I’m such a cynic. Obama didn’t really say that, but that is the first thing I thought of when I saw this Wall Street Journal article by Miriam Jordan. I should be applauding the administration for getting tough and not look for hidden motives. But, you can bet they know that every time an immigrant commits murder, or rapes someone, or is convicted for a DUI, or invades a home, the chances for amnesty for illegal aliens passing the Congress diminishes. So arrests have been stepped up in advance of the push that begins this week in Congress.
Immigration agents arrested nearly 300 foreign nationals with criminal records, most of them suspected illegal immigrants, in the largest such crackdown ever conducted by federal authorities.
The operation, carried out in California over three days and spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, underscores the Obama administration’s increased focus on arresting and deporting foreigners who have criminal records rather than those just living and working in the U.S. illegally.
The statewide operation, which ended late Thursday, involved more than 400 agents of ICE, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Among those arrested, more than 200 were previously convicted in the U.S. of rape, armed robbery and other serious crimes, but were at large.
ICE chief John Morton told a news conference Friday that the effort is a “direct reflection” of the new government priority designed “to remove from our streets criminals who don’t have the right to be here in the first place.”
O.K., so now what? Are they shipped back across the border only to return again? The article doesn’t tell us what is going to happen with those recent arrested aliens.
But, sure enough at the end of the article Jordan confirms my suspicions about Obama’s motives.
The Obama administration hopes the tough enforcement will help it win support in Congress for a broader campaign to overhaul the U.S. immigration system next year. The White House would like to create a path to legal residency and citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
For a handy list of just who will be supporting Amnesty for illegal aliens visit this post from last August. Note that five of the ten top federal refugee resettlement contractors support Amnesty (the others do to, they just didn’t attend the White House pep rally). I don’t understand how “church” groups and others whose job it is to find scarce work for legal refugees can support increasing the competition for employment by supporting a massive overnight legalization for approximately 12 million immigrants who came illegally.