Lamar Smith Outwits Immigration Subversive Frank Sharry

Quite a dust up is in progress between long standing open borders advocate Frank Sharry and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith.

In his February 9 column in the Huffington Post Sharry, in defense of President Obama’s prosecutorial discretion policy, accused Smith of “looking particularly desperate,” “immigrant bashing,” being “particularly thin skinned,” and “catering to the far-right nativist wing of the Republican Party.” Read Sharry’s entire rant here.

Under professional journalism standards, Sharry’s column is way over the top even for an opinion piece. Most responsible news organizations would not have posted Sharry’s article without first requiring him to provide some supporting evidence for his far-fetched claims and second editing out the slurs.

But Capitol Hill insiders told me that years ago Sharry promised that his future attacks against Smith would be personal. Sharry, an alien advocate, has no intention of engaging in reasonable dialogue with Smith, a long-term ally of immigration law enforcement.

Since Sharry won’t agree to a sit down, something most adults would, Smith replied with his own Huffington Post op-ed here.

Smith reminded Sharry that his misleading claim that the majority of Americans support real, comprehensive immigration reform is actually just the opposite. Sharry perpetuates his lie on his website, America’s Voice.

By pointing to recent polls, Smith reminded Sharry that two-thirds of Americans want immigration laws enforced. For that reason, Americans have consistently rejected comprehensive immigration reform and its step-child the awful DREAM Act. Had Americans favored either comprehensive immigration reform or the DREAM Act, both would have passed and be law today.

Sharry’s subversive undermining of immigration law hurts the 23 million unemployed or underemployed Americans. At the same time, an estimated 7 million aliens hold jobs, many of them highly desirable payroll positions.

For that reason, Smith pointed out to Sharry, Americans consistently support E-Verify. A recent Rasmussen poll found that 82 percent of likely voters think all businesses should be required to use E-Verify. Broken down, the poll shows that individuals from all ethnicities and political parties favor mandatory E-Verify; 78 percent of percent of black voters, 72 percent of other minorities, primarily Hispanics, and 7 percent of Democrats agreed.

A complete list of immigration polling, all responding in favor of stricter enforcement, is here.

As Smith aptly concluded his column with a phrase that should be adopted as Congress’ motto: put “the interests of American citizens first.”