Blame White House for Unaccompanied Minors’ “Crisis”

By Joe Guzzardi
June 4, 2014

For more than five years, President Obama has rolled out the red carpet for immigrants, legal and illegal alike. Along the way, he’s trampled immigration law. One major consequence is that hundreds of unaccompanied minors arrive each day from Mexico and Central America, creating what the President has the conceit to label “an urgent humanitarian situation.” The blame, however, rests squarely with Obama. 

The anticipated three-fold increase from the 25,000 minors apprehended at the US-Mexico border during fiscal 2013 to a projected 75,000 this year is, as House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte said: “An administration-made disaster.”

In an effort to control the border chaos, Obama ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief W. Craig Fugate to provide the children with housing, food, medical care and mental health treatment. White House budget officials project that cost of caring for and resettling the minors could top $2.3 billion, more than double what the Office of Management and Budget originally requested. 

Think about it. Since Day One, Obama has lobbied for an immigration reform amnesty that spurred tens of thousands to get to the U.S. quickly so they would be included once the bill became law. While Obama cavorted with open borders advocates from both sides of the aisle to ram his amnesty bill through Congress, he launched an ongoing, step by step, far reaching campaign to dismantle federal immigration laws. In his 17-page research document, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions chronicled a list of about 75 unconstitutional presidential edicts that gave safe haven and comfort to aliens already living in the U.S. and inspired those considering an illegal entry to go for it. 

Sessions’ timeline began in 2009 when, shortly after his inauguration, Obama announced that his administration would cancel raids and workplace audits of businesses potentially employing aliens. Obama’s latest violation, although not his last, came in May when an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement report became public. According to the ICE memo, last year the agency released 36,007 criminal aliens convicted of 88,000 crimes.

Here are a few of many lowlights from Sessions’ painfully detailed list. First, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s revealed that in 2010 aliens, although they don’t qualify for the program, received $4.2 billion in Additional Child Tax Credits without a subsequent effort to close the loophole that allows them to collect. Second, in 2011, DHS mandated border patrol agents to end inspections at transportation hubs even though those routine checks often catch aliens, smugglers and terrorists. Third, in 2012, the White House created the new office of Public Advocate for Illegal Immigrants. The advocate’s job is to serve as “point contact” for aliens who have questions or concerns about their immigration status.

As for the flood of daily arriving minors, few will return home. While they’re too young to qualify for another of Obama’s congressional circumventions, his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals that gave work permits to more than 500,000 aliens, a juvenile can, with an astute immigration attorney’s help, qualify for a green card.

Once a lawyer demonstrates in juvenile court the child has been abandoned or abused, a dependency order will be issued. Then, when children are adjudicated as dependents, the court assumes jurisdiction which qualifies youths for permanent residency.  

Obama’s immigration message, heard worldwide, has been clear all along. Anyone who can get to the U.S. will be allowed to stay. A Gallup Poll taken last year found that 138 million people from 154 countries would like to relocate to the U.S. Judging by his actions, Obama would love to welcome them.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at [email protected]