I compare my experience in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws to pushing a broken-down car up a hill. Once you get a little momentum forward, it starts to roll backwards.
The job of enforcing our immigration statutes gets even harder when employers shirk their responsibilities to verify the employment eligibility of their workers, when advocacy groups run to the media sensationalizing the plight of the unauthorized worker, when Members of Congress send in scathing letters on behalf of their constituencies challenging DHS actions and now when states implement laws preventing cooperation with DHS.
Could you sense a little frustration in Secretary Chertoff’s remarks the other day when he was addressing a group at the Woodrow Wilson Institute when the topic of employee verification was mentioned? Secretary Chertoff is feeling the same pain the men and women of ICE and its predecessor agency feel every day.
For some, violating immigration law seems to be justifiable. It’s not – and this unlawful behavior needs to stop now. This total disregard to follow the law makes it virtually impossible for our government to effectively control our border and enforce our immigration statutes.
DHS is right to enforce these laws and should do so more aggressively. I applaud the Secretary for sending a clear message to those who believe DHS should not. There has to be consequences for breaking the law, and violators must be held accountable.
