Patterico's Pontifications

7/26/2014

President Obama On Illegal Immigration: Then And Now

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:49 am



[guest post by Dana]

President Obama, July, 2010:

For example, there are those in the immigrants’ rights community who have argued passionately that we should simply provide those who are [here] illegally with legal status, or at least ignore the laws on the books and put an end to deportation until we have better laws. And often this argument is framed in moral terms: Why should we punish people who are just trying to earn a living?

I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument, but I believe such an indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair. It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration. And it would also ignore the millions of people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally.

President Obama’s response to an immigration challenge, November, 2013:

“I need your help,” a young man shouted, as he called for the president to halt the deportations of some of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. “You have a power to stop deportations for all.”

“Actually, I don’t, and that’s why we’re here,” the president responded as the heckler and several others continued shouting, breaking out into a chant of “stop deportations!”

“Now, what you need to know, when I’m speaking as president of the United States, and I come to this community, is that, in fact, if I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so,” Obama said. “But we’re also a nation of laws. That’s part of our tradition. And so the easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws.”

“What I’m proposing is the harder path, which is to use our democratic processes to achieve the same goal that you want to achieve, but it won’t be as easy as just shouting,” he continued. “It requires us lobbying and getting it done.”

President Obama, now:

[White House] officials are laying the groundwork for a large-scale expansion of immigrant rights that would come by executive action within weeks.

Officials signaled strongly Friday that Obama’s move would shield from deportation large numbers of immigrants living in the country illegally, as advocacy groups have demanded.

Roughly 5 million of the estimated 11 million people who entered the country without legal authorization or overstayed their visas could be protected under a leading option the White House is considering, according to officials who discussed the proposals on condition of anonymity.

Further, it is expected he will make the move before the end of summer, in spite of the concerns of vulnerable red-state Democrats facing mid-term re-elections.

How big of a move is the president planning?

“He seems resolute that he’s going to go big and go soon,” says Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-reform group America’s Voice.


–Dana

17 Responses to “President Obama On Illegal Immigration: Then And Now”

  1. Beldar predicts:

    Between now and January 2017, we will see an accelerating series of full-blown Watergate Tapes-magnitude constitutional crises deliberately and provocatively engineered by Mr. Obama.

    He believes — and he’s probably correct — that as a practical matter, he’s quite literally unimpeachable. Even the proverbial “caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl” wouldn’t shake enough Dem Senators loose from Obama’s skirts to get a vote of conviction through the Senate.

    He will be even more reckless.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  2. Ugh. What a grim prediction. But unfortunately, likely. It’s basic human nature at work, except in this case, the outcomes are so dire and of substantial significance. The less consequences and accountability a reckless man faces, the more reckless he becomes. Because he can.

    Dana (4dbf62)

  3. Somehow we have to get the wheels off the bus.

    mg (31009b)

  4. At this point the white House is goading the Republicans into impeachment. If legalizing 5 million illegal immigrants won’t do it, he ‘ll just get even more outrageous.

    gahrie (a05ed4)

  5. He will be even more reckless.

    He’s turning into a parody (or stereotype) of a truly deranged leftist. But I blame him less than I blame all the people throughout this country who voted him into the White House in the first place and provide him, even today, a higher rating in public opinion polls than warranted.

    I’m sure all the left-leaning sentiment expressed by quite a few Americans — or certainly their continuing to rate Republicans/conservatives more negatively than they do liberals — help fuel Obama’s extremism.

    “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

    If I despised this country and wanted to see it tank, in the grand manner of some banana republic in South America or a wobbly nation in Asia or eastern Europe, I’d be rooting for and cheering on Obama.

    Mark (2604a9)

  6. Congress and republicans continue to aim at the wrong target. Obama can sign all the illegal orders he wants but somebody has to implement and execute them. Those officials are violating their oath. . They should be the target – not Obama or Holder or Koskinen or even Lerner. Aim lower to where the real center of gravity is in the bureaucracy. Yea, they’ll refuse to appear or cooperate. They’ll lawyer-up and obstruct, but after enough of them are under enough pressure somebody will fold and the Obama gang will find itself without the ability to keep brazenly violating the law with such ease.

    crazy (d60cb0)

  7. “Aim lower to where the real center of gravity is in the bureaucracy. Yea, they’ll refuse to appear or cooperate. They’ll lawyer-up and obstruct, but after enough of them are under enough pressure ”

    The only way to reach them is on budget items and Clinton showed how to oppose that. Just veto the funding bills. If Gingrich hadn’t been distracted by his book deal, he might have won that confrontation. Shut the government down, and we saw how willing the Park Service was to exceed it’s authority during the sequestration shutdown.

    It can only be done by a team that knows the appropriations process thoroughly. Once the Senate is in GOP hands, pass small bills that defund, not whole agencies, but small items like travel and “diversity” meetings and the like. Find items that would not be supported by the public. It will take more skill than I fear the GOP has.

    Mike K (b5c01a)

  8. It will take more skill than I fear the GOP has.

    …and will.

    Dana (4dbf62)

  9. This battle was fought and lost in the 1980s, IMO. But the present administration seems actually eager to dissolve the border, the better to “fundamentally transform” America by importing millions of Instant Democrats. And it’s appalling to listen to granola-brained liberals talk about Patriotism Without Borders–that makes as much sense as Soup Without Bowls. If lachrymose liberals object to the notion of walls and borders and barriers and such, we’ll know where to lodge these hapless migrant children.

