Ed Koch Commentary: Amnesty - It Is Not Too Late To Step Away From The Abyss BY EDWARD I. KOCH
President Obama does not believe that our borders can be protected against illegal entry. He also does not believe that efforts by Arizona to clamp down on illegal immigration are proper. As reported in Politico on July 2nd, President Obama said in a speech he gave at The American University in Washington, “…it’s not just that the law Arizona passed is divisive -- although it has fanned the flames of an already contentious debate. Laws like Arizona’s put huge pressures on local law enforcement to enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable. It puts pressure on already hard-strapped state and local budgets.”
The President went on to say, “These laws also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and legal residents, making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound.”
The President appears to be telling the American public that the U.S. government can’t keep our borders safe from illegal entry. But if the feds really wanted to prevent illegal entry, they would send the National Guard to the borders with the mission of preventing illegals from entering, which is what most Americans believe they could and should do. How do other countries protect their borders? Mexico does not open its southern border to illegals from Central and South America. It arrests, detains and sends them back to their home countries, as President Felipe Calderon admitted in a recent interview on CNN. Is the U.S.A. less competent than Mexico in the matter of border security?
President Obama says the Arizona law has “the potential of violating the rights [of the immigrants] …because of what they look like or how they sound.” Is the President saying because the illegals crossing the Mexican-American border are brown skinned and speak Spanish, they have a right to cross? Doesn’t the Arizona police force have a right to arrest someone committing both a federal and state crime? Mexican illegal immigrants are economic refugees. Is the President saying that we now are obliged to accept economic refugees in addition to political refugees who fear for their lives? Is he saying to the citizens of Haiti, most of whom would qualify as economic refugees, that we will accord them refugee status and take them in?
The Justice Department recently filed a complaint against Arizona challenging the legality of Arizona’s illegal immigration law. The New York Times editorial of July 8th states, “As the Justice Department points out in its complaint, the Arizona law will divert resources from the government’s pursuit of dangerous aliens, including terrorists, spies and violent criminals.”
Is the Justice Department saying the federal government is unable to keep our borders safe, not only from the criminals seeking to cross, but also from the economic refugee seeking a safe haven to get a job, medical care and a public education for his family, all costing, in this case, Arizona, billions of dollars? Is that acceptable?
The President has stated, according to The Times editorial of July 2nd, “Our nation has the right and obligation to control its borders,” he said, but sealing off that vast space with troops and fences is a fantasy. And no amount of security at the border does anything about the undocumented 11 million who have already crossed it.”
The President glosses over the fact that if we are not able to police our borders, as soon as the current 11 million illegals are given amnesty, a new crop of illegals will be walking across our borders. Is the President saying that once the 11 million are given amnesty, we will find a way to stop a new wave of illegals? If so, why not find and impose that way now?
The same Times editorial states, “Mr. Obama should not suspend all enforcement against illegal immigrants. But he can reset the administration’s enforcement priorities to focus on dangerous and convicted criminals and rein in the operations that his Department of Homeland Security has promoted that enable local law enforcement to engage in the racial profiling he rightly denounces.”
The only way the feds can focus “on dangerous and convicted criminals” is to arrest anyone illegally crossing the border, interviewing them and checking them against records. Expel them all when they are apprehended illegally crossing the border. American employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens should be prosecuted criminally and, on conviction, appropriately imprisoned.
Apparently, six Mexican governors of states along our border and two American governors – Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Bill Richardson of New Mexico -- have threatened to boycott the next meeting of Mexican and American governors if the meeting is held in Phoenix, as now scheduled. Let them boycott. When it comes to boycotting on this issue, California and New Mexico are far more vulnerable, since, according to The Times of July 7th, “[p]olls in the United States may show that a majority of Americans support the Arizona law.” Indeed, a recent Washington Post/ABC poll shows that 58 percent of Americans support the law.
The Obama administration knows that the American public is against the reforms that President Obama is proposing as they were against them when President George W. Bush proposed them, and the American public defeated two efforts by the Bush administration and Congress to implement those so-called reforms. Why is President Obama losing political popularity, and why is the Congress held in such low regard? The contempt of the public on this issue towards the efforts of both the President and the Congress to impose their will on an unwilling public has added strength to the coming November debacle for the Democratic Party. The Times of July 12th reports, “In a private meeting with White House officials this weekend, Democratic governors voiced deep anxiety about the Obama administration’s suit against Arizona’s new immigration law, worrying that it could cost a vulnerable Democratic Party in the fall elections.”
President Obama, please rethink your policy toward the Arizona law and all issues related to illegal immigration. It is not too late to step away from the abyss.
The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served New York City as its 105th Mayor from 1978 to 1989.
