With news stories raging about the federal health care buildup betting on you and I not being very bright, we might consider who and what Obama administration officials mean when they talk about immigration stakeholders. There are too many special interests to count that will gain from an executive immigration order to forgive millions of illegals who deserve absolutely nothing. The infuriating thing is, this is a democracy but those stakeholders will never include you.
Obama administration officials are talented when it comes to ignoring the premise behind our system of government. The people are supposed to call the shots, but we know too well how that works. When you hear the word stakeholders it doesn’t mean middle class taxpayers. Our job is to work and pay the bills for others, including those judged worthy of special consideration from an insanely ill-advised immigration order.
Who are the real immigration order stakeholders?
Stakeholders meetings are part of the inclusive way things are said to be working in our nation’s capital. For example, when Homeland Security wanted to host a meeting of those interested in commonsense, bipartisan immigration reform,1 the group included representatives from the Service Employees International Union, American Civil Liberties Union, United Farm Workers, National Immigrant Justice Center, Detention Watch Network, the Border Network for Human Rights, AFL-CIO, and the National Network for Arab American Communities.2 Not one of the organizations included the name “taxpayer” or “citizens” in its title, even though we are the ones with the most to lose whenever our government does something self-interested and stupid.
How did we go from economic stakeholders to deportation relief?
Even for dimwitted American voters like us, it hasn’t been too difficult to figure out what’s going on. This was the take home message after a Homeland Security conference on “Government and Stakeholders Working Together to Improve Immigration Services”:
In keynote remarks, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson shared about the importance of American values – including immigration and diversity. Secretary Johnson said, “We all must work together towards the shared goal of a stronger, more effective, and more just immigration system.”3
Despite the duplicitous talk about American values, those with the most to gain from an immigration order represent a pretty narrow spectrum of our society, even if we toss in the millions of illegals executive action would benefit. Unjustified special interest greed has completely changed the reform landscape. We used to be told that immigration reform was about jobs, the economy, and other things that would have sounded believable coming from anyone but our president and his misinformation mill. This was the party line in 2011:
The President listened to stakeholders describe a variety of problems that result from the broken system, including: educating the best and brightest but then shipping that talent overseas; concerns over the ability of businesses to reliably hire and retain a legal workforce; and the need to level the playing field for American workers by ending the underground labor market.4
Back then, even the outrageously demanding Congressional Hispanic Caucus used to sound reasonable, issuing this statement after a “White House Meeting With Stakeholders on Immigration”:
The CHC continues to work with the White House in pursuing much needed immigration reform that is in the best economic interest of our nation.5
Who could argue with our “best economic interest?” That dialogue has shifted. This is 2014. Liberal hopes were murdered last week. With desperation for an immigration order before the end of the year at a fever pitch, the real goal is up front and center. Members of Congress probably wouldn’t have the honesty to call themselves stakeholders, so the Congressional Progressive Caucus relies on an old fallback, families:
Bold reforms should keep families together and provide protections for LGBT individuals. Until it is signed, the administration should change its deportation strategy to reflect the reforms the executive order will bring to families.6
We won’t waste time asking how LGBTs managed to get tossed into the mix, since the CHC is more straightforward about the prize:
The president has the legal authority and moral imperative to provide relief for over 7 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the shadows.7
Documenting 7 million illegals sounds like something our immigration stakeholders would approve of. Those interested parties don’t include you, but just for the sake of amusement think of how letting 7 million, or even a paltry 5 million illegal immigrants who have neither the integrity nor the resolve to do the right thing and come here legally will make your life better. Don’t think too hard, though. Your job is to shut up, be stupid, and pay the bills. You are not a stakeholder. Just an American.
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