The Republican Immigration Position Just Got More Ridiculous

Today Speaker Boehner warned that Congress may not be able to pass legislation to help address the influx of Central American child migrants, because too many Democrats are unwilling to alter the 2008 human trafficking law, and give President Obama's Border Patrol agents expanded power to return unaccompanied minors home without judicial reviews.

I've previously explained here and at The Week that Boehner's position is startlingly hypocritical. For months he said he could not pass comprehensive immigration reform because President Obama could not be trusted to enforce any border security provisions. Then last week he effectively declared he wanted to pass legislation that trusted Obama to enforce border security provisions. Boehner's proposed law would give Border Patrol discretion when dealing with children coming from nations other than Mexico and Canada, which gives Obama power to direct Border Patrol policies and prioritize resources.

If Boehner's sudden desire to expand presidential executive authority wasn't ridiculous enough, now he is he effectively saying: I can't pass this bill unless you trust Obama to enforce these border security provision.

The only thing consistent about Boehner's immigration positions from yesterday and today is that he can't pass a bill.

But it should be clear to all that Boehner's attempts to blame Obama's lack of trustworthiness for the failure of passing immigration reform were completely phony. He trusts Obama just fine. It's the anti-immigrant bigots in his party whom he doesn't trust to keep voting Republican.