Immigration is essential (according to the science) | Dean Burnett

“Just because a dog is born in a stable, doesn’t make it a horse.” The implication of this cliché being that being born in a country doesn’t make you “of” that country; you have to be part of the culture and history or something (it’s never really made clear). But the claim that being born in a stable doesn’t make a dog a horse is scientifically correct. Similarly, being born in a stable doesn’t make a horse a horse; genes resulting from millions of years of evolution make a horse a horse. Birth location does not alter DNA to the extent that it changes species. Ergo, people born in a country are essentially biologically identical to those who arrive there later. Humans are humans, wherever you go.

But immigration is an important issue to many, in the UK and elsewhere. Many see a hard-line anti-immigration stance as a vote winner. Anti-immigrant feeling is regularly encouraged and exaggerated by the media, most recently with the Daily Express’s definitely-not-racist-who-said-it-was? anti-immigration petition.

Of course limitless, unmonitored immigration would be a bad thing. A country’s infrastructure could collapse due to confusion alone. But it seems many in the UK want strong action taken against immigrants. Ergo, people think immigration is bad overall.

Does this hold up to scientific scrutiny? Does the data support this view though? Can so many people be wrong? Yes, they can. There are many arguments against immigration, and they’re generally wrong.

Space

The most basic anti-immigration argument stems from the belief that Britain is “full”.

Firstly, Britain has more of a surface area than a volume, so it would be fairer to say it’s “covered”, but that’s just semantics. The argument implies Britain doesn’t have the capacity to sustain any more people, so every immigrant who arrives makes things worse for everyone by stretching our meagre resources further.

However, recent data suggests that just 2.2% of Britain is “developed” in any way, and that’s a generous estimate. Arguably it would be very helpful to build more, construct new homes and expand further, rather than pay increasingly high amounts for existing property. Some more room to breathe and grow might be good for everyone, immigrant or not. Of course, building thousands of new homes would require a lot of affordable labour, and traditionally there’s one place to get that…

Economics

The most common modern argument against immigrants is the economic burden they cause. Politicians play this card depressingly often, but it’s a common claim. You’ll often hear complaints about immigrants “coming over here, claiming benefits and taking our jobs”, a mutually-exclusive scenario loudly complained about by the misinformed, bigots, or the extreme of both combined, Richard Littlejohn.

It makes little logical sense in either case. Anyone willing to leave their country of birth, travel thousands of miles and go through the process of gaining citizenship probably has a work ethic that wouldn’t settle for £50 a week. And as for taking your jobs, if you lose out on a job to a recently arrived individual from a war torn country who can’t speak English, perhaps your own CV needs some serious updating?

Actual data shows that immigration has a generally positive impact on a county’s economy, what with immigrants doing work, paying taxes, spending their money in the country and all that. Even parts of our infrastructure on which the economy depends are owned by foreigners. Places where strong anti-immigrant policies have been enacted usually suffer economic downturns as a result. It seems like stopping immigration to improve the economy is like hacking your foot off because you’ve got a stone in your shoe; you’ve caused a lot of needless suffering, and it still hurts to walk.

Culture

Some people argue that immigration is bad because it’s not “British”, or ruins “Britishness”. It’s very hard to scientifically assess something based on someone’s subjective interpretation of an unspecified term, as some have noticed.

Immigration has been part of British culture for millennia. If people do want to travel to other countries and exploit their resources, they probably got the idea from the British Empire. And the most iconic British hymn of all is arguably Jerusalem, a heartfelt celebration of the possibility that a middle-eastern man may have visited the country, and a fervent hope that he does so again and builds a massive home here.

So yeah, immigration isn’t at all British.

Life

I’ve heard some claim that immigration is against our way of life. I don’t really know what that means, really. Saying that, life as we know it wouldn’t exist without immigration. Not just due to the importance of cultural diversity; on a literal, ancient bio-molecular level. It is believed the first cells formed due to endosymbiosis, where a primitive cell incorporated other, smaller cells to the mutual benefit of both. E.g. a larger cell engulfed a smaller, different cell which eventually became mitochondria.

