Obama Demands Immediate Action on Immigrant Reform

So, President Obama flew to Las Vegas Tuesday to deliver his thoughts on immigration reform.  Why he felt the urge to continue to campaign on the taxpayer's dime instead of simply delivering the speech in the Washington, D.C. area remains to be uncertain. Though the Congressional Hispanic caucus asked him to not do it, President Obama again ignored the legislative process and demanded his wishes be immediately put into law.

As was pointed out HERE , the President's fake urgency and bossiness over scheduling immediate action on an immigration reform bill is a bit much:

"If Congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist they vote on it right away.

"Yes, well, when he is Prime Minister of the World he might be able to tell the Intergalactic Parliament what to vote on and when, but as of now Mr. Obama is merely the President of the United States and the Congress has been loathe - over the past 224 years - to cede the power of Floor scheduling to the White House.

Someone should remind the President each and every day that he is now entering his fifth year - not fifth day - in office and he could have "insisted" on Immigration Reform at any point in his first term

 It is clear that one could question Obama's sincerity here.  He would like nothing more, no doubt, to use this hot button issue as a battering ram on Republicans in the 2014 elections, should it twist in the wind until then. He will continue to rant about non-existent straw men, as is his nature.  Instead of working with Congress, letting the process move forward, he had to jump in and up the ante.  He raises concerns that Democrats hoped to sidestep.  

Republicans were burned in the 1980's when Ronald Reagan struck a lopsided deal with Democrats.  Complete, unequivocal amnesty was granted then and the border remained unsecured.  It is understandable for reasonable people now to question how stipulations and requirements will be enforced.

This is the statement from Senator Rubio, one of the gang of eight, as he noticed a lack of enforcement triggers mentioned by the president:

“I am concerned by the President’s unwillingness to accept significant enforcement triggers before current undocumented immigrants can apply for a green card. Without such triggers in place, enforcement systems will never be implemented and we will be back in just a few years dealing with millions of new undocumented people in our country. Furthermore, the President ignored the need for a modernized guest worker program that will ensure those who want to immigrate legally to meet our economy’s needs can do so in the future.  Finally, the President’s speech left the impression that he believes reforming immigration quickly is more important than reforming immigration right. A reform of our immigration laws is a consequential undertaking that deserves to be subjected to scrutiny and input from all involved.  I was encouraged by the President’s  explicit statement that people with temporary legal status won’t be eligible for ObamaCare. If in fact they were, the potential cost of reform would blow open another big, gaping hole in our federal budget and make the bill untenable.”

Liberals will argue that border enforcement is at its strictest now. That also means that the number of those illegally crossing is increasing. That number is up 9%.    

Even as President Obama travels to Las Vegas Tuesday to call for legalizing illegal immigrants, the latest numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol suggest that the flow across the nation’s southwest border jumped by 9 percent last year.The Border Patrol made 356,873 arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2012, up from 327,577 in 2011, according to figures obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed by The Washington Times. Border Patrol officials estimate that apprehensions are a good proxy for illegal crossings, so when the numbers go up, it means that the flow of illegal immigrants is going up as well.Last year’s increase marks a reversal. Apprehensions peaked in 2005 at 1.2 million and had been steadily dropping every year since as first President George W. Bush and then Mr. Obama committed more manpower and resources to the border.

President Obama may think he can simply declare the border secure and the issue dead, thus reform measures are ready to be made. That is a troubling assertion, considering the data would indicate the number of illegal crossings are increasing now, not on the decline.

This issue doesn't have to be rushed.  We have the time to do it right.