Of Course They're Not Cooperating (on Immigration Reform)

President Obama meets with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the White House on June 29.
Photo courtesy CNN.

Obama is blaming Republicans in talks before Latino groups on the lack of progress on immigration reform. Setting aside that he has had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate most of his term, and a very large majority in the House, why do we think this is? Because the so called "reform" he is offering is a charade. Let me be clear; I too, favor comprehensive reform, but only after the politicians secure the border and only if there is no path to citizenship for those who entered the country illegally, they should never be allowed to vote. First let's hear what Obama is proposing from a CBS News article:

Mr. Obama advocated a comprehensive approach that would insist the government, businesses and illegal immigrants themselves live up to their responsibilities within the law. Focusing on a "border security first" approach would fail, he said, because the system is too big to be fixed "only with fences and border patrols."

Obama also wants to create a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States; critics call that amnesty, which Obama denies because he would ensure that immigrants must first acknowledge that they had broken the law, pay fines and back taxes, perform community service and learn English.

The public has been burned by this before. We don't want the stinking empty promises that we will fix the border only after we have "comprehensive reform," to include amnesty. We have been lied to enough on this subject.

Once we secure the border and we are happy with the security, I am perfectly willing to talk about massive expansion in guest worker programs, a path to normalcy (not citizenship) for those here illegally, a sub-minimum wage for guest workers and many other topics. BTW, Obamacare has really poisoned the well on this discussion, because another demand should be that those who came here illegally be ineligible for any federal subsidies for health care.

Bottom line: No immigration reform without enforcing the border first, that's it, that's final, we're not negotiating.