Forget our African origins, imagine how bigots will feel when told that every human is made up of billions of examples of immigrant communities. Should cause a nose bleed, at the very least.

Scapegoats

Even the most hard-line xenophobe can’t deny one use for immigrants; they make great scapegoats. The scapegoating of vulnerable groups by the larger group or culture during times of economic hardship (e.g. the present) is a well-studied phenomenon. And it’s not limited to frustrated rants either. Studies revealed that there was a correlation between cotton harvests and frequency of lynching in southern USA states in the late 19th/early 20th century. Consider this if anyone invokes “the good old days” when complaining about immigrants.

When people are experiencing hardships due to factors beyond their control (e.g. the weather, disease, a corrupt economic system screwing over whole countries etc) it is inevitable that they will find something or someone to bear the brunt of their impotent frustrations. It’s a darker element of human nature that needs to find someone weaker to victimise. And as has been discussed before, people have worrying tendencies to find reasons to blame victims for their own suffering.

Sure, there are undoubtedly immigrants who are exploiting the system or behaving generally badly, but that’s not behaviour exclusive to immigrants. Far from it. All the despicable efforts to play up to or enhance this anti-immigrant bias people are feeling are worryingly short-sighted. If we do stop all immigration and find all the problems we’d blamed on them haven’t gone away but have in fact gotten worse, it’s a question of who we blame next.

For further examples of irrational anti-immigrant viewpoints, you may want to keep an eye on the comments below. For articles like this, they tend to be as persistent as mould on a shower curtain, albeit less pleasant and more ill-informed

Dean Burnett wrote this purely to wind up the Daily Express and other immigrant-bashing organisations. He is, unfortunately, on Twitter, @garwboy

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Immigration is essential (according to the science) | Dean Burnett
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DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'

By ABC News

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Mike Levine, Jack Date, and Jack Cloherty report:

The Obama administration will announce “pretty soon” how it plans to remodel enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws and potentially “realign” deportation policies, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

This comes a month after President Obama asked Johnson to “conduct a review of practices” to ensure “we are carrying out these policies in the most humane way possible,” as a White House spokesman put it at the time.

In an interview with ABC News’ Pierre Thomas for “This Week,” Johnson said the enforcement of immigration laws “needs to comport with American values.”

“One of those American values is respect for human dignity … [and] one of those American values is respect for the sanctity of the family unit,” Johnson told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas.

When announcing the new review last month, White House spokesman Jay Carney cited, “the pain that families who are separated have been feeling as a result of deportations.”

As part of his review, Johnson said he has been talking to members of Congress, advocacy groups and his own workforce.

“We’re still in the midst of the review. And I’m consulting a wide network of people. But I expect to have something pretty soon,” Johnson said when asked when the review would be complete.

In particular, he said he is consulting officials within Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE – “in a way that I’m not sure they’ve been consulted in the past,” according to Johnson.

“I’ve consulted ICE leadership on what our priorities should be, how we could realign them, potentially,” Johnson said. “I am looking for ways to more effectively enforce and administer our immigration laws. I believe there is room for improvement, and hopefully we’ll get to a better place.”

On Friday, dozens of protesters marched to ICE headquarters in Washington to confront the agency over its deportation policies.

“President Obama has been promising immigration reform, but what he has given the people is actually record numbers of deportations and violations of their civil rights,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, a lead organizer For Congress of Day Laborers.

But one day before the protest at ICE headquarters, 22 Republican senators sent President Obama a letter expressing their “grave concerns” over Johnson’s review, saying the “changes under consideration would represent a near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement.”

“As a result of your policies, individuals here illegally who do not meet administration ‘priorities’ are not only largely exempt from the law, but are released even if they come into contact with federal law enforcement authorities,” the letter added.

Calling it a matter of “public safety,” the administration has focused its limited enforcement resources on undocumented immigrants who have committed other crimes, especially violent crimes.

