The ICE Shell Game

When it comes to enacting President Obama’s second-term agenda, nothing stands in the way more than his own administration. By serially flouting our nation’s laws, this administration has ignored its constitutional duties and completely discredited itself, losing good will along the way from members of Congress...

For instance, in February of 2012, the Obama administration announced the creation of a “public advocate” position within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). This person served as a point of contact for illegal and criminal immigrants in deportation proceedings as well as for illegal-alien advocacy and community groups. Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council, the union that represents the 7,600 ICE officers and agents, has called the public-advocate position “nothing but waste, fraud, and abuse.”

At a time when our country is $17 trillion in debt, the last thing we should be doing is using taxpayer dollars to fund a position whose primary purpose is to advocate on behalf of individuals who have entered our country illegally and in some cases broken other laws as well. This is why in the summer of 2012 I introduced an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill to defund this public-advocate position..

Unfortunately for the president, he loses all credibility with lawmakers when he can’t be trusted to execute the very laws he signs. This not only creates the gridlock we see in Washington, but also undermines President Obama’s ability to advance his own agenda.