Politics On Immigration, Law Is on Obama’s Side

[Denny Crane]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/opinion/on-immigration-law-is-on-obamas-side.html?ref=opinion&_r=1

By RICHARD G. LUGAR APRIL 18, 2016
(Richard G. Lugar, Republican, who represented Indiana in the United States Senate from 1977-2013, is president of the Lugar Center.)

THE legal controversy surrounding the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement policies will soon come to a head when the Supreme Court justices hear the case United States v. Texas on Monday. Texas claims that the president’s executive decisions lack legal sanction by Congress and have injured the state.

But whether or not you like President Obama’s actions, he has operated under longstanding provisions of law that give the executive branch discretion in enforcement. This presidential prerogative has been recognized explicitly by the Supreme Court. Moreover, the nature of immigration enforcement and the resources (or lack thereof) appropriated by Congress necessitate exactly the type of choices that the president has made.

...

The immense moral and legal consequences of a deportation campaign targeting up to 11 million undocumented immigrants are obvious. Even Americans whose frustration has overcome their compassion and led them to support the harshest immigration enforcement would be likely to reconsider if they actually saw such an operation in action.

A huge roundup like that would require an extraordinary expansion of federal law enforcement capabilities and resulting intrusions into American society. But in reality, there is no prospect for such a campaign because Congress has not made available more than a small fraction of the necessary money and manpower.

This is why, by its nature, immigration enforcement requires executive discretion.

 

[MARIS61]

This post is not about immigrants. I like immigrants.

Illegal immigrants are foreigners who are breaking our laws at least 3 times by coming here illegally, remaining here illegally, and committing a multitude of frauds and deceits on a daily basis to escape detection. The jobs they have were stolen from Real Americans. The social services they live on are stolen from Real Americans. The money they send to Mexico is stolen from American businesses. Their collective government-abetted presence causes mistrust in government and stokes racism, while bloating our labor force with modern slaves who work cheap, in illegal conditions, destroying Real Americans chances of fair representation in their employment.

If we had an epidemic of car thieves in America, 11 million car thieves on the loose, would the President have the power to say " It would be inhumane to imprison 11 million car thieves and separate them from their families, so I am going to make them all car owners. They can keep the cars they stole from you without repercussion and be considered solid American citizens. The victims will just have to buy new cars."?

So much for Lugar's "argument".

Lugar is a fucking weirdo BTW. He's mostly batshit crazy leftwinger but partly batshit crazy right-winger and managed to serve as a Republican most of his way-too-long career in politics. He had a hand in nearly every debacle occurring in Washington over the last 40 years. He's promoted every illegal alien amnesty program from Reagan's to Obama's Dream act, is anti-abortion, got an F rating from the NRA, he's anti-gay, no unifying position anywhere in his history. He's like an ambidextrous Don Quixote swinging back and forth at shadowy enemies just beyond his failing vision.

I thought he had died several years ago, but now it seems he's found fortune in consulting.

Still, he married his high-school sweetheart, so there's that going for him.