Saturday, November 01, 2008

Barack Obama: illegal immigration hits home

Robin's commentary:

Admittedly I have not been following all of the presidential election items as closely as I would've liked to, however, one thing that I have noticed listening to CNBC and other news services, including talk shows is the "hands-off" approach regarding immigration.

As you will recall, McCain along with Senator Kennedy years back tried to put into place an "amnesty bill", otherwise known as the immigration Reform Act of 2007 ( S. 1033) [Library of Congress]

April 3, 2006, Obama presented a statement to the Senate floor on endorsing a bill that would increase strong enforcement of our immigration laws. Citing as an example of his personal experience on immigration, he stated that fact that his father was from Kenya. Barack included in his statement on the Senate floor...
The American people are a welcoming and generous people. But those who enter our country illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of law. And because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked. Americans are right to demand better border security and better enforcement of the immigration laws. [Barack Obama.senate.gov]


The issue of immigration hits home for Barack Obama with the announcement last night that Obama's aunt Zeituni Onyango is in the country illegally from Kenya, and was also denied a request for asylum four years ago after a judge ordered her deportation. [AP news]

Obama denies any knowledge of his aunt's immigration status. [ABC news] The interesting thing that if Barack Obama had been aware of his aunt's immigration status, Obama could be guilty of harboring an illegal alien. By definition,
Harboring -- Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) makes it an offense for any person who -- knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation. [ US Department of Justice]


In either case, Barack's belief in abiding by the laws of the United States regarding immigration will be challenged. e.g. it is easy to make a statement regarding enforcing a law when it involves a stranger. However, that could be a different matter when it's family or personal.

In the wake of the announcement days before the presidential election[which I agree with], an unusual nationwide directive within the immigrations and customs enforcement (ICE) stated that any deportations prior to Tuesday's elections would be approved at the regional directors level.[Fox news]

While I am not advocating for or against voting for Obama, I think that you'll have to agree that things are going to be very interesting as the story unfolds.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Illegal immigration is so far off the radar screen this year. The economy and jobs are all voters care about. The immigrants are heading south because they can't find work -- and people here are losing jobs.

I found this poll that asks which candidate has the better jobs agenda --

http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/email/email4.cfm?id=159

I bet the results predict the outcome of the election.

Bobkatt said...

Who cares what the traitors at the U.S. (Mexico) Chamber of Commerce think.

The U. S. Chamber of Commerce has sided with the illegal aliens many times.
They filed a lawsuit against Hazelton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act in 2007.
In 2004, Chamber Vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits said, "We need a system of 'earned targeted adjustment' for undocumented workers that fill vital roles in our economy, which would enable them to achieve legal status. We also need to expand permanent and temporary visas for workers to enter the United States legally to meet future workforce requirements."

U.S. Chamber leaders were among those singing praises on the McCain-Kennedy-Bush Comprehensive (AMNESTY) Immigration Reform Plan. In the Chamber’s Commerce Plan for Immigration Reform they propose four pillars of reform. One of these pillars calls for illegal alien workers as well as carefully screened immigrants to work and reside in the U.S. The third pillar recommends giving legal status to all of the illegal aliens currently residing in America. The Chamber claims “ other alternative proposals, such as mass deportations…are indefensible and impractical. Even if we succeeded…., our economy would slow dramatically.”

The Chamber went even so far as to sponsor meetings with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Ernesto, in order to lobby for the amnesty legislation and to oppose the border fence legislation. Representative James Sensenbrenner, the House point man on immigration exclaimed, “the U.S. Chamber of Commerce should be ashamed of themselves” for their pro-amnesty actions. “What they are doing is saying that it’s ok to use fake social security numbers. I don’t think that anybody ought to be condoning the use of false documentation. If they continue promoting speeches by the Mexican government officials then maybe they ought to register as an agent of a foreign government under the law.”