“I have to be honest, I don’t understand those who say we are not enforcing the law,” Johnson told “This Week.” “We are enforcing the law every day… There are thousands of people who are convicted criminals and others who are removed from this country [each day].”

Johnson also took aim at critics who suggest immigration authorities are skirting the law when they offer services to unaccompanied children found sneaking into the U.S.

“The law requires that we, as quickly as possible, get them to [health officials] for services there,” Johnson said. “That’s a legal requirement, and we follow that.”

Regardless of what types of changes may come from his review of deportation policy, Johnson urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform, saying there is no “substitute for action by Congress.”

“[It] is vitally important as a matter of homeland security,” he said. “We need more resources for border security. I also believe that we need to encourage the 11.5 undocumented immigrants in this country to come out of the shadows, become accountable and get on an earned path to citizenship.”

Johnson said there are “a lot” of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who support comprehensive immigration reform, and he is “confident that it will happen.”

“I couldn’t tell you when, but there is so much support for this in Congress, in the business community, among organized labor, and, if the polls are to be believed, by a majority of the American public,” Johnson said. “And I believe that there will come a point when Congress will act.”

On Thursday, during a lunch in his home state of Ohio, Republican House Speaker John Boehner mocked his fellow House Republicans for their seeming reluctance to act on immigration reform, saying in a mock whine, “Here’s the attitude: ‘Ohh, don’t make me do this! Ohh, this is too hard!’ You should hear ‘em.”

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Source Article from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/04/dhs-head-changes-to-immigration-enforcement-potentially-coming-pretty-soon/
DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'
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DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'

By ABC News

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Mike Levine, Jack Date, and Jack Cloherty report:

The Obama administration will announce “pretty soon” how it plans to remodel enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws and potentially “realign” deportation policies, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

This comes a month after President Obama asked Johnson to “conduct a review of practices” to ensure “we are carrying out these policies in the most humane way possible,” as a White House spokesman put it at the time.

In an interview with ABC News’ Pierre Thomas for “This Week,” Johnson said the enforcement of immigration laws “needs to comport with American values.”

“One of those American values is respect for human dignity … [and] one of those American values is respect for the sanctity of the family unit,” Johnson told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas.

When announcing the new review last month, White House spokesman Jay Carney cited, “the pain that families who are separated have been feeling as a result of deportations.”

As part of his review, Johnson said he has been talking to members of Congress, advocacy groups and his own workforce.

“We’re still in the midst of the review. And I’m consulting a wide network of people. But I expect to have something pretty soon,” Johnson said when asked when the review would be complete.

In particular, he said he is consulting officials within Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE – “in a way that I’m not sure they’ve been consulted in the past,” according to Johnson.

“I’ve consulted ICE leadership on what our priorities should be, how we could realign them, potentially,” Johnson said. “I am looking for ways to more effectively enforce and administer our immigration laws. I believe there is room for improvement, and hopefully we’ll get to a better place.”

On Friday, dozens of protesters marched to ICE headquarters in Washington to confront the agency over its deportation policies.

“President Obama has been promising immigration reform, but what he has given the people is actually record numbers of deportations and violations of their civil rights,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, a lead organizer For Congress of Day Laborers.

But one day before the protest at ICE headquarters, 22 Republican senators sent President Obama a letter expressing their “grave concerns” over Johnson’s review, saying the “changes under consideration would represent a near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement.”

“As a result of your policies, individuals here illegally who do not meet administration ‘priorities’ are not only largely exempt from the law, but are released even if they come into contact with federal law enforcement authorities,” the letter added.

Calling it a matter of “public safety,” the administration has focused its limited enforcement resources on undocumented immigrants who have committed other crimes, especially violent crimes.

“I have to be honest, I don’t understand those who say we are not enforcing the law,” Johnson told “This Week.” “We are enforcing the law every day… There are thousands of people who are convicted criminals and others who are removed from this country [each day].”

Johnson also took aim at critics who suggest immigration authorities are skirting the law when they offer services to unaccompanied children found sneaking into the U.S.

