Obama and the undocumented Democrats

By Roger Hedgecock

Presidential candidate Barack Obama, seeking the Democratic Party nomination in 2012, stumped for the illegal alien vote in El Paso, Texas, urging Congress to pass an amnesty bill and hitting Republicans for wanting to build a moat at the border and fill it with alligators.
Obama’s signature soaring rhetoric extolled the beneficial impact of immigration throughout the history of the United States, citing Einstein and I. M. Pei and the immigrant founders of Google, Yahoo, Intel and eBay, smoothly blending the importance of these legal immigrants with the tidal wave of illegals swamping the country’s social safety net, prisons and schools.
After the inspiring reminder of what America owes to past (legal) immigrants, came the trademark slam, the Alinsky left hook. “At times, there has been fear and resentment directed toward newcomers.” Translation: Enforcing immigration law is racist.
Then candidate Obama shot a right hook. Apparently aware of the Pew Center polling showing Democrats more split on illegal amnesty than Republican are, the candidate pivoted to explain that he himself had enforced immigration law, built the border fence and cracked down on employers exploiting illegal labor. Obama also bluntly acknowledged that illegals had “broke the law” and should pay a fine and any back taxes, “learn English” and “undergo background checks” before being allowed to become citizens.
The candidate failed to mention what his campaign Website (whitehouse.gov) makes clear — under his amnesty proposal, before all the tough “pay a fine,” “learn English” requirements, illegals will be eligible immediately for a temporary residency card making them legal.
Most states allow legal residents to get a driver’s license, and all states are required (under the federal “Motor Voter” law) to register driver’s license applicants as voters.  Jackpot! 11 million new registered Democrat voters just in time for 2012.
The candidate appeared unfazed by contradictions between his inspiring border control rhetoric and known facts. The number of Border Patrol officers has indeed increased, reflecting congressional action during the Bush administration. The candidate says that today “fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.” But today’s BP is ordered to make the statistics look good by ignoring rather than apprehending illegal crossings.
A BP agent, armed with a government-issued bean bag gun, recently died in the Arizona desert going up against an illegal with an AK-47. The illegal’s weapon had been sold in the U.S. and smuggled into Mexico under the watchful eyes of Obama’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (a division of the Justice Department) in a sting gone wrong called “Operation Gunrunner.”
As to border control, the candidate’s own Government Accountability Office has reported that just 44 percent of the 1,954-mile border with Mexico is under “operational” control with just 15 percent totally controlled.
Obama asserted the border fence is “basically complete.”  In 2006, Congress passed a law requiring a double fence along 700 miles of the border where smuggling was concentrated. To date, the GAO reports just 36.3 miles of that fence has been built.
Obama’s amnesty proposal clashes with political reality too. Obama did not propose his “comprehensiveæ reform when his party dominated the last Congress because he knew that there was not sufficient Democratic votes to pass it.
Open border advocate groups have called Obama’s bluff by demanding that he ignore Congress and issue an Executive Order stopping all deportations. The candidate deftly turned these demands aside asserting “that’s not how democracy works.”
Illegal alien amnesty failed in 2007 when it was called the McCain-Kennedy bill and it will fail today for the same reason — a majority of Republicans and Democrats do not support rewarding lawbreakers. Even Obama acknowledged that it was “also true that the presence of so many illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those who are trying to immigrate legally.”
If amnesty (“Comprehensive Reform”) will not pass Congress and Obama will not issue Executive Orders, how will he get the “Undocumented Democrat” vote? The 2010 re-election of the wildly unpopular Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada provides the answer. There, challenger Sharon Angle won all but Clark County (Las Vegas) where Reid’s pro-illegal DREAM Act rhetoric coupled with union members bused to the polls gave Reid the win.
Lesson: Mobilize the immigrant vote by promising amnesty. Don’t antagonize citizen voters by actually delivering amnesty. Count on the unions to fund the campaign and bus in the union member voters.
A former U.S. intelligence agent told ABC News in San Diego that Hezbollah has training camps in Mexico.,The stats on illegal immigration (however manipulated) still show thousands of OTMs (Other Than Mexican) apprehensions every year including young Muslim men from terrorist enclaves.
Securing the border is about more than protecting American jobs, more even than protecting the rule of law. It’s about National Security. It’s about the survival of the United States as a sovereign country. To Obama, the border is just about getting re-elected.

Roger Hedgecock is a former mayor of San Diego and is a nationally-syndicated radio talk show host. Visit rogerhedgecock.com.