Border Crossings Double as Sequestration, Rumors of Amnesty Deal Shape Debate

Two must-read pieces on the immigration debate/stalemate today, one from Chris Cilizza and the other is from Katie Pavlich.

Cilizza’s piece, posted at the Washington Post, is basically designed to heap pressure on Sen. Marco Rubio. Rubio announced on Sunday that no deal among the Gang of Eight was in sight, after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)  had told NBC’s Chuck Todd that there is a deal. Schumer’s announcement, like Cilizza’s piece, is all about putting pressure on Republicans in the Gang of Eight to cave.

Cilizza’s money quote concerns Schumer, and the reliability of his word.

“The Senate is littered with Republicans who negotiated with Chuck Schumer, thinking they had one deal when he had something else entirely in mind,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based GOP consultant.

Translated, basically, Schumer is a consummate liar and his word is worthless.

Katie Pavlich’s piece, meanwhile, deals with the side effects that two of the current debates in Washington are having on the border. The Obama administration’s public bawling over sequestration have convinced many would-be illegal aliens that now is the time to cross into the US: There’s less security, and thousands of incarcerated illegal aliens have been set free. The Gang of Eight’s debate is also driving up the number of crossings.

“We’ve seen the number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talk started happening,” an agent told Townhall, who asked to remain unnamed due to fears of retaliation within Customs and Border Protection [CBP], something he said is common. “A lot of these people, although not the majority, are criminals or aggravated felons.  This is a direct danger to our communities.”

But that’s not the money quote of her piece. This is.

“We have seen increased crossings and smuggling since word of staffing cuts began circulating.  The illegals have even told us that is why they tried crossing.  The border is safer but by no means secure,” Moran says.

Another agent expressed the same sentiment, saying when apprehended, some illegal aliens ask where they can go to find amnesty.

Any Democrat’s office will do.

It wasn’t just the lousy Obama economy that slowed border crossings over the past few years. Enforcement of the law, where it was being done, helped. But now with the phony sequestration cuts — Border Patrol officers say their numbers are being cut while bureaucrats’ aren’t — and the talk of amnesty in Washington are driving the numbers back up. Pavlich reports that some crossers have come in toting AK-47 type weapons, and has posted a CBP cam photo showing a border crosser hold something that does look very much like such a weapon (despite the fact that Mexico has very strict gun control laws…)

Yet out of the Obama government, we get the same song and dance about how the border is more secure now than ever before, and Homeland Security won’t even come up with a means to measure border security at all.

Any Gang of Eight deal would have to deal with Homeland Security’s refusal to secure the homeland. The Democrats, led by Schumer, won’t do any more than pay lip service to security. It’s the pathway to citizenship and votes that they’re interested in. The security of our citizens and the sovereignty of our nation are far down their list of priorities. It’s up to Rubio to either get a good deal or call the Democrats out for their dishonesty and walk away.