“The law requires that we, as quickly as possible, get them to [health officials] for services there,” Johnson said. “That’s a legal requirement, and we follow that.”

Regardless of what types of changes may come from his review of deportation policy, Johnson urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform, saying there is no “substitute for action by Congress.”

“[It] is vitally important as a matter of homeland security,” he said. “We need more resources for border security. I also believe that we need to encourage the 11.5 undocumented immigrants in this country to come out of the shadows, become accountable and get on an earned path to citizenship.”

Johnson said there are “a lot” of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who support comprehensive immigration reform, and he is “confident that it will happen.”

“I couldn’t tell you when, but there is so much support for this in Congress, in the business community, among organized labor, and, if the polls are to be believed, by a majority of the American public,” Johnson said. “And I believe that there will come a point when Congress will act.”

On Thursday, during a lunch in his home state of Ohio, Republican House Speaker John Boehner mocked his fellow House Republicans for their seeming reluctance to act on immigration reform, saying in a mock whine, “Here’s the attitude: ‘Ohh, don’t make me do this! Ohh, this is too hard!’ You should hear ‘em.”

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Source Article from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/04/dhs-head-changes-to-immigration-enforcement-potentially-coming-pretty-soon/
DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'
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DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'

By ABC News

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Mike Levine, Jack Date, and Jack Cloherty report:

The Obama administration will announce “pretty soon” how it plans to remodel enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws and potentially “realign” deportation policies, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

This comes a month after President Obama asked Johnson to “conduct a review of practices” to ensure “we are carrying out these policies in the most humane way possible,” as a White House spokesman put it at the time.

In an interview with ABC News’ Pierre Thomas for “This Week,” Johnson said the enforcement of immigration laws “needs to comport with American values.”

“One of those American values is respect for human dignity … [and] one of those American values is respect for the sanctity of the family unit,” Johnson told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas.

When announcing the new review last month, White House spokesman Jay Carney cited, “the pain that families who are separated have been feeling as a result of deportations.”

As part of his review, Johnson said he has been talking to members of Congress, advocacy groups and his own workforce.

“We’re still in the midst of the review. And I’m consulting a wide network of people. But I expect to have something pretty soon,” Johnson said when asked when the review would be complete.

In particular, he said he is consulting officials within Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE – “in a way that I’m not sure they’ve been consulted in the past,” according to Johnson.

“I’ve consulted ICE leadership on what our priorities should be, how we could realign them, potentially,” Johnson said. “I am looking for ways to more effectively enforce and administer our immigration laws. I believe there is room for improvement, and hopefully we’ll get to a better place.”

On Friday, dozens of protesters marched to ICE headquarters in Washington to confront the agency over its deportation policies.

“President Obama has been promising immigration reform, but what he has given the people is actually record numbers of deportations and violations of their civil rights,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, a lead organizer For Congress of Day Laborers.

But one day before the protest at ICE headquarters, 22 Republican senators sent President Obama a letter expressing their “grave concerns” over Johnson’s review, saying the “changes under consideration would represent a near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement.”

“As a result of your policies, individuals here illegally who do not meet administration ‘priorities’ are not only largely exempt from the law, but are released even if they come into contact with federal law enforcement authorities,” the letter added.

Calling it a matter of “public safety,” the administration has focused its limited enforcement resources on undocumented immigrants who have committed other crimes, especially violent crimes.

“I have to be honest, I don’t understand those who say we are not enforcing the law,” Johnson told “This Week.” “We are enforcing the law every day… There are thousands of people who are convicted criminals and others who are removed from this country [each day].”

Johnson also took aim at critics who suggest immigration authorities are skirting the law when they offer services to unaccompanied children found sneaking into the U.S.

“The law requires that we, as quickly as possible, get them to [health officials] for services there,” Johnson said. “That’s a legal requirement, and we follow that.”

Regardless of what types of changes may come from his review of deportation policy, Johnson urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform, saying there is no “substitute for action by Congress.”

