Speaker John Boehner, who has long said "the biggest impediment we have to immigration reform is that the American people don’t trust the president to enforce or implement the law that we may or may not pass," made an unusual comment yesterday.
Asked at a press conference if the "2008 trafficking law needed to be revised" to address the influx of Central American child immigrants, Boehner said:
I do, and I think the President agrees with it as well ... I do believe the House should act this month ... I think we all agree that the non-contiguous countries, that now we're required to hold those people, I think clearly, we would probably want the language similar to what we have with Mexico.
But what we have with unaccompanied children from Mexico under the 2008 law is discretion given to Border Patrol agents -- who work for President Barack Obama -- to determine who is eligible to stay in the America and who must be returned to their home country.
Whereas the current law ties the President's hands in regards to unaccompanied children from Central America, ensuring they receive a judicial review to determine their eligibility, which means waiting in America for months or years.
In other words, Boehner has proposed an immigration reform that trusts the President to enforce the law and secure the border.
Which renders inoperative his claim that he is unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would grant legal status to the 11 million undocumented because we can't trust Obama to enforce the law and secure the border.