    The Sanity Inspector (1f0921)

  10. He believes — and he’s probably correct — that as a practical matter, he’s quite literally unimpeachable. Even the proverbial “caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl” wouldn’t shake enough Dem Senators loose from Obama’s skirts to get a vote of conviction through the Senate.

    Suppose Nixon had been acquitted because 34 Republican Senators held the line. Would the next few elections have gone better for the GOP?

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  11. This shows that the midterms are going to be a disaster. They fear a wave election that will wipe out the Senate. In a modest loss, they’ll lose 7 seats, in a middling wave, 11 and in a wipeout 14.

    So, Obama is going to go for broke and completely disrupt the narrative. He is going to take dictatorial action, energize his brownshirt base, and dare the GOP to try to stop him.

    I think it will backfire badly as even folks like me who generally favor immigration reform won’t stand for it. The House should not impeach; They should sue immediately, get an emergency injunction against the issuance of any such status, and request the Supreme Court take original jurisdiction even if they have to come into a summer session to deal with it.

    If Obama defies the courts, then you impeach, and good luck to any Dem Senator who votes against.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  12. Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s looking like the Secret Service is going to have a couple difficult years.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  13. The end result of this might be the forced removal of 10 million illegals in a few years. I had thought that this was politically impossible, but by playing to the extreme fringe of the immigration debate Obama may so completely poison the well that the reaction is uncontrolled.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  14. Between now and January 2017, we will see an accelerating series of full-blown Watergate Tapes-magnitude constitutional crises deliberately and provocatively engineered by Mr. Obama.

    I’ll qualify that. Democratic officialdom does this as a matter of course. Obama is a nullity and does not add much kinetic energy himself, more reflecting the culture of the Democratic Party than influencing it. His willingness to engage in brazen lying (Benghazi), the shamelessness of his continuous fundraising, and his diminished capacity to tolerate the free flow of information and ordinary disputation do send certain signals. It’s important to recall that the nexus he’s signalling to is rotten already and even people on the periphery of the Democratic Party (e.g. Douglas Shulman) are corrupt and corruptible.

    One thing that hits you is that there is no such thing as patriotism within the senior ranks of the Democratic Party. The bond which appends one American to another means nothing, which is why they’re happy to import boatloads of Central Americans on the off chance they’ll be useful in subjugating the people they think are the enemy, and that’s us bitter clingers.

    So here we have it: half the political class is composed of people who are comprehensively unscrupulous, give priority to factional politics over all other considerations, is shot through with people who cannot process with equanimity ordinary competition and disputation, and regards the opposition as having no circle of immunity to which to retreat. Hmmm.

    If you read the Diplomad 2.0, you know his prediction of what’s next: consequential electoral fraud. The portals would be the widespread practice of early voting, the League of Women Voters inspired rules which inhibit purging the rolls of non-participants (leaving canny operators the registrations of people who’ve moved out of area to exploit), and the technological sophistication of the Democratic Party’s Silicon Valley connections. I’m not sure they could pull it off. The thing is, the culture of the Democratic Party is such today that there’s little doubt that rank and file Democrats would be go along and the media auxilliary would ignore the story or pretend the Republicans had fabricated it.

    We’re kind of in a situation that Chile faced in 1970, that Uruguay faced after 1968, that Czechoslovakia faced in 1946, that Spain faced in 1934, and that Argentina faced throughout the period running from 1943 to 1983. Democratic institutions proved unsustainable in these circumstances. It did not end well.

    Art Deco (ee8de5)

  15. I agree that it’s intentional provocation. And yes, with Eric Schmidt setting up his progressive data mining organization, for instance. the left is sure to tip elections their way.

    That’s why they attacked True the Vote the hardest.

    So, time for the GOP to step up, or it’s game, set, match.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  16. If lachrymose liberals object to the notion of walls and borders and barriers and such, we’ll know where to lodge these hapless migrant children.

    You can also be sure that those “lachrymose liberals” (or I’ll label them “latte liberals”) probably — probably — won’t be sending their kids to schools whose student body is made up largely of those hapless migrant children.

    The left ultimately will say (or act no differently from those who really do proclaim) “let them eat cake” to the great unwashed masses from south of the border and also to the put-upon middle-class people who’ll be forced to once again vote with their feet and moving van, while the Malias and Sashas (or Chelseas) throughout the US attend nice private schools and eventually reside in places protected by high walls and guard-gated entries.

    Mark (2604a9)

  17. but by playing to the extreme fringe of the immigration debate Obama may so completely poison the well that the reaction is uncontrolled.

    I think the emotions of hollow do-gooderism have become so entrenched throughout modern Western society, that a counter reaction to that not only isn’t likely, it’s probably impossible. After all, the US is still more civilized (legally, if not socially) than a nation like Venezuela, yet the people of that South American country tolerate the excesses of ultra-liberalism, which have wrecked their economy and culture (eg, high crime rates) to an astonishing degree, with a ton of sheeple-like resignation.

    We’re kind of in a situation that….Argentina faced throughout the period running from 1943 to 1983. Democratic institutions proved unsustainable in these circumstances. It did not end well.

    Don’t cry for us, Argentina.

    Mark (2604a9)


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