Trust in the administration is the foundation of the Schumer-Rubio bill.

MEMORANDUM

To: Conservatives skeptical of the Senate immigration bill

From: Marco Rubio, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, Grover Norquist, Haley Barbour, Linda Chavez, Al Cardenas, Richard Land, Ralph Reed, et al.

Subject: We trust Barack Obama


It has come to our attention that some bitter-enders are clinging to their opposition to S.744, the Gang of Eight immigration bill now being considered by the Senate. The most vexing issue for us is the skeptics’ lack of trust in the Obama administration’s willingness to faithfully execute the immigration laws. Since the whole bill is predicated on trust in Obama, we wanted to dispel any lingering doubts you may have about the legislation.


We trust Barack Obama to implement in good faith the border-control plans his Department of Homeland Security will submit to Congress within six months of his signing the bill, which is the trigger for legalizing virtually all illegal immigrants.

We trust Barack Obama to rigorously apply the requirements for legalization, rejecting and deporting all applicants who fail to qualify.

We trust Barack Obama to permit ICE and Border Patrol agents to enforce the laws as written, without interference from political appointees or pressure from well-connected advocacy groups.

We trust Barack Obama to accurately determine whether the bill’s border-security goals have been met, enabling the former illegal immigrants to upgrade to full green-card status.


We trust Barack Obama to make sure that no legalized immigrants are able to access federal benefit programs, including subsidized health care, or receive certain tax credits, as stipulated in S.744.

We trust Barack Obama to implement an improved E-Verify system on schedule and to encourage the Social Security Administration and USCIS to root out identity fraud.

We trust Barack Obama to insist that employers follow the worksite measures in the bill, as they failed to do after the 1986 amnesty.


We trust Barack Obama to ensure complete transparency in the reporting of statistics about immigration services and enforcement, so the public and Congress can gauge the effectiveness of the law and the administration’s activities.

We trust Barack Obama to ensure that his administration is judicious and sparing in its use of the hundreds of waivers and exemptions in the bill.

We trust Barack Obama to be firm with those countries that do not accept their own citizens back, thus blocking our ability to deport criminal aliens and those who will come here illegally after the amnesty.


We trust Barack Obama to be evenhanded in awarding the tens of millions of dollars the bill sets aside for community-organizing groups, and not favor one political perspective over another.

We trust Barack Obama to resist lobbying pressure from favored corporations to administer the law in ways that benefit them.

We trust Barack Obama to zealously ensure the removal of any legalized aliens who are out of work for more than 60 days or who become dependent on taxpayer support, as the bill requires.

We trust Barack Obama to collect all assessed taxes that should have been paid, but were not, by illegal aliens seeking legal status.

We trust Barack Obama to vigorously enforce provisions of the law demanding that employers seeking H-1B workers from abroad offer jobs to Americans first.

We trust Barack Obama to make sure that all dangerous non-citizens taken into custody will be placed in detention pending their deportation, so that they will neither flee nor threaten their community.


We trust Barack Obama to ensure that no criminal aliens will be released for budgetary or political reasons.

We trust Barack Obama to doggedly fight any litigation aimed at stopping the bill’s various enforcement provisions after the amnesty goes into effect.

We trust Barack Obama to fill hundreds of new immigration-judge positions with men and women who will impartially and objectively balance the requirements and standards of the law and the intent of Congress with their compassion for immigrants.

We trust Barack Obama not to attack Republicans as soon as the bill is signed by blaming them for the restrictions placed on amnesty beneficiaries until they receive green cards.

We trust Barack Obama.

Don’t you?

— Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.