reach a consensus -- not just a simple majority, but a consensus substantial enough to overcome a filibuster -- on what to with the 12 million illegal aliens already living here, no comprehensive immigration reform can succeed. To be successful, any proposed reform must convince the skeptics that it will actually discourage future illegal immigration.

Immigration reform should be one of the issues throughly debated during the presidential campaign to move us toward the needed consensus.