When President Obama gave a speech about “comprehensive” immigration reform on May 11^th in El Paso, Texas, one thing was certain: he was in no hurry to close the border.  Instead, he seemed focused on playing politics by offering an emotional appeal to Hispanics and Latinos in a bid to keep their vote for 2012. This is why his so-called immigration reforms center around legalizing the 11 million-plus illegal immigrants “undocumented workers” who are already in this country, and it goes a long way in explaining why Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) describes the president’s rhetoric as “purely political.”

Yet the bigger problem we face as a result of Obama’s willingness to leave the border porous isn’t political so much as practical. In other words, a border that isn’t secure translates into a country that isn’t secure either.

If you think I exaggerate the dangers of an open border then here’s a little experiment for you: Tonight, when you’re headed to bed, lock your front door but leave your back door wide open (and if you really want to emulate what Obama has done by advertising our open border, put a sign up in your backyard that says “back door open for your convenience.”)

I dare say not many among us could sleep well under such conditions, yet those are the exact same conditions Obama places our nation under when he turns a blind eye toward our faltering southern border in order to secure a few hundred thousand votes for the coming presidential election.

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Last Thursday President Obama acknowledged during his speech on comprehensive immigration reform that under Washington’s failed leadership legal immigration had become a fallacy as we have been reporting here and here.

As the President stated, “More fundamentally, the presence of so many illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those who are going through the process of immigrating legally. Indeed, after years of patchwork fixes and ill-conceived revisions, the legal immigration system is as broken as the borders.”

That’s right. The legal immigration system has grown into a boondoggle. For over 200 years people from around the globe have flocked to America in search of the American dream but over the last couple of decades, as millions of illegal aliens crossed the unsecured borders, the American dream was mired and crushed under the cruel weight of incompetent ever-changing government bureaucracy for countless legal immigrants. This actuality does not only negatively impact legal immigrants; it adversely affects national security and the economy. Americans should be concerned. So what did President Obama propose to fix this federal-government made disaster that metastasized under both Republican and Democrat rule? He didn’t say.

Nor did President Obama name the federal agency that is the broken legal immigration system. It’s the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), formerly the troubled Immigration Naturalization Services (INS).

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This morning, President Obama will deliver remarks on the need to fix America’s broken immigration system. Undoubtedly, millions of illegal aliens, and those people who are thinking about jumping the border will be listening intently to make plans. But the largely ignored legal immigrants will also be listening in hopes for legal immigration reform. I am referring to the legal immigrants who followed America’s laws, and who have been stuck in the broken, backlogged, and dysfunctional United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) for years.

I am also referring to the serious plight of legal immigrants who contributed to America’s national security, and who are facing deportation which for some of them means fighting for their life, like the author of the Son of Hamas, Mosab Hassan Yousef.

Will President Obama address this group or just the millions of illegals with a slap on the wrist and a fine?

Time will tell but in the meantime, let’s look at legal immigration to compare with whatever President Obama will propose tomorrow.

Following are some of the filing fees and applications required to legally immigrate.

First, legal immigration requires several steps. For instance, whether an immigrant is applying for permanent residence (Green Card) through employment-based, marriage or a relative petition, they must file and pay for the I-485 and I-485A –Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and the Supplement A to Form I-485, Adjustment of Status Under Section 245(i) respectively, in addition to earlier fees required during the legal immigration process. The 485s are essentially the background checks before being granted the green card.

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Last Thursday President Obama, whose commitment to comprehensive immigration reform is “unwavering,” met with Sen. Chuck Schumer D-N.Y. and Sen. Lindsey Graham R- S.C. to discuss a proposed bill to fix the broken immigration system. While the details remain somewhat elusive, according to the Los Angles Times:

“The basis of a bill would include a path toward citizenship for the 10.8 million people living in the U.S. illegally. Citizenship would not be granted lightly, the White House said. Undocumented workers would need to register, pay taxes and pay a penalty for violating the law. Failure to comply might result in deportation.”

With the recent failures of the government agencies on full display during the failed Christmas Day bombing of flight 253, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that would be responsible for processing millions of illegal aliens should a path to citizenship become law, deserves national security scrutiny. Like the State Department, the USCIS is on the front lines of America’s defence. As we now know, Hillary Clinton’s State Department revoked known al-Qaida member Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab’s, visa after he allegedly attempted to blow up an airliner with explosives in his underwear. The credit for thwarting the Christmas Day terrorist attack goes to the passengers and the crew of flight 253—not to government agencies. Under the Department of Homeland Security, the USCIS’ mission includes keeping nefarious people off U.S. soil while preserving America’s tradition as a nation of immigrants by processing lawful foreigners’ applications for visas, residency and citizenship.

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report,  Immigration Benefits: Actions Needed to Address Vulnerabilities in Process for Granting Permanent Residency,  “Terrorists and other individuals posing a threat to national security have applied for lawful permanent residency–” the Green Card. The “available data” provided to the GAO found that the “USCIS background checks identified individuals who were (1) KSTs [Known or suspected terrorist], (2) associates of terrorists, (3) involved in providing material support to terrorists or terrorist organizations, and (4) agents of a foreign government involved in espionage. From March 2003 through December 1, 2007, FDNS [Office of Fraud Detection and National Security] received about 14,500 national security referrals for all application types. According to FDNS officials, about 10 percent involved individuals on TSC’s [Terrorist Screening Center ] watch list and the balance of these cases involved individuals who were not on the terrorist watch list, but whose background checks indicated other possible national security concerns, such as those having associations with known or suspected terrorists.” The same applies for the Federal Bureau of Investigations. As the GAO report documents: “In addition to identifying potential national security concerns from checking an alien’s name against watch lists in TECS [Treasury Enforcement Communications System], name checks against the FBI’s investigative files have uncovered individuals who raised national security concerns. We reviewed a random sample created by FDNS of FBI name check results provided to USCIS to ascertain the types of national security concerns identified during the name check process. We found that the FBI provided information to USCIS that these individuals:

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Virginia’s state troopers should have the authority to enforce federal immigration laws against the most dangerous criminal elements, Bob McDonnell, the state’s Republican candidate for governor has argued. This policy stance has larger federalist implications and should curry favor with 10^th amendment proponents, but it has earned little media attention throughout the campaign.

An obscure provision of federal law makes it possible for local and state officials to be trained as federal immigration agents. Section 287 (g)  of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act authorizes the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) to form partnerships that can be shaped to suit local priorities. Although this option has been available since 1996, most partnerships have been formed in just the past few years, according to ICE.

In an interview, McDonnell said he favors state-wide application of the 287 (g) program  because in his view it would compensate for the lack of resources available to ICE. While serving as attorney general, McDonnell worked with local governments in Prince William, Herndon and Rockingham counties to establish 287 (g) agreements. Tim Kaine, the state’s Democratic incumbent governor, has resisted using the program on a state-wide basis.

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