House Republicans Vote to Defund President's New Immigration Initiatives

As disappointed I am by much of what we see come out of the White House, it always pays to remembers what the other party has in store if they ever get to call the shots. From Huffington Post's Elise Foley:

The House voted on Thursday to kill nearly every action by the Obama administration to reform the immigration enforcement system, approving amendments that would separate U.S. citizens from their undocumented spouses and end prioritization of deporting dangerous unauthorized immigrants.

"The administration is now saying, 'I don't like the laws, I won't enforce them,'" Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) said in support of an amendment proposed by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). "It would be equitable to an officer saying, 'I'm not going to enforce any drug laws, because I want to wait -- I may see a bank robber.'"

That amendment, and the 11 others offered and adopted by the GOP, stripped funding from government programs meant to make the immigration process, and treatment of immigrants, more humane and targeted toward the most dangerous. Many of the adopted measures transferred funding to border security, even though Customs and Border Protection would receive a $208 million increase in funding under Obama's proposed fiscal year 2013 budget.

Specifically, the measures approved would defund prosecutorial discretion and domestic filing of I-601 waiver applications.  Fortunately, the amendments approved are largely symbolic since we have a US Senate that will easily reject the legislation.

Comments

[Another Voice]

Jan Brewer Orders Redistributing Of Training Video On Immigration Law

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/jan-brewer-arizona-immigration-law-video_n_1592729.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[Amanda Breen]

Almost everything done by Congress this year will be symbolic. And as Rome burns, other countries like Canada are moving ahead on common-sense immigration policies that attract highly-skilled graduates and entrepreneurs. Here in the US, we require entrepreneurs to invest at least $1 million, and we deport some of our finest high school and college graduates. There is something so wrong with this picture, yet there is no chance that any of it will change this year or even later.

We all need to think of new angles to take in the debate that clearly show much immigration reform will benefit the US economy. In this period of downturn, the economic arguments will always win out over any attempts to tug at the heartstrings.

[gg]

@Jack - "two ways of thinking" - Well immigration or anything else is not that simple. If this logic were to be extended to banks, many would have been closed and some ceo's behind bars.

Another way of thinking - Detain traffic violators in jail for every violation occurred during the past 2 decades. Would people agree ?

Common sense dictates the violator be charged when the offense (civil) has occurred or after a reasonable amount of time (statue of limitations).

[George Chell in Singapore]

Honestly if they cannot bring down this looser Bilbray, Democrats are not fit to govern...

http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/9939

[George Chell in Singapore]

If Jack wants to pay his money to fund the laws he likes enforced he should write a check to the US government or urge his fellow citizens to increase the taxes. I am not sure whether Steve King will go down, but an Obama landslide should bring down Brian Bilbray in a district that is heavily Hispanic after redistrcting. If they cannot bring down Brian Bilbray, Obama is perhaps loosing the white house.

[Jack]

Two ways of thinking:

1) If we don’t invite a person or they overstayed their invitation, they shouldn’t be here (law should govern and no one is above it). It follows logically that a person not lawfully present should not be rewarded with permanent residency and voting rights.

2) If we don’t invite a person or they overstayed their invitation, they should just be allowed to stay regardless of what our laws say, i.e., maintain law on the books but it should not govern and everyone or at least certain groups are above it. They should not be subject to our immigration laws and rewarded with grants of permanent residency and voting rights.

[gg]

"As disappointed I am by much of what we see come out of the White House, it always pays to remembers what the other party has in store if they ever get to call the shots"

Greg, I don't believe anything will change if Republicans take the White House in 2012. They are already calling shots in a lame duck Democrat administration, they will continue to do so if they win the Presidency.

Instead of working on immigration reform Democrats chose to challenge SB1070 which was nothing but a major distraction and is likely to be a PR nightmare if SCOTUS uphold's provisions of the law. This will not only embolden Republicans but also trigger copycat legislations across the country

I really don't believe that there is going to be any major immigration reform in the short term future so it does not matter who comes to power.