Letters: President's wrong on immigration

Newsday's editorial "De facto reform on immigration" [Aug. 22] really should have had the title, "I Did it My Way" (with all due apologizes to Mr. Sinatra).

Once again, President Barack Obama has ignored the will of the people, first on the health-care issue, and now on immigration. By allowing illegal immigrants to get away with crossing the borders illegally, we have encouraged a mindset that America's laws are optional. The message is, "Just get yourself across the border, and you're home free." I want that to end.

I do not agree with the argument that since illegal immigrants are here already, let them stay, let them work, let them enjoy all the benefits of American citizenship. There is a right way and a wrong way to enter the country. If you do it wrong, there should be consequences, and people need to be held accountable for their behavior.

This new policy avoids any responsibility from anyone, to any measurable level of accountability. With this economy in such bad shape, it is very puzzling that Obama would further burden the labor supply by adding hundreds of thousands of people.

I do not agree with Newsday's assessment that avoiding Congress is the only way to get anything done on immigration. America already has a consensus on how to proceed: Stop suing the states that are coming up with practical solutions, stop defunding the border fence, and stop tinkering with programs that work. One is Secure Communities, which forwards fingerprints of anyone booked in a local or county jail to the Department of Homeland Security.

Chris Wales, Mineola
 

This editorial tells us that President Barack Obama has basically told immigration officials not to enforce immigration laws that were put into place by Congress. It says that the Secure Communities program, which was supposed to deport serious criminals, has snared many people who violated no criminal laws. Well those people who have entered this country illegally have broken the law.

This maneuver, executed while the president and Congress are on vacation, is an affront to representative democracy. Whether one agrees with the policy or not, the president is attempting to impose by fiat what he couldn't accomplish legislatively. What other laws should we not enforce? Perhaps we can ignore paying taxes or obeying traffic regulations.

The president is not a monarch. It is not up to the White House to decide if laws are to be enforced or not. This is a nation based on the rule of law. It will cease to be a nation if laws can be arbitrarily ignored and our borders become an open sieve.

Robert F. LaPorta, Dix Hills