FAIR: Obama Betrays Security for Illegal Amnesty

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 7:15 PM

By: Rick Pedraza

The country’s largest immigration reform group called the Obama administration’s massive illegal alien amnesty program a low priority that should take a back seat to security concerns.

"The American people have some very clear ideas about the priorities President Obama and Congress need to address, and a massive illegal alien amnesty isn’t one of them," Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) told Personal Liberty Digest.

"The public wants our immigration system fixed, but they expect their interests, not the interests of the people who broke our laws, to be paramount."

Stern, in an op-ed piece in the Buffalo News, wrote that international terrorist organizations have not given up their quest to attack this country. He said enacting a massive amnesty for nearly 13 million illegal aliens before securing the nation’s borders will exploit our vulnerability and could destroy infrastructure.

Stern called out Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., for stating in late June that securing America’s borders would have to wait until after enactment of a massive amnesty for illegal aliens. Schumer, who chairs the powerful Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees, is predicting that sweeping immigration reform, including amnesty, will become law before the year is over.

“Unfortunately, Schumer and many in Washington seem prepared to use homeland security as a bargaining chip to leverage another massive amnesty for illegal aliens that the American public does not want and cannot afford,” Stern wrote. “In doing so, he and others are gambling with the security of the nation and the lives of innocent people.”

FAIR points out that since taking office, the Obama administration has abandoned enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

In April, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during an appearance on CNN asserted that illegal immigration is really not a crime.
In late June, Obama told a group of bipartisan lawmakers that Congress should get a plan together by year’s end.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama promised to address immigration reform and make amnesty a top priority during his first year in office.
Last month, Obama said that America can't continue with a broken immigration system.
Obama said the current system is not good for American workers or U.S. wages; puts Mexicans who cross the border in danger; keeps undocumented workers exploited and in the shadows; and strains border communities.
Stern said Schumer and others want to legalize millions of illegal aliens for political reasons and reasons of personal conviction.

“Why, eight years after 9/11, do we not have operational control of our borders? And why should reasserting control have to wait for anything? Congress and the president have a moral and constitutional obligation to use all resources already available to protect the security of the nation,” Stern wrote in The News.

“As chairman of the relevant subcommittee, and as an elected representative of the people who would most likely suffer in the event of another terrorist attack, Schumer has an obligation to put other considerations [such as amnesty] aside,” he added.

“As a member of the House in 1986, Schumer was instrumental in passing similar legislation that granted amnesty to illegal aliens in exchange for government commitments to control future illegal immigration. Some 3 million illegal aliens got amnesty while the American people got fooled. This time, the security and interests of law-abiding Americans must come first.”