White House Apologizes for Even Minimal Immigration Enforcement



Cecilia Muñoz, President Obama’s domestic policy advisor and White House point person on immigration policy, publicly apologized for even the minimal immigration enforcement being carried out by the administration. Responding to a question posed to her by illegal alien journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, Muñoz insisted that to the extent that immigration laws are being enforced at all by the Obama administration it is being done under protest.

“The government’s job is to do what Congress tells it to do,” Muñoz told Vargas during an event billed by the White House as a virtual fireside chat. “Congress, under the immigration laws that we’ve got now, Congress requires us to remove people who are removable and gives DHS, frankly, a whole lot of resources to do that job. DHS’s job is to make sure they make the best possible decisions on how they use those resources.”

Muñoz’s admission seemingly undermines the White House’s effort to portray itself as vigorous and enthusiastic enforcer of immigration laws. This claim is an essential part of the administration’s effort to convince the American public that it is time to move forward with amnesty for illegal aliens. It also undermines the claim that a lack of resources is the reason why immigration enforcement is being “prioritized,” i.e., all illegal aliens who have not been convicted of a serious crime are given a free pass.  Mr. Vargas, who has bragged about committing felonies, is a prime example of the administration’s priorities.

In reality, making the “best possible decisions” on resource utilization has meant simply disregarding countless immigration law provisions enacted by Congress. Recently, a court cleared the way for a legal challenge to the administration’s non-enforcement policies brought by the National ICE Council, the union representing career employees.

Ironically, while the administration continues to seek input on immigration reform from the people who have broken our immigration laws, or who advocate on their behalf, the people who are paid to enforce our immigration laws remain excluded from the discussion. “Cecilia Muñoz refuses to correspond with us,” complains Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council.

About Author

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Ira joined the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in 1986 with experience as a journalist, professor of journalism, special assistant to Gov. Richard Lamm (Colorado), and press secretary of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. His columns have appeared in National Review, LA Times, NY Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and more. He is an experienced TV and radio commentator.

6 Comments

  1. avatar

    Munoz needs to be second in line to be deported along with the rest of the traitors in Washington. Luis Gutierrez is
    # 1.

  2. avatar

    More proof that the administration isn’t refusing to enforce the law and deport illegal aliens because of budget constraints: it lets even illegal aliens who are on their way out of the country with tickets they bought themselves remain here because they have kids they brought here illegally. In VA, Heydi Mejia and her mother were allowed to remain. I also seem to recall an Indian or Pakistani woman who was allowed to remain for the same reason.

  3. avatar

    Obama and his administration work against the American citizen every change they get, this fact that she
    is apologizing for even trying to enforce our immigration laws, shows it. Unbelievable…

    • avatar

      “We all understand that we are enforcing and implementing a system that is broken”. Click on the link and that’s what she says. The only broken system is by her and people like her that have insisted for years that we look the other way while the law of the land is ignored. Not surprising though, considering all the years she was a top official at La Raza. They never heard of an illegal they couldn’t make an excuse for. You think she’s going to support any future enforcement measures? No she wants an amnesty like the rest of the White House and continue with the same attacks on enforcement. But people like you are lemmings enough to believe it.

      Not to mention most of those “record” deportation numbers are bogus anyway. They’re mostly turnarounds at the border, not true deportations. The president himself called them a “little deceptive”. Of course that was to a group of Hispanic journalists, and then he gets to play mr. tough on illegals to everyone else. And the press does zero to point out his double dealing.

  4. avatar

    My study of the Anaheim-Santa Ana area shows a major lost of jobs among immmirgnats there are just some service jobs, however they use to be about 20,000 more manufactoring jobs and construcation jobs these folks did in the 1990’s, about a lost of 40,000 jobs a lot of illegal immirgants in the area are living off of relatives or American children to survive. Anaheim unemployment rate at 9 percent and Santa Ana at 11 percent. No one out there is reseraching that Hispanic immirgants are not always getting jobs.