How the “Obama Loophole” Helps Illegal Immigrants
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down three out of four provisions of Arizona’s controversial illegal immigration law. The provision upheld is the one that allows Arizona law enforcement to check the status of an illegal immigrant only after that person has committed a crime.
Both President Obama and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer are claiming victory from the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) decision, with Obama saying that he is “pleased” with the decision and Brewer saying that the “heart” of the bill was upheld.
Who won the ruling? Obama or Arizona?
The general consensus is that while neither side ultimately got what they wanted, the winner in all of this are the illegals. And here’s why:
The high court’s ruling makes more difficult the ability for states to effectively deal with an illegal immigration problem. That wouldn’t be such a big deal if the federal government, under the Obama administration, enforced it’s own immigration laws. To date, they have not.
In fact, immediately after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Obama administration rescinded an agreement with Arizona to help the state collaborate better with federal immigration officials from ICE (U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement) to help process and deport illegal immigrants convicted of a crime.
In light of President Obama’s policy change last week to not deport illegal immigrants under the age of 30 if they have not been convicted of a crime, Monday’s SCOTUS judgment is regarded by the Obama administration as a go-ahead in giving Arizona law officers the cold shoulder, so to speak.
ICE officials today said that they will not respond to requests from Arizona to process an illegal immigrant for deportation unless that illegal has been convicted of a felony.
What is the “Obama Loophole”?
First, regarding the provision in Arizona’s law that was upheld, illegal immigrants still should not have to fear being racially profiled. Law enforcement still cannot check on the immigration status of someone unless that person has committed a crime.
Second, the Obama administration’s refusal to work hand-in-hand with Arizona law enforcement and it’s decision to not even discuss someone’s immigration status unless that person has been convicted of a felony means that Arizona (and the other 49 states) will find it incredibly difficult to deal with illegal immigrants, especially including those who have committed non-felony crimes.
Why? The result for illegal immigrants is they now have a loophole to exploit.
Here’s a perfect example…
Let’s say that Pedro, a Mexican citizen, illegally crosses the border into the United States, and settles down to live in Arizona. One day, while Pedro is driving his car down the streets of Tucson, he decides to speed a little because he might be late for work. As a police car clocks Pedro speeding, pulls him over, and proceeds to check his immigration status, the loophole now comes into effect.
At this point, the officer knows that he cannot arrest Pedro for failing to show legal immigration documents. Why? Because the Supreme Court just said that Arizona cannot jail someone for failing to present immigration papers. Only federal officers can arrest someone for such an infraction.
Since the Obama administration refuses to do anything about illegals who have not yet been convicted of a felony, the only thing the state police officer can do is issue Pedro a speeding ticket.
Now, the above example depicts the most desirable kind of illegal immigrant to grace our fruited plains. A good guy with no prior criminal history. A hard worker and contributor to our society, although he has yet to pay taxes for services he’s using (e.g. roads, hospital, school, etc.). However, statistics say that this is not the kind of illegal immigrant that always crosses our border.
So, essentially, ICE’s refusal to work with state officials means that the Obama administration is absconding its duty to protect American citizens from intrusion by foreign invaders.
With this kind of policy in place now, it’s conceivable that every unknown terrorist or drug trafficker can now enter the U.S. illegally without fear of reprisal because if they’re caught committing minor crimes that don’t require arrest, they’ll be set free.
Why is the Obama administration reversing its immigration policy?
It’s all about votes.
In an election year, Obama not only needs as many minority votes as he can get, but he’s willing to do anything to get them, including an attempt to gain favor with the Hispanic community by turning a blind eye toward those entering our country illegally.
After all, you can always fix the chaos after you’ve been elected to a second term, right?
We think this change in policy from the Obama administration in exchange for votes is unconscionable and disgraceful. Unfortunately, no one has been able to successfully bring suit against the administration for failing in its duties to protect the American public from foreign intruders.
Until then, long live the illegal immigrant.