“[It] is vitally important as a matter of homeland security,” he said. “We need more resources for border security. I also believe that we need to encourage the 11.5 undocumented immigrants in this country to come out of the shadows, become accountable and get on an earned path to citizenship.”

Johnson said there are “a lot” of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who support comprehensive immigration reform, and he is “confident that it will happen.”

“I couldn’t tell you when, but there is so much support for this in Congress, in the business community, among organized labor, and, if the polls are to be believed, by a majority of the American public,” Johnson said. “And I believe that there will come a point when Congress will act.”

On Thursday, during a lunch in his home state of Ohio, Republican House Speaker John Boehner mocked his fellow House Republicans for their seeming reluctance to act on immigration reform, saying in a mock whine, “Here’s the attitude: ‘Ohh, don’t make me do this! Ohh, this is too hard!’ You should hear ‘em.”

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Source Article from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/04/dhs-head-changes-to-immigration-enforcement-potentially-coming-pretty-soon/
DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'
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DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'

By ABC News

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Mike Levine, Jack Date, and Jack Cloherty report:

The Obama administration will announce “pretty soon” how it plans to remodel enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws and potentially “realign” deportation policies, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

This comes a month after President Obama asked Johnson to “conduct a review of practices” to ensure “we are carrying out these policies in the most humane way possible,” as a White House spokesman put it at the time.

In an interview with ABC News’ Pierre Thomas for “This Week,” Johnson said the enforcement of immigration laws “needs to comport with American values.”

“One of those American values is respect for human dignity … [and] one of those American values is respect for the sanctity of the family unit,” Johnson told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas.

When announcing the new review last month, White House spokesman Jay Carney cited, “the pain that families who are separated have been feeling as a result of deportations.”

As part of his review, Johnson said he has been talking to members of Congress, advocacy groups and his own workforce.

“We’re still in the midst of the review. And I’m consulting a wide network of people. But I expect to have something pretty soon,” Johnson said when asked when the review would be complete.

In particular, he said he is consulting officials within Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE – “in a way that I’m not sure they’ve been consulted in the past,” according to Johnson.

“I’ve consulted ICE leadership on what our priorities should be, how we could realign them, potentially,” Johnson said. “I am looking for ways to more effectively enforce and administer our immigration laws. I believe there is room for improvement, and hopefully we’ll get to a better place.”

On Friday, dozens of protesters marched to ICE headquarters in Washington to confront the agency over its deportation policies.

“President Obama has been promising immigration reform, but what he has given the people is actually record numbers of deportations and violations of their civil rights,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, a lead organizer For Congress of Day Laborers.

But one day before the protest at ICE headquarters, 22 Republican senators sent President Obama a letter expressing their “grave concerns” over Johnson’s review, saying the “changes under consideration would represent a near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement.”

“As a result of your policies, individuals here illegally who do not meet administration ‘priorities’ are not only largely exempt from the law, but are released even if they come into contact with federal law enforcement authorities,” the letter added.

Calling it a matter of “public safety,” the administration has focused its limited enforcement resources on undocumented immigrants who have committed other crimes, especially violent crimes.

“I have to be honest, I don’t understand those who say we are not enforcing the law,” Johnson told “This Week.” “We are enforcing the law every day… There are thousands of people who are convicted criminals and others who are removed from this country [each day].”

Johnson also took aim at critics who suggest immigration authorities are skirting the law when they offer services to unaccompanied children found sneaking into the U.S.

“The law requires that we, as quickly as possible, get them to [health officials] for services there,” Johnson said. “That’s a legal requirement, and we follow that.”

Regardless of what types of changes may come from his review of deportation policy, Johnson urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform, saying there is no “substitute for action by Congress.”

“[It] is vitally important as a matter of homeland security,” he said. “We need more resources for border security. I also believe that we need to encourage the 11.5 undocumented immigrants in this country to come out of the shadows, become accountable and get on an earned path to citizenship.”

