It’s been more than a week since President Obama announced a unilateral plan to allow young illegal immigrants to stay in this country and legally obtain work permits, but critics are still fuming over what they see as an unconstitutional method to attain an overt political goal.
Jim Gilchrist is founder of the Minuteman Project – a group founded several years ago in response to what he considered the federal government’s abdication of border security responsibilities in the Bush administration. He is even more infuriated with what he sees as blatant political pandering now from President Obama through his executive order to implement key aspects of the DREAM Act.
The most significant changes would allow young illegals who were brought to the U.S. before the age of 16, and are currently younger than 30, to stay here and legally obtain work permits. Gilchrist rejects the compassion argument of going easy on young illegals since they didn’t consciously break the law. He asserts that breaking the law has consequences, and young illegals should have to be sent home and get in line for the legal immigration process before being allowed to enter the U.S. again.
Gilchrist says Obama is consciously encouraging illegal behavior in hopes of legalizing tens of millions of immigrants who shouldn’t be here. He says the ultimate goal is to turn the vast majority of current illegals into loyal Democratic voters.
Gilchrist has no love for Republicans, either, as he contends the GOP would be doing the same thing if it thought most illegals would vote for them. In fact, he believes that’s exactly why President George W. Bush was so lenient toward illegals during his administration.
