Gary L. Bauer
Campaign for Working Families
America Rejects Obama's Open Borders
It's a ruse. The Senate's "comprehensive" bill would not have prevented this crisis at the Texas border from happening. But don't take my word for it.
Senator Marco Rubio, one of the key sponsors of the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill, even admits that. Rubio told the Washington Times:
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Campaign for Working Families
America Rejects Obama's Open Borders
It's a ruse. The Senate's "comprehensive" bill would not have prevented this crisis at the Texas border from happening. But don't take my word for it.
Senator Marco Rubio, one of the key sponsors of the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill, even admits that. Rubio told the Washington Times:
A poll released today by ABC News and the Washington Post is getting a lot of publicity. It purports to show that the country supports Barack Obama on the issue of immigration. ABC News ran the story with this headline: "More Than Half Back Immigration Plan," referring to Obama's request for $4 billion in emergency spending.
They justified that headline based on the finding that 53% support spending an additional $4 billion to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern border. However, the poll question strongly implied that the children would be deported and that half of the money would be "used to speed their deportation hearings and to increase border security."
So, 53% of Americans support the additional spending -- IF it is coupled with deportations and border security. Unfortunately, the amount of money dedicated to border security is in dispute, and Obama's desire to stop illegal immigration seems to be zero.
Here's the most telling finding in the poll: Just 33% of Americans approved of Obama's handling of immigration, while 58% disapproved. That's a whopping 25-point gap!
Let's put that into some perspective. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, Obama was down 15 points on his handling of the economy, down 18 points for health care and down 20 points for foreign policy.
What is it that Obama has done on immigration to earn such terrible ratings? He constantly promotes some kind of a quasi-amnesty. While he talks about compassion, his policies have acted as a magnet, drawing more illegal immigrants to the border. He has lied about the security of the border and seldom proposes anything to make it more secure. He constantly lectures America about why we need more immigration. His administration is suing a company that requires its employees to speak English.
In short, Obama has imposed a de facto open borders policy. Can we not conclude that it is the reason Obama has such a low approval rating on this issue?
We're constantly being told that it is conservatives who must change our views, but let's put it another way. Let's assume that the 2016 election becomes a referendum on immigration with Hillary arguing for the things Obama has been doing and the Republican nominee taking the opposite position. On that issue alone one would assume that we win by a landslide because the public has overwhelmingly rejected Obama's radical open borders ideas.
The GOP political elites and consultants who are paralyzed by fear should focus on exposing the left's extreme views rather than conforming to them.
"There Are Thousands Of Us"
If you want an idea of just how insecure our borders are, check out this Fox News report.
Saturday Fox accompanied Rep. Louie Gohmert on a pre-dawn visit to the border near Mission, Texas. What they experienced was astounding. Rep. Gohmert left saying, "I'm more concerned than ever."
During their visit a boy from El Salvador told the Fox reporter, "You're going to be out here a long time. There are thousands of us."
Tens of thousands of people have already crossed the border and thousands more are coming because they believe they will be allowed to stay. "Amnesty" is the message they have gotten from Obama's open borders policy.
The illegal immigrants crossing our border do not fear deportation. In fact, they are surrendering en mass to our overwhelmed Border Patrol agents. "We used to chase them," one agent remarked. "Now they [illegal immigrants] are chasing us."
Not So Comprehensive After All
I have noted in recent reports that liberal apologists have tried to blame the border crisis on House Republicans who rejected the Senate's so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" bill.
Two weeks ago, President Obama stood in the Rose Garden and railed against Republican obstructionism, saying:
They justified that headline based on the finding that 53% support spending an additional $4 billion to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern border. However, the poll question strongly implied that the children would be deported and that half of the money would be "used to speed their deportation hearings and to increase border security."
So, 53% of Americans support the additional spending -- IF it is coupled with deportations and border security. Unfortunately, the amount of money dedicated to border security is in dispute, and Obama's desire to stop illegal immigration seems to be zero.
Here's the most telling finding in the poll: Just 33% of Americans approved of Obama's handling of immigration, while 58% disapproved. That's a whopping 25-point gap!
Let's put that into some perspective. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, Obama was down 15 points on his handling of the economy, down 18 points for health care and down 20 points for foreign policy.
What is it that Obama has done on immigration to earn such terrible ratings? He constantly promotes some kind of a quasi-amnesty. While he talks about compassion, his policies have acted as a magnet, drawing more illegal immigrants to the border. He has lied about the security of the border and seldom proposes anything to make it more secure. He constantly lectures America about why we need more immigration. His administration is suing a company that requires its employees to speak English.
In short, Obama has imposed a de facto open borders policy. Can we not conclude that it is the reason Obama has such a low approval rating on this issue?
We're constantly being told that it is conservatives who must change our views, but let's put it another way. Let's assume that the 2016 election becomes a referendum on immigration with Hillary arguing for the things Obama has been doing and the Republican nominee taking the opposite position. On that issue alone one would assume that we win by a landslide because the public has overwhelmingly rejected Obama's radical open borders ideas.
The GOP political elites and consultants who are paralyzed by fear should focus on exposing the left's extreme views rather than conforming to them.
"There Are Thousands Of Us"
If you want an idea of just how insecure our borders are, check out this Fox News report.
Saturday Fox accompanied Rep. Louie Gohmert on a pre-dawn visit to the border near Mission, Texas. What they experienced was astounding. Rep. Gohmert left saying, "I'm more concerned than ever."
During their visit a boy from El Salvador told the Fox reporter, "You're going to be out here a long time. There are thousands of us."
Tens of thousands of people have already crossed the border and thousands more are coming because they believe they will be allowed to stay. "Amnesty" is the message they have gotten from Obama's open borders policy.
The illegal immigrants crossing our border do not fear deportation. In fact, they are surrendering en mass to our overwhelmed Border Patrol agents. "We used to chase them," one agent remarked. "Now they [illegal immigrants] are chasing us."
Not So Comprehensive After All
I have noted in recent reports that liberal apologists have tried to blame the border crisis on House Republicans who rejected the Senate's so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" bill.
Two weeks ago, President Obama stood in the Rose Garden and railed against Republican obstructionism, saying:
"Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to allow an up-or-down vote on that Senate bill or any legislation to fix our broken immigration system. …We now have an actual humanitarian crisis on the border that only underscores the need to drop the politics and fix our immigration system once and for all."
"I don't think the immigration bill that was proposed in the Senate would have prevented that from happening. What I think would have prevented that from happening is sufficient border security on the ground that would have discouraged people from making that journey in the first place."
FOLLOW GARY ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. VISIT END OF DAY ARCHIVES TO SHARE REPORTS ON FACEBOOK.
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