Obama to Expand Bush Policy on Immigration

CASA de Maryland went ballistic when a County Sheriff in Frederick County, Maryland sent his deputies to school to take part in the 287 (g) program administered through Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Armed with the as yet proven claim of racism, they filed suit.

Who are they going to complain to now?

U.S. to Expand Immigration Checks to All Local Jails

The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation, current and former U.S. officials said.

By matching inmates' fingerprints to federal immigration databases, authorities hope to pinpoint deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Inmates in federal and state prisons already are screened. But authorities generally lack the time and staff to do the same at local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants at any time and where inmates come and go more quickly.

Of course this does nothing to stop the millions of illegals that CASA de Maryland would love to support and help break the law. Despite the fact that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has made it "very clear" that her top priority is deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, this does nothing about those immigrants that enter the country illegally and then otherwise abide by the law.

"We mean this, we're serious about it, and we believe we need to put in an all-out effort to get this done," said Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee for homeland security.

Do you hear that? They are serious this time!

The money quote from the illegal supporters:

Amnesty International and immigrant advocates warn that the change could lead to immigration checks in other arenas and the "criminalization" of illegal immigration.

Tom Barry, an analyst for the Center for International Policy, a nonprofit research and policy institute in Washington, said the initiative could sweep up foreign-born U.S. residents who have served time for offenses but were not deported.

"Many, many legal immigrants are going to be pulled into this net even for minor violations that they're booked for -- traffic violations, drunk driving, whatever -- and after they've lived here 10 or 20 years, they're going to be deported," Barry said.

GOOD! As for "criminalizing" illegal immigration, its already illegal, you can't criminalize it anymore than it already is you moron. Heaven forbid we follow Amnesty International's logic or we might soon be criminalizing simple murder and rape. Then what would we do? Idiots!

President Bush Fails Again

Yesterday in the Web Reconnaissance I highlighted a piece by Fred Barnes writing at the Wall Street Journal titled “Who Killed the Immigration Bill?” in which he writes:

“For a seasoned politician, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is unusually transparent. Politicians, as a rule, try to mask their political motives -- but upon yanking the bipartisan immigration reform bill from the Senate floor last Thursday, Mr. Reid declared its demise to be the fault of President Bush. He said the headline would be: Democrats voted for the bill, Republicans didn't, and ‘the president fails again.’”

Today Jonathan Weisman and Michael Abramowitz in the Washington Post write a story called, “Bush, Senators to Meet on Immigration” in which they state:

“Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) continued yesterday to urge Bush to deepen his involvement in the fight for the legislation. Reid sent a letter to the White House saying that ‘it will take stronger leadership by you to ensure that opponents of the bill do not block the path to final passage.’”

While in today’s Washington Times, Stephen Dinan writes “Reid presses Bush over GOP votes.” Dinan writes:

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Mr. Bush that the only hope for the bill is if he delivers the votes of more than 20 Republican senators to break a filibuster and pass the measure. The Nevada Democrat had a frank assessment of the bill's prospects, saying the 51-member Democratic caucus was ‘about maxed out’ at the 38 votes they delivered on a test vote on the bill last week 22 short of breaking a filibuster. They were joined by just seven Republicans one-third of the number Mr. Reid says the president must deliver. ‘It's the president's bill,’ Mr. Reid said, adding that if Democrats are being counted on to supply the additional votes, ‘it won't happen.’”

Both of these stories mirror Barnes piece yesterday and it definitely appears that the Democrats are the shrewder of the two parties in the immigration debate. Democrats already back the granting of amnesty to the 12 million illegals in this country all in the name of Democratic votes. It also appears that Mr. Reid has realized that many of the Republican’s are also signing onto the bill with, in my opinion, the misguided hopes that it will also generate members for the party. If this bill is truly the brainchild of President Bush and it’s not unlikely that it isn’t, his position on immigration has changed little over the years: how could his advisers “allow” him to present it to a Congress that is only intent upon his demise?

With Mr. Reid’s statement, “It’s the President’s bill”, with the obvious implications that if it fails the President fails, it’s blatantly clear that Mr. Reid can’t help but be transparent in this matter, he obviously wants the President to fail, and he wants 12 million more Democratic voters on the rolls, paying taxes for more welfare programs. What is unclear is, with such a hostile Congress, and with such a volatile topic, why would the White House send this bill to Congress when we are fighting a war that the Democrats already oppose and are looking for any reason to make the President look bad and undermine the war effort. This bill is now one more attempt to make the President look bad and the Republican’s are now unwitting pawns in the game, Mr. Reid knows it and so should the President, how long is it going to take before he realizes that it is not his base that is abandoning him, it is he that has abandoned his base and the best thing to do will be to scrap the plan and start over…later.