Obama Refuses to Take Responsibility for Illegal Immigration Crisis His Policies Created
(June 30, 2014 — Washington, D.C.) - The following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in response to President Obama’s statement regarding the surge in illegal immigration:
“Rather than take responsibility for an illegal immigration crisis brought about by his administration’s defiant refusal to enforce our nation’s immigration laws, President Obama attempted to shift the blame to House Republicans for refusing to pass legislation that would provide even greater inducements for more people to violate our immigration laws.
“In his statement, the president asserted that when it comes to immigration, ‘Folks don’t know what the rules are.’ People don’t know what the rules are because the president has been making them up as he goes along. The one thing they do understand fully is that under this administration, violating our immigration laws will be rewarded.
“There is nothing in the Senate bill that President Obama repeatedly urged the House to act upon that would have prevented the current crisis. The problem is not a lack of border security – the illegal aliens are seeking out the Border Patrol in order to surrender – but a lack of will on the part of this administration to enforce our immigration laws and send illegal aliens home.
“House Republicans are not using the excuse that, ‘Because the system is broken we shouldn’t make an effort to fix it,’ as the president charged. Rather, the current crisis exemplifies the fact that when people around the world believe that violating our immigration laws will result in them being allowed to remain here, they arrive in ever larger numbers.
“Most importantly, the president said nothing in his Rose Garden speech about sending a clear signal that we will enforce our laws and return people who have no viable claim to be admitted. While the president demanded that the House act on an amnesty bill that would fuel future illegal immigration, he did not call upon Congress to amend existing laws, like the 2008 anti-trafficking legislation, that limits our nation’s ability to swiftly repatriate the illegal aliens who are surging across our borders.
“Nor did the president entertain the idea that his own self-declared amnesty for younger illegal aliens, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA,) is in any way responsible for the surge in younger illegal aliens. Rather than announce repeal of this unauthorized program, the president doubled down on further use of executive authority to grant more illegal aliens the ability to remain in this country, which will inevitably lead to still greater chaos at the border.
“In light of the president’s brazen and unapologetic statement, Congress, within their ‘existing legal authority under the Constitution,’ must act to hold this administration accountable for their consistent refusal to enforce existing laws in an effort to bring this crisis to an end.”