When President Obama gave a speech about “comprehensive” immigration reform on May 11th in El Paso, Texas, one thing was certain: he was in no hurry to close the border. Instead, he seemed focused on playing politics by offering an emotional appeal to Hispanics and Latinos in a bid to keep their vote for 2012. This is why his so-called immigration reforms center around legalizing the 11 million-plus illegal immigrants “undocumented workers” who are already in this country, and it goes a long way in explaining why Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) describes the president’s rhetoric as “purely political.”
Yet the bigger problem we face as a result of Obama’s willingness to leave the border porous isn’t political so much as practical. In other words, a border that isn’t secure translates into a country that isn’t secure either.
If you think I exaggerate the dangers of an open border then here’s a little experiment for you: Tonight, when you’re headed to bed, lock your front door but leave your back door wide open (and if you really want to emulate what Obama has done by advertising our open border, put a sign up in your backyard that says “back door open for your convenience.”)
I dare say not many among us could sleep well under such conditions, yet those are the exact same conditions Obama places our nation under when he turns a blind eye toward our faltering southern border in order to secure a few hundred thousand votes for the coming presidential election.
And more proof that Obama is just playing politics, as Congressman Smith put it, and thereby risking our safety, lies in the fact that he used his El Paso speech to call Congressional Republicans to pass the “Dream Act,” (which happens to be the very act conservatives rejected as amnesty when John McCain tried to shove it down our throats during the last few years of the George W. Bush presidency). The Dream Act is referred to as an amnesty plan because it gives people who came here illegally before they were sixteen years of age “the gift of permanent residency and eventually full-fledged citizenship” if they only pursue higher learning or join the armed forces.
Perhaps it sounds harsh to some, but the simple fact is that illegal immigrants are lawbreakers: they are lawbreakers because illegal. Any scheme that involves making them citizens without first punishing them for their crime is only amnesty by another name.
And such is the case with the Dream Act, and with Obama’s porous “hey, come on across, we’ll look the other way” border that’s supposed to separate the United States and Mexico.
If Obama wins in 2012 because he’s able to appease illegal immigrants by keeping our southern border open, we will all lose. It’s just that simple.