The Obama administration has now moved a step further in accommodating the nation’s illegal alien population. According to Breitbart News the immigrant services branch of the Homeland Security Department (DHS) has now put in place a system of counseling for illegal aliens released from detention. The illegal alien beneficiaries are to be provided “… access to holistic community based services tailored to the individual families’ needs.” The services, which may include signing up for welfare benefits, subsidized housing, medical care, transportation and legal services are being billed by the government as a way to get the illegal aliens to show up for deportation hearings. The ostensible rationale is that if the alien is tied into the community and receives legal advice he or she is less likely to ignore the legal obligation to appear before the court.
But, as a congressional staffer commented, “Anyone who doesn’t concede this is going to create an even stronger magnet for illegal immigration to the United States is either clueless or dishonest.”
It is unclear how DHS intends to finance this service other than as a small demonstration project with a contract for $11 million for 1,500 families. To scale it up to millions who might eventually qualify would require a vast budget increase. Nevertheless, this is the way the Obama administration has often worked, i.e. begin with small steps to send the message that illegal aliens will be accommodated rather than deported and then seek to institutionalize the new benefit for an expanded population.