Adventures in Non-Immigration Enforcement

The Obama administration may not give a fig about the real Bill of Rights, but it seems determined to adhere to every emanation and penumbra of a new "bill of rights" for illegal aliens – or, as the promoters would have it, for "undocumented Americans." It's basically just planks from next year's Democratic platform – illegals must not be deported because they have the right to be here, they all deserve citizenship, in the meantime they should all be given work permits and access to taxpayer-funded health care.

Recent evidence of the administration's fealty to these principles comes from two sources. The investigative unit of the Indianapolis NBC affiliate (suggested motto: "Doing the job national media won't do") reports that "the IRS is a knowing accomplice to millions of cases of identity theft while keeping victims in the dark." Here's their summary:

Findings of the 13 Investigates report include:

• The IRS accepts millions of tax returns – and issues tax refunds – even when taxpayer documents show clear warning signs of identity theft
   
• Confidential IRS policies instruct IRS employees not to tell taxpayers when someone else uses their Social Security number to earn income
   
• The IRS allows illegal immigrants to "borrow" Social Security numbers that do not legally belong to them
   
• The IRS is discontinuing a program to notify taxpayers when their Social Security number is used by someone else to gain employment

"Borrow" is the actual term used in the IRS manual for illegally using someone else's Social Security number to get a job. And parts of the IRS employees' manual that are hidden from the public (and provided by whistleblowers) warn IRS workers "Do not disclose to the taxpayer that ... their SSN was reported on an ITIN return". (ITIN is Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which the IRS issues to illegal aliens so they can file returns and get refunds.)

Listen to the whole report – it's one unbelievable thing after another, which is why Sen. Dan Coats is "outraged" by it (though I won't hold my breath for anything to change).

Investigative reporter Bob Segall is to be commended for his zeal and is persistence – he's the one, after all, who a couple of years ago exposed the IRS's improperly giving illegal aliens billions in tax credits and refunds.

The other recent example of Obama's facilitating illegal immigration came from a piece by Law360 (behind a paywall). They report that audits of employers' personnel records intended to make sure they're not employing illegal aliens have declined dramatically, "the downward trend doesn't appear to be slowing".

Some background: Under Obama, raids on employers of illegal aliens have been prohibited (contributing to ICE having the lowest employee morale in the federal government). But in order to show that they were still committed to the ban on hiring illegals, the administration conducted audits of employers thought to employ lots of illegals. These involved a check of employees' Social Security numbers and other information, and those who were not authorized to work in the U.S. were let go (though under no circumstances were ICE agents permitted to take them into custody).

These audits were inadequate as an enforcement tool, but they were better than nothing.

And nothing is where we're headed now. The numbers that Law360 got from ICE show that there were 3,004 audits in FY 2012 and 3,127 in 2013, but only 1,320 in 2014 and just 360 during the first three quarters of 2015 (which would translate to an annual rate of 480).

Why have even these limited enforcement actions dropped by 85 percent in just two years? Because once it was clear the House was not going to pass the Schumer-Rubio amnesty/immigration-surge bill, there was no longer any need to maintain a pretense of enforcement. As I wrote last month, once "Senator Rubio's amnesty bill died in the House, with no prospect of revival, there was no need to continue the charade."

Anyone who thought Obama (or Hillary) would enforce immigration laws in the future, after the illegals already here got amnesty, was a fool.