Welcome to My World, Janet... Now, Please Restore Some Dignity to It

First things first, kudos to the President-elect on his likely pick for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano (D) is a superb choice to lead DHS, which-I think we can all agree-is ready for some real leadership.But why exactly did Obama choose Napolitano for this task? MSNBC's Mark Murray concluded that the pick hinged on immigration:

The pick of Napolitano indicates that immigration may have been Obama's primary concern in making his decision on this post.

It's hard to isolate which of Napolitano's credentials won the day. What's clear is that, when it comes to immigration, Janet gets it. As Governor of a major border state, Napolitano has had to make tough decisions to deal with the consequences of our dysfunctional immigration laws. She's managed to do so while maintaining record approval ratings. And that's in a state often labeled "ground zero" of the immigration debate.

There's no doubt she would bring this experience to bear as head of DHS, which runs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As Governor, she held fast in support of comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level. Her kind of reform would secure our borders and bring immigrant workers out of the shadows (and onto the tax rolls).

I can just picture the Michael Chertoff equivalent of the recent Condoleezza Rice memo, "Welcome to My World, Barack." (In the memo, Rice lamented, "Comprehensive immigration reform is the one thing I wish we'd been able to do, and it's going to have to be done, and I hope it's done soon.")

The title of Chertoff's memo? May I suggest:

Welcome to My World, Janet... Now, Please Restore Some Dignity to It.

Let's face it: both DHS and ICE have seen their dignity dive-bomb under Chertoff's rule. After immigration reform was murdered by anti-immigrant forces in 2007, ICE took matters into its own hands.

The agency's showy immigration raids have focused on rounding up immigrant workers and tearing them from their families to generate splashy headlines. Of course, this comes at the expense of not prosecuting dangerous criminals or unscrupulous employers.

But rounding people up is just the beginning. Recent New York Times and Washington Post exposés have revealed the outrageous deaths of seventy immigrant detainees, many of whom died because of poor conditions in privately-traded, expanding ICE detention centers.

What's more, ICE has been slamming workers with trumped up identity theft charges and executing mass trials that have trampled our deeply-held values of due process and basic justice. The Supreme Court is set to investigate one such identity theft case next year.

Finally, we can't ignore former ICE head Julie Myers' moments of sheer incompetence, stupidity, and apparent racism. These only served to further tarnish ICE's reputation. Most recently, her Operation Scheduled Departure, a "self-deportation" plan that netted eight (8) unlawful immigrants in total, was a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars.

Incidentally, Ms. Myers scheduled her own departure from the Agency right after Mr. Obama was elected.

If Napolitano's likely appointment to Secretary of Homeland Security is anything, it is a welcome departure from business as usual at DHS. It is a chance for a courageous leader to restore dignity to a highly politicized agency that has spiraled out of control.

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Comments

[kerthialfad]

Essential to comprehensive immigration reform is closing the many loopholes which make enforcement unwieldy and heavy-handed. First of all, this practice of automatic citizenship by birth is obsolete and must be ended. No other modern developed nation has such a policy. We should move into the modern world.

Secondly, the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 must be repealed. This is another obsolete policy which allows nationals from a terrorist nation (yes, Cuba is on the list!) to walk into the US without a visa, and stay as long as they want. To be sure, Castro has his spies in the US, and it's no mystery how he got them there.

In any legislative comprehensive immigration reform bill, these 2 loopholes must be addressed.

[kerthialfad]

Another loophole to close: Sanctuary City policies... Wars in El Salvador are over.

[panfilo]

fascinating. Napolitano is unquestionably a solid choice but there are important issues to delve into before you celebrate. Take a look at the column at La Frontera Times http://www.lafronteratimes.com/ about her contradictions. it raises a few questions you should consider.

[TomorrowWeVote]

Judith Myers probably leaked the information about Obama's undocumented aunt to the press, and that is why she has already resigned. What a disaster she was.

Our country needs solutions to our broken immigration laws, and both Obama and Napolitano get it. The question is will they do anything?

The Mexican American community marched, became citizens, and then voted in record numbers. If that is not enough to move Napolitano and Obama then we will have to go further, as Blacks did once Kennedy was elected and the civil rights movement took off.

Progressives should make immigration reform a priority. It is absolutely unbelievable that a democracy strong enough to elect our first African American president is not strong enough to end the second class terror of 12 million undocumented workers, living exploited in the shadows!