New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was there. So was Al Sharpton and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka. Not on the invitation list? Any active governor from any border state. Which is odd since the meeting held yesterday at the White House was titled: President’s Meeting with Stakeholders on Fixing the Broken Immigration System.
Are the active governors of our nation’s border states not “stakeholders” in our “broken immigration system”? Not for this White House. From day one, the Obama administration has sought to undermine state law enforcement cooperation and authority over illegal immigration. Within months of taking office, the Department of Homeland Security weakened the 287(g) program that President bill Clinton created in 1996 to increase cooperation on border enforcement between federal and local law enforcement. Since then the Department of Justice has gone to war with Arizona over their law enforcement efforts instead of working with them.
Obama did invite a number of mayors to his illegal immigration meeting, many of whom, like Bloomberg, preside over sanctuary cities. While states that have stepped up enforcement, like Arizona, have seen dramatic decreases in their illegal immigration problem, sanctuary cities continue to serve as a magnet for more illegal entries. Tuesday’s invite list shows which policy outcome Obama prefers.