Johnson said there are “a lot” of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who support comprehensive immigration reform, and he is “confident that it will happen.”

“I couldn’t tell you when, but there is so much support for this in Congress, in the business community, among organized labor, and, if the polls are to be believed, by a majority of the American public,” Johnson said. “And I believe that there will come a point when Congress will act.”

On Thursday, during a lunch in his home state of Ohio, Republican House Speaker John Boehner mocked his fellow House Republicans for their seeming reluctance to act on immigration reform, saying in a mock whine, “Here’s the attitude: ‘Ohh, don’t make me do this! Ohh, this is too hard!’ You should hear ‘em.”

Like “This Week” on Facebook. You can also follow the show on Twitter.

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DHS Head: Changes To Immigration Enforcement Potentially Coming 'Pretty Soon'
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Immigration push threatens to divide GOP- Boehner mocks GOP colleagues on immigration

mcconnell-032514.jpg

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, accompanied by fellow GOP lawmakers, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2014, following a GOP caucus lunch.AP

In the heat of an election year, the prospect of immigration legislation threatens to strike a divide into the Republican Party on Capitol Hill. 

House Speaker John Boehner is sending new signals that he’s preparing to aggressively push for an immigration bill, even if it causes the rank-and-file headaches. But on the other side of the Hill, top Senate Republicans are picking a different fight — going after the Obama administration over reported efforts to ease deportations. 

In a letter sent Thursday to President Obama and signed by 22 Senate Republicans, they accused the administration of “an astonishing disregard for the Constitution.” The reported deportation changes, they charged, would be a “near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement.” 

The same day, Boehner was putting out a very different message in his home district in Ohio. 

During a talk to a local Rotary Club, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, he mocked fellow Republicans for their resistance to an immigration bill. 

“Here’s the attitude. Ohhhh. Don’t make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard,” Boehner said, according to the paper, pretending to whine as he talked. 

He added: “We get elected to make choices.” 

This comes after he reportedly told a fundraiser crowd that he’s “hell-bent on getting this done this year.” 

Just a couple months ago, immigration seemed like a stalled debate for 2014. Boehner had backed off, citing concerns in the GOP rank-and-file about the administration’s own allegedly lax enforcement policies. 

Despite Boehner’s renewed interest, those concerns have mounted since then. 

The Department of Homeland Security is undergoing a review of its deportation policies under pressure from immigrant advocates. But Republicans have pointed out that those policies already spare millions from the threat of being removed. Statistics show that most of the 370,000 removals carried out in fiscal 2013 were people who had been caught crossing the border or convicted of a crime. 

The potential push to further rein in deportations prompted the letter Thursday from Senate Republicans — including Boehner’s counterpart, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. 

“Clearly, the urgent task facing your administration is to improve immigration enforcement, not to look for new ways to weaken it,” they wrote. 

In a statement, Homeland Security spokesman Peter Boogaard didn’t respond to the senators’ complaints but said, “The secretary has undergone a very rigorous and inclusive process to best inform the review.” 

Many activists want sweeping action by Obama to give legal certainty and work permits to millions more immigrants, like he did for those who arrived illegally as children and attended school or served in the military. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Immigration push threatens to divide GOP- Boehner mocks GOP colleagues on immigration
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Immigration reform at crossroads in Congress amid GOP opposition

WASHINGTON — The push-pull of immigration reform is intensifying as Congress prepares to return to work for one of the last few legislative sessions before the midterm elections.

The window for Congress to approve an immigration overhaul is closing, but House Speaker John A. Boehner continues to suggest that action is still possible — even as he mocked his colleagues who find the hot-button issue too difficult.

“Here’s the attitude: Ohhhh. Don’t make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard,” Boehner said, mimicking a whining tone, at an Ohio luncheon, according to the Cincinnati Inquirer.

Boehner is racing the clock this summer, not only against the coming November election but the threat that the White House will take administrative action if Congress fails to act.

