Report blasts Obama's record on immigration

[ilbegone]

Report blasts Obama's record on immigration

Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
12/09/2009

The Obama Administration has failed in its efforts to secure the border and enforce immigration laws, an anti-illegal immigration group said in a report released Wednesday.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington D.C.-based group, says the administration "has systemically dismantled" immigration enforcement since the beginning of the year.

Obama has delayed on three occasions a requirement that federal contractors use the E-Verify employment verification system, according to the report.

The group says the administration has gutted worksite enforcement operations by allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country and compete with American citizens and legal immigrants for jobs.

The administration has undermined the 287g program that allows federal officials to train state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws, the report says.

Dan Stein, the group's president, said Obama and members of his administration have repeatedly expressed their desire to push amnesty legislation through Congress.

The administration is making "empty promises" of immigration enforcement to make amnesty more palatable to the American people, Stein said.

In a speech last month, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that Obama is fully committed to reforming immigration laws. At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, she renewed her call for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

"Everybody recognizes that our current system isn't working and that our immigration laws need to change," Napolitano said in remarks to the Center for American Progress in November.

She said the government is serious about immigration enforcement.

The flow of illegal immigrants into the United States has declined sharply since 2007, when immigration reform legislation last failed in Congress. The Border Patrol has more than 20,000 officers, and there are more than 600 miles of border fencing, she said.

The government also has expanded a program that identifies and removes the most dangerous illegal immigrant criminals from the country, she said.

She said the administration has expanded and improved the use of the E-Verify system, which allows employers to electronically prove that they aren't hiring illegal immigrants.

The administration has also ended a year-long backlog for background checks on applicants for green cards and naturalization. The government has improved technology to prevent people from using forged documents to enter the country, she said.

"At the border, in the interior of the country, and when it comes to legal immigration, the government has made significant strides to improve enforcement," Napolitano said.

Some local immigrant advocacy groups aren't happy with Obama's performance on immigration issues.

"We have noticed an increase in detentions and arrests of people who already had outstanding deportation orders," said Emilio Amaya, director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, a nonprofit immigrant assistance organization. "As they try to please some of the anti-immigrant groups in the country, our community is paying the consequences."

Adrian Pantoja, associate professor of political studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, said he would advise Obama to avoid immigration reform in his first term.

It's impossible to satisfy everyone when positions are so polarized, he said.

"It's a political hot potato," Pantoja said. "As soon as you touch it, you're going to get burned."

http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_13963430