Last Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Obama administration plans to allow thousands of Hondurans to enter the United States as refugees. This would only fuel the current illegal immigration crisis. Moreover, the admission of people fleeing poverty and gang violence as refugees would constitute yet another unilateral step by this administration to rewrite immigration laws.
At this very moment, Congress is struggling to deal with the flood of illegal migrants drawn here by President Obama’s administrative amnesty for illegal aliens who arrived as minors, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and his suspension of enforcement against virtually all noncriminal aliens. Yet this administration is already conceiving even more ways to circumvent Congress and recklessly proposing policies guaranteed to touch-off an even larger wave of illegal immigration.
The inevitable response to some Hondurans being granted refugee status on the basis of gang violence in the country would be an even greater flood of illegal aliens, of all ages, arriving in the United States seeking asylum on the same basis. Nor would it be limited to Honduras, or even Central American countries. Migrants from countless other countries where crime and poverty are prevalent would undoubtedly respond by seeking the same treatment as Hondurans.
This latest plan, combined with the president’s expected decision to further expand his administrative amnesty programs to new classes of illegal aliens, demonstrate conclusively that this administration will not abide by any immigration restrictions set by Congress. Before Congress has even come up with a plan to expedite the removal of large numbers of illegal immigrants from Central America, the administration is already signaling that they intend to admit them as refugees.
There can no longer be any question that the current administration is acting in bad faith on immigration. House Republicans must declare an end to any negotiations with the White House on reforming immigration policy and take steps to ensure that the president enforces existing laws.