Rep. Lamar Smith Criticizes Pres. Obama for 'Catch-and-Release' Policy
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who also serves as the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Pres. Obama's 'catch-and-release' immigration policy after learning of an incident in Massachusetts. The policy of allowing suspected illegal aliens to go back to work keeps jobs away from American workers.
More than 50 suspected illegal aliens were detained by federal immigration officials last week near Foxboro, Mass. The workers were heading to Gillette Stadium to clear snow before an NFL playoff game. Forty-nine of the suspected illegal aliens were brought to the stadium with orders to report back to immigration officials who would then determine their legal status.
The Obama administration’s latest refusal to enforce the nation’s immigration laws is an insult to every out-of-work citizen and legal immigrant. The Obama administration has reinstated the failed catch-and-release policies of the past and has even gone so far as to turn federal law enforcement officers into taxi drivers to get illegal immigrants back to their illegal jobs!
These jobs rightfully belong to citizens and legal immigrants. With a 10 percent unemployment rate, now is the time for the President to enforce immigration laws and return stolen jobs to the people. When the jobs stolen by illegal immigrants are recovered for citizens and legal workers, American workers benefit.
President Obama could create eight million jobs for citizens and legal workers simply by enforcing immigration laws. Instead, weak immigration enforcement policies hurt citizens and legal immigrants. It is hard to conceive of a worse time to implement such policies, but that is exactly what the administration has done.
-- Ranking Member Lamar Smith
For more information on this story, see the Boston Globe.