President Obama has made it clear that his patience has worn thin as House Republicans dabble in the issue, almost a full year after the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, approved a sweeping bipartisan immigration law overhaul. Obama has directed the Homeland Security Department to review the way immigration laws are handled, and emphasis of that report is expected to fall on curbing deportations.

Obama also faces a time crunch. Advocates for immigrants, including those camped out in front of the White House this month, have tired of administration promises, particularly as deportations have separated families. Labeling Obama the “deporter in chief,” as some have done, is not a legacy the president wants to stick.

But here’s the rub: Every time the White House threatens executive actions, it drives Republicans further from any compromise with Democrats. Tea-party-aligned Republicans argue that the president would merely pick and chose which parts of new legislation he would enforce.

Twenty-two Republican senators raised the trust argument this week in a later warning Obama against the Homeland Security Department review.

“Our entire constitutional system is threatened,” they wrote, “when the executive branch suspends the law at its whim.”

Most observers believe that the opportunity for immigration reform during this Congress has long passed, and that this summer will provide a lot of talk but little action.

Then again, Boehner knows how important the issue is for the Republican Party as it tries to broaden its base of mostly white voters, especially heading into the 2016 presidential campaign.

The short legislative calendar could present a venue for testing GOP immigration reform bills.

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Twitter: @lisamascaroinDC

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Immigration reform at crossroads in Congress amid GOP opposition
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Boehner Mocks GOP Colleagues For Immigration Fears

House Speaker John Boehner leaves the chamber of the Portuguese Parliament during an April 17 visit in Lisbon. Boehner was in Lisbon as part of an international trip that included visits to Afghanistan and Abu Dhabi.i i

hide captionHouse Speaker John Boehner leaves the chamber of the Portuguese Parliament during an April 17 visit in Lisbon. Boehner was in Lisbon as part of an international trip that included visits to Afghanistan and Abu Dhabi.


Francisco Seco/AP

House Speaker John Boehner leaves the chamber of the Portuguese Parliament during an April 17 visit in Lisbon. Boehner was in Lisbon as part of an international trip that included visits to Afghanistan and Abu Dhabi.

House Speaker John Boehner leaves the chamber of the Portuguese Parliament during an April 17 visit in Lisbon. Boehner was in Lisbon as part of an international trip that included visits to Afghanistan and Abu Dhabi.

Francisco Seco/AP

Voting to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws would be a difficult vote for many House Republicans at any time, but especially in an election year.

Which explains why many of them don’t want the issue to come to the floor this year for a vote.

In comments he made at a Rotary Club appearance in Ohio on Thursday, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took his fellow House Republicans to task for this reluctance, even mocking them for their faintheartedness.

“Here’s the attitude: ‘Ohhhh, don’t make me do this. Ohhhh, this is too hard.’ You should hear them,” Boehner told an audience in Madison Township, as he pretended to be a skittish member of the Republican conference.

“We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems, and it’s remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don’t want to. … They’ll take the path of least resistance.”

Boehner has repeatedly stated his desire to pass legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. As leader of the GOP’s establishment wing, Boehner has expressed concern that failure to act would continue to hamper the party’s efforts to attract more Latino voters. Chamber of Commerce Republicans have also criticized the current system for making it difficult for them to get skilled workers from abroad.

The Senate passed a comprehensive immigration overhaul bill last year that, among other things, would create a citizenship path for the estimated 8 million immigrants now in the U.S. illegally.

The House, however, has refused to consider the Senate’s comprehensive bill. Leaders of the GOP-controlled House have said if they take up an immigration overhaul, it would only be on a piecemeal basis.

Democrats and immigration advocacy groups have tried to increase the pressure on House Republicans to pass immigration legislation this year. Even during his trip to Asia, President Obama didn’t let up. At a naturalization ceremony for 20 U.S. service members and their spouses in South Korea, Obama said: “This is a huge advantage to us, the talent that we attract. We don’t want to make it harder; we want to make it more sensible, more efficient. That’s why I’m going to keep on pushing to get this done this year.”

