Goodlatte: Obama Has Power to Stop Immigration Crisis

Photo Credit: Nate Beeler, The Columbus DispatchBy Rep. Bob Goodlatte Goodlatte.

There is a tsunami hitting our nation’s southern border. Unaccompanied children, teenagers and families from Central America – largely from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – are arriving in unprecedented numbers at ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. They are making a dangerous journey through Mexico and then walking miles across a hostile border environment, assisted by smugglers, and coming to the United States in violation of the law.

As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees and writes our nation’s immigration laws, I led a bipartisan delegation to Texas last week to examine this crisis and seek solutions on how best to stop it. During our visit, we toured federal facilities and met with those dealing with this problem firsthand at the border, including law enforcement officers and federal officials from the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services. Here are some of the key facts we learned on our trip.

Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were quite clear that the vast majority of Central American minors who travel alone cite joining their parents who are already in the U.S. illegally as their primary reason for coming, not fleeing violence. Additionally, these parents often had a role in smuggling the minors into the U.S. While I was on a ride-along with the Border Patrol along the Rio Grande River, I witnessed the apprehension of a mother and child from El Salvador and a 15-year-old boy from Honduras. The boy said he came to reunite with his mother, who has been in the U.S. since he was 6. Both said they were coming here in violation of law, but like many others, do not believe the administration will send them back home.

Read more from this story HERE.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: APObama’s DREAM Act by Executive Action Results in an Immigration Nightmare

By Cameron Smith.

There is little disagreement that our current system of immigration is outdated and cumbersome. For example, we have arbitrary caps and categories, lengthy backlogs on visa and citizenship applications, and a process that remains difficult to navigate without legal assistance.

These structural and administrative failures create an incentive for illegal immigration. It is telling that so many immigrants find that paying exorbitant amounts of money to dangerous human smugglers is preferable to America’s legal system of immigration.

Unfortunately, the number of immigrants, especially children, opting for the perilous illegal journey is becoming an increasing problem, thanks to President Obama’s refusal to enforce immigration laws with respect to “young people who were brought to the United States as young children.”

After legislators declined to enact the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) in the 112th Congress, President Obama initiated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on June 15, 2012. He did not bother to issue an Executive Order or White House memorandum regarding the decision. He simply directed Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to draft guidance on applying “prosecutorial discretion” with respect to a certain class of younger immigrants without legal status.

Read more from this story HERE.