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Ed Koch Commentary: Amnesty - It Is Not Too Late To Step Away From The Abyss BY EDWARD I. KOCH
President Obama does not believe that our borders can be protected against illegal entry. He also does not believe that efforts by Arizona to clamp down on illegal immigration are proper. As reported in Politico on July 2nd, President Obama said in a speech he gave at The American University in Washington, “…it’s not just that the law Arizona passed is divisive -- although it has fanned the flames of an already contentious debate. Laws like Arizona’s put huge pressures on local law enforcement to enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable. It puts pressure on already hard-strapped state and local budgets.”
Ed Koch Commentary: Amnesty - It Is Not Too Late To Step Away From The Abyss BY EDWARD I. KOCH
The President went on to say, “These laws also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and legal residents, making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound.”
The President appears to be telling the American public that the U.S. government can’t keep our borders safe from illegal entry. But if the feds really wanted to prevent illegal entry, they would send the National Guard to the borders with the mission of preventing illegals from entering, which is what most Americans believe they could and should do. How do other countries protect their borders? Mexico does not open its southern border to illegals from Central and South America. It arrests, detains and sends them back to their home countries, as President Felipe Calderon admitted in a recent interview on CNN. Is the U.S.A. less competent than Mexico in the matter of border security?
President Obama says the Arizona law has “the potential of violating the rights [of the immigrants] …because of what they look like or how they sound.” Is the President saying because the illegals crossing the Mexican-American border are brown skinned and speak Spanish, they have a right to cross? Doesn’t the Arizona police force have a right to arrest someone committing both a federal and state crime? Mexican illegal immigrants are economic refugees. Is the President saying that we now are obliged to accept economic refugees in addition to political refugees who fear for their lives? Is he saying to the citizens of Haiti, most of whom would qualify as economic refugees, that we will accord them refugee status and take them in?
The Justice Department recently filed a complaint against Arizona challenging the legality of Arizona’s illegal immigration law. The New York Times editorial of July 8th states, “As the Justice Department points out in its complaint, the Arizona law will divert resources from the government’s pursuit of dangerous aliens, including terrorists, spies and violent criminals.”
Is the Justice Department saying the federal government is unable to keep our borders safe, not only from the criminals seeking to cross, but also from the economic refugee seeking a safe haven to get a job, medical care and a public education for his family, all costing, in this case, Arizona, billions of dollars? Is that acceptable?
The President has stated, according to The Times editorial of July 2nd, “Our nation has the right and obligation to control its borders,” he said, but sealing off that vast space with troops and fences is a fantasy. And no amount of security at the border does anything about the undocumented 11 million who have already crossed it.”
The President glosses over the fact that if we are not able to police our borders, as soon as the current 11 million illegals are given amnesty, a new crop of illegals will be walking across our borders. Is the President saying that once the 11 million are given amnesty, we will find a way to stop a new wave of illegals? If so, why not find and impose that way now?
The same Times editorial states, “Mr. Obama should not suspend all enforcement against illegal immigrants. But he can reset the administration’s enforcement priorities to focus on dangerous and convicted criminals and rein in the operations that his Department of Homeland Security has promoted that enable local law enforcement to engage in the racial profiling he rightly denounces.”
The only way the feds can focus “on dangerous and convicted criminals” is to arrest anyone illegally crossing the border, interviewing them and checking them against records. Expel them all when they are apprehended illegally crossing the border. American employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens should be prosecuted criminally and, on conviction, appropriately imprisoned.
Apparently, six Mexican governors of states along our border and two American governors – Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Bill Richardson of New Mexico -- have threatened to boycott the next meeting of Mexican and American governors if the meeting is held in Phoenix, as now scheduled. Let them boycott. When it comes to boycotting on this issue, California and New Mexico are far more vulnerable, since, according to The Times of July 7th, “[p]olls in the United States may show that a majority of Americans support the Arizona law.” Indeed, a recent Washington Post/ABC poll shows that 58 percent of Americans support the law.
The Obama administration knows that the American public is against the reforms that President Obama is proposing as they were against them when President George W. Bush proposed them, and the American public defeated two efforts by the Bush administration and Congress to implement those so-called reforms. Why is President Obama losing political popularity, and why is the Congress held in such low regard? The contempt of the public on this issue towards the efforts of both the President and the Congress to impose their will on an unwilling public has added strength to the coming November debacle for the Democratic Party. The Times of July 12th reports, “In a private meeting with White House officials this weekend, Democratic governors voiced deep anxiety about the Obama administration’s suit against Arizona’s new immigration law, worrying that it could cost a vulnerable Democratic Party in the fall elections.”
President Obama, please rethink your policy toward the Arizona law and all issues related to illegal immigration. It is not too late to step away from the abyss.
Let me know your thoughts at [email protected].
The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served New York City as its 105th Mayor from 1978 to 1989.
Posted at 02:51 PM in Ed Koch Commentary By Edward I. Koch | Permalink
Tags: Congress, George W. Bush, Illegal immigration, Illegal immigration to the United States, Justice Department, Mexico, Mexico – United States border, United States, Westchester County New York, Westchester newspaper