It matters tremendously to people in southern border states. And, it matters to many others as well.
I can understand why a President wouldn't go to any disaster area, which this is turning into.
My job is disaster recovery. When any President or Administration official shows up, everything stops. It's a serious pain in the rear for the people trying to deal with whatever is happening to have to deal with that kind of dog and pony show plus all the freaking security.
If the President wants to go down there, and politicians in each party feel he should, then let him fly over and then land somewhere far away to meet with the Governors of the states affected. There's no reason the President should take any tours of any facilities where these people are - we damned sure don't need him catching something and getting sick.
What the President is supposed to do is manage and lead. He can do that from anywhere. If he would... so far, from what everyone in the border states are saying, from both parties, is that we're way behind the power curve on this.
The first thing Obama should be doing, is getting Congress to change the law that gives people from Central American countries, other than Mexico, the right to petition for refugee status. Congress passed that law in 2008 as a humanitarian action to stem sex trafficking of kids and other trafficking of people, which is laudable, but is having serious unintended consequences. That law is the
William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. He has already
started this, but he's not pushing Congress as hard as he should because he's getting friction from his own party.
Second, he needs to rescind his statements that kids that get here can stay here - the DREAM Act rhetoric has lead a lot of people in other countries to think if they can just get their kids here, they can stay, which isn't true, but they think it is. In the same vein, he needs to rescind his EO regarding
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) which he signed in 2012, as part of his implementation of the DREAM Act, which by the way, isn't even a law.
Thirdly, he needs to start enforcing the laws that are already on the books, like the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which already gives him the authority to prosecute companies that employ illegals and requires all employers to do what is now available through e-Verify. If we stop the jobs, there's no reason for them to stay.
Fourth, he needs to take executive action to streamline the Immigration Court System, which is actually not part of the Judicial Branch and is completely under his control as part of the
US Justice Department. The current laws, except for the one I listed in the "first thing" paragraph, give him the authority to do so, so except for the kids, he can speed this up.
Fifth, he needs to get Congress to give him the money to do it, and accept Congressional oversight of the operation. He's already asked for $3.7 billion, but I don't think that's enough. According to
USA Today, of that amount, "
$1.8 billion, would go to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to provide appropriate care for the children while in U.S. custody. $1.1 billion would go to the U.S. Homeland Security Department to pay for transporting the children, expanding investigations of immigrant smugglers and pay for the detention and removal of undocumented adults traveling with children. $433 million would go toward stepping up border enforcement, including an increase in air surveillance. The U.S. Justice Department would receive $64 million to hire about 40 additional immigration judges to reduce the backlog of cases that is slowing the process of deportation. $300 million would go to the State Department to pay for repatriating and reintegrating migrants back into their home countries and help the governments in the region better control their borders." Why is it not enough? Well, as one major point, only hiring 40 new judges will not even put a dent in 290,000 individuals cases.
Moved to proper section
