Obama's Immigration Report Card

On the 2008 campaign trail Obama promised to tackle Comprehensive Immigration Reform during his first year in office.  It maked sense.  He had Pelosi and Reed in his pocket.

But like so many other promises, Obama didn't get it done.  But his critics suggest he didn't even try.
Not since the Carter days has a president come to Washington with such naivete about national politics.  Poor Barack expected it to be like Chicago where the GOP doesn't exist and money buys all the votes you need.  Not so in the White House.

Amnesty was a dirty word, given the lousy economy and the instant spotlight that shines on the issue whenever it comes up.  So Obama ignored the issue...for three years.
Now he faces the ballot box again.  So what does he do?  He returns to the Bill Clinton days for ideas.

Idea number one: Port Court.  Clinton had good success in his test of the idea, an idea that isn't bad.  You set up a court system that tags and bags illegals at the border and holds them for a day or two while a judge makes a ruling, almost always to send them back home.
(You would think that has been happening all along, but it hasn't.  Usually the illegal alien is simply spun around 180 degrees and sent walking back home.  No arrest.  No court.  Just turned back south-TBS.)

The advantage of Port Court is that you have a record on the fact that you sent them home and told them not to come back.  When they are caught again, the stakes are higher.  A couple of Port Court convictions and you are a felon, subject to hard prison time.

But Port Court never has the money or space to do that for very long.  What Clinton did was set it up in one area - San Diego - and run up some big numbers.

So Obama did the same thing, and admits that his high deportation numbers are inflated and misleading.  He told reporters in September of 2011: "The statistics are actually a little deceptive," Obama said last month during a discussion with Hispanic journalists. There has been "a much greater emphasis on criminals than non-criminals." And "with stronger border enforcement, we've been apprehending folks at the borders and sending them back. That is counted as a deportation even though they may have only been held for a day or 48 hours."
Source: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-19/politics/politics_deportation-record_1_ice-director-john-morton-undocumented-immigrants-criminal-alien-program?_s=PM:POLITICS

So all Obama has done is duplicate Bill Clinton's Port Court program to run up high numbers.
As I said before, Port Court is a great idea, but it needs to be wide-spread and permanent.  And we need to be willing to back up our threat of imprisonment whenever someone crosses the line after being sent home.

The other Clinton idea is a form of silent amnesty. 
Clinton's was 245i.  It went like this:
1) Prove that you came here illegally.
2) Prove that you got a job illegally.
3) Get a family member or and employer to sponsor you.
AND YOU GET AMNESTY.

Well, Obama's amnesty program is what I call the Aunt Zeituni plan.  It goes like this:
1) Prove that you came here illegally.
2) Get caught and get a deportation order.
3) Ignore that order (which about 99% of them do).
4) (Optional: Get public housing and disability)
5) Get caught again.
6) Get the same judge to rescind your deportation order.

Yes, Obama has indeed instructed immigration officials to review 300,000 deportation orders and reverse them if the illegal alien is not a violent criminal.

So you see, he's just dusted off the Bill Clinton playbook rather than put forth an amnesty proposal of his own.

In the end it really doesn't matter.  The Latino activists and most ghetto minorities will vote for him regardless.  They are entitlement voters and will vote for the one most likely to give them a paycheck.  And that's always a Democrat.

Romney has pretty much come out against amnesty and can't backpedal.  (I may regret writing that.  Politicians always surprise me with their lack of integrity.)  So maybe Mitt will get 35-40% of the Latino vote unless he can shift their cause célèbre to something other than amnesty.  It's never been done before and so far his strategists haven't impressed me.

Florida belongs to the GOP this time based on three words: Medicare, Israel and Cubans.  Of all Latinos Cubans and the most conservative.  They really don't care about amnesty.  They care about our asylum policy.
The only thing Obama loses with his lack of immigration progress is Latino turnout.  They may not vote for Romney, but they sure will stay home.

Don't look for Mitt to say much about deportation or enforcement.  That'd be a negative.  (And that's why I dislike politicians.)