Stu Bykofsky: Obama: Legalize them, don't naturalize them
HALLELUJAH! In his immigration speech last week, President Obama apparently switched his Mexican sombrero for an Arizonan Stetson. And Mayor Nutter was in the room to hear it. Listen to a key passage:
HALLELUJAH! In his immigration speech last week, President Obama apparently switched his Mexican sombrero for an Arizonan Stetson.
And Mayor Nutter was in the room to hear it. Listen to a key passage:
"There are those in the immigrants'-
rights community who have argued passionately that we should simply provide those who are here illegally with legal status, or at least ignore the laws on the books and put an end to deportation until we have better laws." (Italics added.)
I wasn't there, so I can't tell you if Obama shot Mayor Nutter a look, because our mayor is planning to end cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is now able to look at police arrest records for the names of the undocumented who committed previous felonies.
If Nutter's plan goes through, it will open the door for illegals to commit future felonies. In his best professorial tone, the president continued:
"And often this argument is framed in moral terms: 'Why should we punish people who are just trying to earn a living?' I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument," but it is "both unwise and unfair," he said, echoing those opposed to the wave of illegal immigration.
He went on: "It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration." Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, he gets it. Nonenforcement breeds contempt for the law.
"And it would also ignore the millions of people around the world who are waiting in line to come here legally."
I'm swooning. Cutting a break for those who cut in line spits in the face of the millions who have done things the right way.
Although he fired no rhetorical starbursts and offered no specific solutions, Obama is singing from my hymnal. Does this mean I will no longer be called a racist, neo-con or crypto-fascist by enablers of the undocumented? Probably not, but I consider the source.
I don't agree with every point in the speech, and I was ticked off when Obama disingenuously commingled immigration (good for America) and illegal immigration (bad for America).
I disliked his suggestion that laws (such as Arizona's) make citizens "subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound." Arizona's law prohibits that. I take this to be appeasement to the race hysterics in his base.
I'm happy he said "businesses must be held accountable" if they hire undocumented workers. More than half of Arizona's law addresses that very issue.
He admitted Washington's abject failure in controlling the border and said, sounding like Bill Cosby, citizenship "comes not only with rights, but also with certain fundamental responsibilities." The undocumented must admit they broke the law, register, pay owed taxes and fines, learn English and "get right with the law" before "we can create a pathway for legal status."
It's like he's enrolled in the Stu-niversity.
The speech lacked a timetable to fix the mess, but did include a jab at Republicans.
Politics is poisoning the immigration debate and preventing the palliative, but one of Obama's thoughts suggests a solution.
Obama mentioned a "pathway to legal status," not "citizenship," although he used "citizenship" elsewhere. The "pathway" must lead to the end of the line of those waiting to come here so the border-jumpers and visa-overstayers are not rewarded by quick access to citizenship.
We did that in 1986 and it resulted in millions more illegal immigrants.
If Obama wants to get Republicans - and the vast majority of Americans - on the wagon, he must take off the table anything that has even a whiff of amnesty.
E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns: