The New York Times’ Julia Preston reports that the Obama White House has advanced the Bush White House agenda of getting tough on undocumented immigrants: "The administration recently undertook audits of employee paperwork at hundreds of businesses, expanded a program to verify worker immigration status that has been widely criticized as flawed, bolstered a program of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies, and rejected proposals for legally binding rules governing conditions in immigration detention centers."
Every administration priority here, except the last, is the enforcement of pre-existing laws. Immigration advocates sympathetically argue that these laws need to change, but the Dept. of Homeland Security is not exactly acting out of bounds. And on some scores the Obama version of law enforcement really is more sensible: e-verfiy and audits of employee paperwork is intended to track rogue employers, not sensationally round-up thousands of low-wage immigrants.
The final measure, though, makes no sense. The Washington Post’s Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein had a stunning expose last year on abuses at immigration detention centers. Preston’s piece doesn’t explain why the Obama administration rejects uniform standards. Stay tuned.-MB