January 26, 2004

"Enforcement Blues"

From Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies comes this article:

A recent Cato Institute forum revealed the true attitude of many in the White House about immigration-law enforcement.

The forum (watch the Real Video file here) featured, among others, Margaret Spellings, assistant to the president for domestic policy, and point person for the president's immigration proposal. Everyone gave the speech he was expected to, but it was during the Q&A that things got interesting. One of the other panelists, my director of research, Steven Camarota, briefly mentioned the alternative to the president's amnesty plan: using consistent, across-the-board enforcement of the immigration law to cause attrition of the illegal population over time. The White House response?

Ms. Spellings laughed.

Then she suggested, "You need to come visit Austin, Texas."

...Spellings's dismissal of the very idea of immigration-law enforcement confirms the worst fears of observers inside and outside the immigration agencies: that the new laws envisioned by the president's proposal wouldn't be enforced any more vigorously than the old ones, leading to yet more illegal immigration and a need for further amnesties down the road...

...it's up to Republicans to adopt the immigration service and provide the political support necessary for any enforcement agency to do its work. If not, no immigration plan � whether it's the president's or anyone else's � is going to work.

At the risk of being churlish, I'd like to suggest that Margaret Spellings find a new job. I don't think she has a full grasp of what her job is all about.

UPDATE: There's much more on Margaret Spellings and the Bush/Fox amnesty here.

Posted to Immigration2003 at January 26, 2004 11:30 PM

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