OBAMA FIGURES THAT WHILE HE SQUANDERS BILLIONS FOR BUSH'S WARS FOR SAUDIS BORDERS, HE WILL SAVE A FEW BUCKS BY SABOTAGING OUR HOMELAND SECURITY.
SUCH WILL ASSURE EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS HORDES MORE WORKERS, AND THE LA RAZA PRESIDENT WITH MUCHO MAS UNREGISTERED VOTERS!
SMITH: Obama
budget’s backdoor amnesty
President’s spending plan weakens
immigration enforcement
By Rep.
Lamar Smith
-
The
Washington Times
Thursday,
February 23, 2012
President
Obama's fiscal 2013 budget came out this month and again includes the same
spending, borrowing and taxing policies that have come to define his
presidency. No surprise, this spending blueprint cuts several worthwhile
immigration-enforcement and border-security programs.
The
president's budget continues his administration's policies of ignoring laws
requiring the removal of illegal immigrants. Last year, the Obama
administration issued new deportation guidelines that amount to backdoor
amnesty. The spending priorities contained in his budget are no different. At least
the president is consistent.
Under
his budget for 2013, Mr. Obama reduces the number of detention bed spaces by
1,200 beds - from 34,000 to 32,800. The administration proposes using the
resulting funds to enhance its alternatives-to-detention programs. But these
programs result in higher levels of illegal immigrants disappearing into
American communities.
In
fact, Department of Justice records reveal that since 1996, 40 percent of all
non-detained illegal immigrants in removal proceedings simply became fugitives.
Unfortunately, the president's budget builds on this record of failure.
Detention is the only proven method of preventing illegal immigrants from
avoiding deportation.
The
president's spending proposal also reduces funding for the 287(g) program by 25
percent. The 287(g) program allows state and local governments to partner with
the federal government to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws. This
successful program has identified tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in
prisons and jails nationwide.
The
Obama administration also has announced that it will no longer consider
additional requests for 287(g) partnerships. It makes no sense to get rid of
such a valuable program.
Mr.
Obama's fiscal 2013 budget request also undermines border security and national
security. Last year, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found
that just 44 percent of the Southwestern border was under the operational
control of the Border Patrol. Most of the border remains porous to human
smugglers, drug traffickers and illegal immigrants.
Rather
than take steps to gain control of the U.S.-Mexico border, the president's
budget contains a plan to develop a "border security index" to
measure enforcement progress along the Southwestern border. The administration
thinks this new test will help manipulate the facts to produce a passing grade
for the administration and back its claims that the border is secure.
But
this index is just a cover-up for the administration's failure to fully enforce
immigration laws. There is no substitute for improved border security coupled
with increased interior enforcement of drug and immigration laws.
The
president's budget also contains no funding for the implementation of the Real
ID Act. But this comes as no surprise because the administration already has
delayed this law from taking effect until January 2013. Real ID prohibits
illegal immigrants, including foreign terrorists, from obtaining valid forms of
identification that can be used to board planes and enter federal buildings.
Real ID already has been law for six years and should be fully implemented.
This is another example of the administration not enforcing current laws.
The
president's spending blueprint contains no funding for expansion of the Visa
Security Program (VSP). This program increases the security of the visa process
at U.S. embassies and consulates in "highest-risk" countries. At
visa-issuing posts where VSP exists, all applicants receive additional
screening. Unfortunately, such screening exists only at 19 locations out of a
list of about 50 designated "highest-risk" posts worldwide. Not
expanding the VSP makes it easier for terrorists to get visas to the United
States.
We must secure our borders to prevent national security threats from becoming reality. It's past time to construct a budget that reduces illegal immigration and increases border security. The president's budget takes us in the wrong direction.
Rep.
Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
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