Inexcusable

"Deporter-in-chief"? Again? Why are we hearing this again? What is President Obama doing?

The New York Times published this morning an title detailing the evolution of federal enforcement of immigration law since Congress' failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) in 2006. Once the Bush Administration recognized CIR was going nowhere in Congress any time soon, it began stepping up ICE crackdowns all across the nation. And even after George W. Bush turned over The White House to Barack Obama in January 2009, the Obama Administration decided to make some tweaks to ICE policies... But nonetheless continue tough & broad enforcement.

In 2012, President Obama seemed to be turning a corner when he announced DACA. Even as many DREAM Act eligible immigrants (that is, they would benefit from the DREAM Act if it were law) have found a reprieve from living in constant fear thanks to DACA, their parents, friends, neighbors, and other family members still live in fear. Even since DACA was first announced, we've witnessed even more ICE raids and deportations.



Since President Obama first took office, nearly 2 million immigrants have been rounded up and deported. This is why we saw "Two Million Too Many" protests sweep across the nation this past weekend. Immigrant rights activists are again calling on President Obama to curb his administration's record breaking pace of deportations.

Yet even as pro-CIR activists protest President Obama's record number of deportations, the 21st Century Know Nothings are calling for even more deportations while claiming President Obama is "not enforcing the law" (cough- Joe Heck- cough- Paul Ryan- cough). And why are they flat out denying the facts and calling for even more of what's already happening? Apparently, it's something about "slaves" and "amnesty" and "drug mules". Oh, and let's not forget "libertarian populism" and "Republican rebranding".

No wonder why Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois) couldn't take any more insani-TEA. He recently took to the House floor to ask his Republican colleagues to finally get their act together on CIR... Or force President Obama to take further executive action to halt the deportations that are tearing American families apart and ripping entire American communities to shreds.



At least Rep. Jeff Denham (R-California) paid attention. Last fall, he joined a couple other House Republicans, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Fierce), and the vast majority of House Democrats to cosponsor HR 15. And last week, he offered a modest amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would allow DREAMers to obtain legal status by way of military service. His G-O-TEA colleagues killed that amendment.



And remember, this was after House Republicans (including Denham & Heck) voted in unison against CIR on the House floor. Never mind that American families like Bryan Rivera's suffer while the lower House of Congress dithers on CIR and forces President Obama into an incredibly difficult conundrum of whether to strictly enforce current law or try to alleviate the unnecessary hardship of these families. It's inexcusable that the lower House of Congress continues to waste time on ridiculous bullshit before skipping town for an 18 day vacation.

Seriously? Do they really need another 18 day vacation while so many American families are worrying over whether they can even stay in their homes? How much more inexcusable can their behavior become? And how can they criticize President Obama over any further action he takes when they refuse to fulfill their Constitutional duty and act themselves?