Latest Outrage: Aliens Have Newly Appointed White House Advocate

By Joe Guzzardi
February 8, 2012

The Obama administration has again laid out the welcome mat for illegal aliens. Tuesday’s announcement that aliens will have a “public advocate” is the latest in a long series of White House actions aimed at further comforting aliens.

In June, the Department of Homeland Security began the unconstitutional process of pardoning 300,000 deportable aliens. Now, those who have not yet been pardoned have an official, taxpayer funded, go to guy.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the advocate will "serve as a point of contact for individuals, including those in immigration proceedings [deportation], NGOs [non-government offices] and other community and advocacy groups, who have concerns, questions, recommendations or other issues they would like to raise."

Andrew Lorenz-Strait, the first to hold the new position, will be a busy man. Almost every one of the United States’ nearly 10-30 million aliens has “concerns, questions and recommendations…they would like to raise.” All the “concerns” center on their perceived special circumstances that, in their opinion, exempt them from obeying U.S. law. They’ll decry deportation’s injustice and inhumanity.

Lorenz-Strait’s symbolic significance can’t be overstated. To understand what it means for the highest level of government to give criminal aliens a voice, you need to see the big picture. Illegal entry is a misdemeanor crime punishable by six months imprisonment and carries the possibility of a fine. Re-entering after deportation, which a significant percentage of the alien population has done, is a felony that can result in up to two years in jail and a $250,000 fine. These laws have been on the books for decades; for details, see 8 USC 1325(a).

Alien crimes aren’t limited to illegal entry. After “entering without inspection” aliens often steal other’s identities. Without someone else’s name and social security number, aliens have a hard time finding a job.

Using fake identification to secure employment is another crime. The FBI points out cases where identity theft also led to fraud in mail, insurance, mortgage and commodities markets as well as to weapons sales.

Many open borders advocates call illegal immigration a victimless crime. But that’s hardly the definition you’d use if your identification had been stolen or if you had been passed over by an alien for a job you needed to support your family.

Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that the advocacy appointee elevates illegal immigrants’ concerns when the only appropriate action is deportation. Calling it “outrageous,” Mr. Smith charged President Obama as “acting more like a lobbying firm for illegal immigration than as an advocate for the American people.”

As you try to digest the reality of a White House alien advocate, remember that everyone who comes to the U.S illegally does so on his own initiative. When aliens consciously decide to migrate, they are fully aware that if caught they could be deported. To cry “foul” after the fact is unfair to those who honor the legal immigration guidelines.

The administration’s incessant pandering to aliens is politics at its ugliest and undermines federal immigration laws’ credibility.

The guidelines for an honorable immigration system were outlined years ago by the late African American Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan in her statement to the House Judiciary Committee. Said Jordan: "People who should get in, get in; people who should not enter are kept out; and people who are deportable should be required to leave.”

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns, mostly about immigration and related social issues, since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns are syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. Contact him at [email protected]