Enforcement Now, Enforcement Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 The L.A. Times reports that President Obama will ask Congress for $27 billion for border and transportation security “and set[] the stage for immigration reform by first addressing enforcement.” The 8% increase in spending will allow the administration to hire more aboder patrol gents and enhance security at ports of entry. “Obama also will request more money to expand screening for illegal immigrants in jail and to improve a Web-based program for verifying workers’ employment eligibility.” The funding is part of the 2010 budget Obama will present to Congress on Thursday. I am not sure I am convinced but the Anna Gorman and Peter Nicholas of the Times opine that

“[t]he border and immigration budget underscores differences with the Bush administration, which emphasized border fence construction, increased detention space and more teams to raid work sites. Obama has already changed the game on work-site enforcement, giving immigration agents new guidelines that shift the emphasis from illegal workers to employers who break the law by hiring them.”

How can we be sure that the other parts of comprehensive immigration reform will ever come to pass?  To this point in the Obama Presidency, the best that can be said is that his immigration enforcement is not as harsh as that of the Bush administration.  We can only hope that the President’s faith in Congress on immigration reform — and his ability to persuade — is warranted.

KJ