Don't muddle the immigration debate | Opinion Blog

Esther Cepeda?s column in today?s Dallas Morning News rankled me. Like her, I?m a big supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Unlike her, I don?t believe Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities should simply declare that they will no longer enforce immigration law just because reform up now up for discussion in Washington.

Cepeda cites government figures that 409,849 individuals were deported in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, and ICE director John Morton says that 55 percent those deportations were of criminals convicted of felonies or misdemeanors.

Then Cepeda cites an immigration lawyer ? a guy who blogs a lot on immigration ? who states that ICE?s figures are exaggerated because they include illegal immigrants who have done nothing more than attempt to re-enter at the border after having already been caught once before. If they?ve been deported once already, then try to re-enter, they get qualified by the government as criminal offenders instead of civil offenders. That bothers Cepeda and her blogger friend, who see the Obama administration as bad people bent on breaking up the families of hard-working migrants.

But until the law is changed to somehow legalize the status of illegal immigrants, the government has no choice but to enforce the law as written. If you enter this country illegally or remain in this country after your visa expires, that?s the risk you take. The law doesn?t put a value judgment on the life you might have created here. The only standard is the legal one attached to your current immigration status. Cepeda seems to think that law enforcers should have the option of picking and choosing the people who should be subject to the law. In the real world, it just doesn?t work that way. There is no constitutional right to enter or remain in the United States without a valid visa, even if you?re an otherwise law-abiding, nice person who just wants access to a better life.

Some might ask: What about the Defense of Marriage Act? Hasn?t the Obama administration simply chosen not to enforce that law? Yes. That?s because the law can?t be enforced in some states because of conflicting state legislation permitting same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the constitutionality of a legal ban on same-sex marriage.

No such legal challenge exists in the case of illegal immigrants. The cold, hard reality is that immigration law is unlikely to change until the larger issues of comprehensive immigration reform are addressed by Congress. Let?s hope that happens soon. But until it happens, federal authorities have no choice but to enforce the law that?s on the books today. Cepeda could make a more forceful argument by sparing us her indignant tone and finding a slightly more credible source for immigration-enforcement statistics than an immigration lawyer who blogs a lot about the subject.

Source: http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/01/dont-muddle-the-immigration-debate.html/

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