Dee Perez-Scott: Read this letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

Nearly three years after your inauguration, many illegal alien and other immigrant families are still attempting to blame their family separation plight on “our broken immigration system.” Whether our immigration system is broken or not is a matter of opinion. Those who have entered and remain in this country illegally want to be able to quickly achieve legal residency status. They think the immigration system is broken because it does not enable them to do so. Apparently they haven’t considered the fact that an immigration system has many purposes one of which is to grant legal residency status only to those who have entered this country legally.

It is grossly unfair to grant special immigration status to any adult relatives of legal residents or citizens. As adults, relatives should have to compete on a level playing field with all other applicants. We neither need to nor should we grant precedence to adults who happen to have someone who managed to get his or her foot in the immigration door. That precedence should be reserved for the spouses and minor children of legal residents or citizens. Eliminating all of those adult relatives seeking a special immigration status from the waiting list should alleviate much of the immigration backlog. That would enable the system to focus on those applicants who have the skills and advanced education necessary to keep America competitive in the global economy.

Illegal aliens, who have children born in this country, use the “family separation argument” in their appeals against deportation. They never mention the alternative which is to take their minor children, regardless of citizenship, with them. It is incredible that they would even think in terms of abandoning their minor children in the U.S. Families are never torn apart except by the overt actions of their members. Those who claim that they have been thwarted by the immigration system in their quest for legal residency status and their ability to maintain family unity are being disingenuous. This situation is prime facie evidence that that the immigration system is, in fact, working well. A system that allows illegals to stay and work with impunity without the threat of deportation and that grants them and their families a pathway to citizenship would be a broken system.

As a candidate you promised illegal aliens and their fellow-travelers that you would promote comprehensive immigration reform. More recently, as President, you made a speech in which you talked about “that illusive middle ground” on immigration reform. However, at the same time you seem to have set a pre-condition of amnesty for all illegals of good character. This seems like an oxymoron since the character of these illegal aliens has already been established by their utter disregard for the rule of law. Moreover, any setting precondition is hardly a basis for finding middle ground.

Although the validity of some these numbers is questionable, last year, it was reported that under your direction, ICE deported 392,862 illegal aliens - a record high. In 2009, your administration deported 387,790 people. These numbers do not mean much if the deportees can easily return in a matter of hours or days or have served no time for their illegal entry and presence in the U.S. We understand that 95% of those who try to enter our country illegally are ultimately successful. That does not speak well for current policies which amount to a variation of the discredited “catch-and-release” policy. Deportation without a significant penalty can be a form of de facto amnesty as the voluntary deportees return time and again and are allowed to leave voluntarily to avoid being considered felons.

Thanks to the Republican control of the Peoples’ House, mass amnesty for illegals is off the table. This provides an opportunity to double or triple the number of involuntary deportations. We call on you to not listen to the siren voices of those mentioned in the next paragraph and Change.org, who want you to use your executive authority to bypass our elected representatives and unilaterally undermine the immigration laws. We understand from recent news that you have in fact agreed to avoid any such egregious action.

On April 13, 2011 twenty-two senators sent you a letter asking you to use your "prosecutorial discretion" to put an end to the deportation of illegal alien students. Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D, IL-4), chair of the immigration task force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, goes further, calling on you in a nationwide tour to “stop the deportations of the families of U.S. citizens, [and] young people who should have been legalized via the DREAM Act…”

We are unalterably opposed to any such actions. They are simply asking you to reward the illegal entry and presence of illegal aliens and create a whole new incentive for more border violations. The Hispanic Caucus seems to be arguing that no one should be deported if a baby can be delivered on U.S. soil. A woman finding herself pregnant could simply plan ahead to make sure that baby will be delivered in the U.S. rather the country of the origin. That doesn’t sound like the kind of policy anyone should endorse. The DREAM Act should remain defunct until its many flaws are remedied. Otherwise, it represents just a back door amnesty proposal that could affect millions of illegal aliens. We must require all of those so-called students serve a 4 year enlistment in the armed forces before they can be considered for DREAM-like special consideration. That is the only way they can be adequately show their love for this country.

While, as the chief executive of the United States, you may have some limited authority to direct ICE to stop the detention and deportation of anyone you choose, this is not the way a democracy is supposed to work. There is no justification for interfering with ICE activities. You saw the adverse reaction of many when decided one morning that there was genocide in Libya and decided on your own to help the civilians being killed and persecuted by Dictator Khadafy. You didn't ask the Congress. You didn't hold a meeting. You use whatever discretion you thought you had. Many disagreed and your stock went down in the approval ratings.

Fortunately there is bipartisan opposition to the type of immigration reform represented by the past failed bills. The instant-citizen children of illegal aliens are quite properly referred to as “anchor babies” because they can eventually sponsor other members of the family. They anchor their families to the U.S. The term anchor babies in no way dehumanizes the children to which it refers. That is just left wing hyperbole. If we don’t stop that nonsense, we will soon become a nation of PC euphemisms. Instead, let’s make our freedom of speech a reality in every way. “The emperor has no clothes” should be the order of the day.

Despite the claims to the contrary, illegal aliens know by word of mouth that if they can deliver a baby on American soil that child will be an instant-citizen and be entitled to all of the welfare and other benefits available to citizens. All one has to do is visit a vital records office where birth certificates are issued to be convinced of that. Those offices are crowded with people barely out of the delivery room so they can get their hands on that precious piece of paper for their babies. There is nothing repugnant about the mention of these obvious facts. These children are "anchors" in every sense of the word and all of the illegals know it and are counting on it.

President Obama, we ask you to make sure parents under a removal order or otherwise understand their responsibility for the care of their minor children, regardless of their citizenship. If they want to maintain their family integrity, they can do so by taking their minor children with them. Modern communications will enable them to keep in touch with adult relatives on either side of the border. This action in no way threatens the citizenship status of those children. Please give us hope that all of the laws of our nation, which we believe to be fundamentally just and fair, are and will be fully enforced by the executive branch. It is not ICE that is tearing families apart. If it happens, it is solely the responsibility or irresponsibility of the parents.

Respectfully,

Ultima