[It is] “a matter of who we are as Americans to offer the opportunity to those who want to be citizens, who’ve earned the right to be citizens . . . to have the opportunity we all have to try to become American citizens. . . . An earned path to citizenship . . . [would] encourage people to come out from the shadows. . . .” – Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security, cnsnews.com 1/24/14
Fact Check: Jeh Johnson is the newly appointed head of Homeland Security, the agency charged with enforcing America’s immigration laws. Evidently he believes that illegal aliens, far from meriting enforcement against their violations, actually “have earned the right to be citizens.”
And just what about their lawbreaking entitles them to be citizens? Are they just entitled to citizenship as legal immigrants who abide by our laws? Unfortunately, Johnson doesn’t provide any explanations, other than to suggest that it has something to do with “who we are as Americans.”
Also, perplexing is his claim that we need to bring illegal aliens “out of the shadows.” In point of fact they are not in the shadows but in broad daylight, marching, petitioning and demanding—apparently with no fear of law enforcement—that they receive legal status and benefits including citizenship.
Just to illustrate, for the past two years illegal aliens have appeared as guests of pro-amnesty representatives and senators at the State of the Union Address. No shadows whatsoever hid their presence.
It is quite plain from Johnson’s statements that he doesn’t believe in the laws he’s supposed to uphold, and that being the case he’s perfectly in sync with the Obama Administration that he serves. From its inception, the administration has used a variety of twisted legal pretexts to subvert immigration law enforcement.
Indeed, President Obama’s contempt for the procedures of law is such that he threatened to sign executive orders for amnesty if Congress fails to pass the legislation he desires. Some Republicans say they’re willing to accept amnesty if they can have new laws to beef up enforcement. But their hope for such a compromise is in vain because the administration simply will follow its past performance and ignore those laws too.
Really, the only hope of having enforcement is waiting until the president leaves office. It will never occur to Obama, Johnson, and all the rest of their ilk that the rule of law makes us “who we are as Americans.”