Boehner has said he would like to get immigration legislation passed by the House this year even though it’s unusual for legislation that creates a tempest — like immigration bills to give legal status to people in the U.S. illegally — to come up during an election year.

In mocking the trepidation of many in the Republican conference, the speaker suggested they should follow his lead and show some fortitude on the issue.

“I’ve had every brick and bat and arrow shot at me over this issue just because I wanted to deal with it,” he told the Rotary audience. “I didn’t say it was going to be easy.”

Boehner has had to deal with a vocal if small group of Tea Party-linked Republicans both inside and outside Congress who would like to see him ousted as speaker. And he faces three Republican challengers in his own May 6 primary contest.

Source Article from http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2014/04/25/306857228/boehner-mocks-gop-colleagues-for-immigration-fears?ft=1&f=1014
Boehner Mocks GOP Colleagues For Immigration Fears
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Dems seize on Boehner comments on immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and immigration advocates are calling out House Speaker John Boehner over comments mocking his own Republican lawmakers for their reluctance to take up immigration legislation.

Boehner said at a Rotary Club lunch at home in Ohio Thursday that Republicans don’t want to have to deal with immigration because it’s too hard. He imitated them whining in protest.

On a conference call Friday, Latino advocates said it’s Boehner’s job as leader of the House to bring the issue to a vote, not to blame others. Democrats made the same point.

Boehner’s office downplayed the speaker’s comments and said he often has said to colleagues that, quote, “you only tease the ones you love.”

The back-and-forth comes with immigration legislation stalled in the House, and the White House contemplating executive action.

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GREAT DIVIDE? Immigration legislation threatens to drive wedge through GOP

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, accompanied by fellow GOP lawmakers, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2014, following a GOP caucus lunch.AP

In the heat of an election year, the prospect of immigration legislation threatens to strike a divide into the Republican Party on Capitol Hill. 

House Speaker John Boehner is sending new signals that he’s preparing to aggressively push for an immigration bill, even if it causes the rank-and-file headaches. But on the other side of the Hill, top Senate Republicans are picking a different fight — going after the Obama administration over reported efforts to ease deportations. 

In a letter sent Thursday to President Obama and signed by 22 Senate Republicans, they accused the administration of “an astonishing disregard for the Constitution.” The reported deportation changes, they charged, would be a “near complete abandonment of basic immigration enforcement.” 

The same day, Boehner was putting out a very different message in his home district in Ohio. 

During a talk to a local Rotary Club, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, he mocked fellow Republicans for their resistance to an immigration bill. 

“Here’s the attitude. Ohhhh. Don’t make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard,” Boehner said, according to the paper, pretending to whine as he talked. 

He added: “We get elected to make choices.” 

This comes after he reportedly told a fundraiser crowd that he’s “hell-bent on getting this done this year.” 

Just a couple months ago, immigration seemed like a stalled debate for 2014. Boehner had backed off, citing concerns in the GOP rank-and-file about the administration’s own allegedly lax enforcement policies. 

Despite Boehner’s renewed interest, those concerns have mounted since then. 

The Department of Homeland Security is undergoing a review of its deportation policies under pressure from immigrant advocates. But Republicans have pointed out that those policies already spare millions from the threat of being removed. Statistics show that most of the 370,000 removals carried out in fiscal 2013 were people who had been caught crossing the border or convicted of a crime. 

The potential push to further rein in deportations prompted the letter Thursday from Senate Republicans — including Boehner’s counterpart, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. 

“Clearly, the urgent task facing your administration is to improve immigration enforcement, not to look for new ways to weaken it,” they wrote. 

In a statement, Homeland Security spokesman Peter Boogaard didn’t respond to the senators’ complaints but said, “The secretary has undergone a very rigorous and inclusive process to best inform the review.” 

Many activists want sweeping action by Obama to give legal certainty and work permits to millions more immigrants, like he did for those who arrived illegally as children and attended school or served in the military. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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GREAT DIVIDE? Immigration legislation threatens to drive wedge through GOP
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