The Department of Homeland Security is planning a series of raids that would send hundreds of families back to their Central American countries of origin. No public statements have been made by either the DHS or the White House, but officials speaking with anonymity have confirmed the raids to various news agencies. If the plans come to fruition, they would constitute this administration’s first significant efforts to deport the Central Americans who have surged across the border in recent years.
The news comes just as a DHS release shows deportations have fallen to their lowest point since 2006. According to the official numbers, only 235,413 people were deported in the 2015 fiscal year. In a vacuum, those numbers would seem to be good news. But in truth, they’re a sign that Obama has gone well beyond “prosecutorial discretion” in determining who gets to stay.
So why a raid? Some say it’s a response to the latest border surge, which has seen more than 12,000 illegal immigrants come across the border in the last two months. Others believe it’s a way for him to defend his administration in a campaign season when Republicans are hammering him on illegal immigration.
But what it really is, regardless of the catalyst, is a piece of security theater.
Funny, too, how this comes just after Obama admitted in an NPR interview that he needs to get better about communicating with the American people. In other words, he needs to learn how to use the media for propaganda. And what better way to do that than roll out a well-publicized series of raids that paint him as a defender of America’s border laws? A few immigration activists will slam him in the press, but maybe the courts will look on favorably as they evaluate his 2014 amnesty order.
We’ve already seen this charade. Obama seemed to have no problem deporting illegal immigrants in his first term, earning significant derision from Hispanic groups like La Raza. But that was when he still hoped to push comprehensive immigration reform through Congress. Once that went up in smoke, Obama stopped pretending to care about the law.
This is just the same trick all over again. Obama wants his illegal immigration legacy to stand, and he needs the courts to side with him if that’s going to happen. He can point to these raids as proof that he still believes in enforcing the law. But a deportation plan this small is the perfect echo of his tiny troop deployment in Syria. A strategy that makes no sense, will accomplish nothing, and is only meant to trick Americans.
Is there anyone left who isn’t wise to this president yet?
