Barack Obama's "honest conversation" about immigration included dishonesty, false choice, support for illegal activity

On the first of the month, Senator Barack Obama spoke in Scranton, Pennsylvania and was asked about the 12 million (or so) illegal aliens in the U.S.:

"We are not going to send [illegal aliens] home... I want us to have an honest conversation about this." ...Mr. Obama said many illegals have "settled," "bought property" and have children who are U.S. citizens. He said the country would have to devote "all our law enforcement resources to rounding up people without papers, even if they weren't causing any trouble," and once that's done, the country would have to "empty out our jails." ...That would force police to ignore killers and carjackers and instead be "worried about the guy in the kitchen somewhere who's working in a restaurant... Not all of 'em are from Mexico," because some are from Ireland, Poland or Nigeria. ..."Imagine what that would look like, basically detaining, putting in jail 12 million people. We're not going to do that..."

What he said was about as far from "honest" as you can get.

1. He offered the stock false choice between mass deportations and a massive amnesty; note that Obama lied about Lou Dobbs in a similar fashion. The unmentioned alternative of simply enforcing our laws now, aka attrition, would not require anywhere near the resources described above.

2. It's horrible public policy to allow people to "settle" here, especially considering that some think they're "settling" their homeland. It's also horrible public policy to encourage mixed-status families. Yet, Obama's proposed solution of "comprehensive immigration reform", aka amnesty, would lead to more illegal immigration and more mixed status families.

3. When he says "Imagine what that would look like", he's acting in the role of a cheap used car salesman ("imagine how you're going to look driving this down the street!") engaging in a crooked sales job for illegal activity.

Immigration2008a · Thu, 04/03/2008 - 11:29 · · Importance: 4