Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
The 2014 midterm elections was one for the history books. When President Barack Obama said all of his policies were on the ballot, voters rushed to the voting booths to give Republicans an extraordinary landslide victory. And as we know now, one of the biggest motivating factors was Obama’s illegal executive actions on immigration policy.
It is extraordinary to watch a twice-elected President create a humanitarian crisis on the Southern border. For the sake of a radical-left political agenda, Obama is willing to keep the border unsecured, grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, and ensure our country is less safe. The end goal is a long-term and permanent demographic shift to favor the Democratic Party and big government for future generations.
But the American people are waking up. New polling from the respected Paragon Insights shows that voters will overwhelmingly support the Republican Party if they chose to fight Obama’s efforts to grant amnesty to the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in this country.
The poll shows that only 19 percent of people making less than $50,000 and only 15 percent of blue-collar workers support Obama’s amnesty efforts. But 40 percent and 47 percent, respectively, strongly oppose it. The Paragon Insights poll mirrors a poll conducted by Facebook’s pro-amnesty CEO Mark Zuckerburg, which found that even 78 percent of Hispanics support increasing security along the Southern border, with roughly the same number support rules for employer background checks and stronger penalties for overstaying visas.
These numbers are devastating, and should give the GOP the grassroots ammunition they need to win this critical fight. And this is bad news for Democrats in the Senate, as all 46 Senators signed a letter opposing the defunding of Obama’s executive amnesty.
The problem is, the political establishment in both parties supports amnesty. An eclectic and well-funded network of big businesses, progressive community organizers, and Hispanic groups are very influential in Washington, D.C.
So far, the House Republicans have yet to offer serious legislation to secure the border. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX), introduced the “Secure Our Borders First” bill (H.R. 399), but it does not stop amnesty or address the need for more fencing. In fact, anyone from Mexico who claims to be asylum-seekers will be waved into the country after breaking our laws. No wonder the GOP proposed it the same day as Obama’s State of the Union address, and are in such a rush to pass it.
Now, it is time to call out the House leadership for being more interested in appearances than actually fighting Obama’s amnesty agenda.
The stakes have never been higher, especially as Obama just appointed Loretta Lynch, an amnesty supporter, to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General. She once said, “If someone is here, regardless of status, I’d prefer they are participating in the workplace.”
Obama’s Progressive government is already busing illegal immigrants into cities without warning local governments, and border states are being forced to spend millions of dollars to handle this growing crisis.
The border needs a double-fence, a biometric exit system, and more well-trained Federal agents. Until a new President is elected, it is up to Republicans to use the mandate voters gave them and secure the border now.
Photo credit: SEIU International (Creative Commons) – Some Rights Reserved
Ken Blackwell is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and the American Civil Rights Union, and on the board of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
