The Border "MacGuffin"

[peejay 327]

May 16, 2011

The Border "MacGuffin"

By Ira Mehlman, FAIR Media Director

Alfred Hitchcock described a MacGuffin as "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction." The MacGuffin is a diversion; it is not central to what is really going on.

For the Obama administration, the border is the MacGuffin of the immigration debate. It provides an attractive photo-op, but is more a symptom of a failed immigration policy than a cause. For the past year or so, the administration, with the help of many in the media, has been trying diligently to keep the public focused on a few cosmetic changes along the southern border in the hope that they won't notice what they are really doing.

Much like Hitchcock, President Obama made a cameo appearance in his own work of fiction last week. In a campaign speech disguised as a policy address, the president stood in front of the border MacGuffin in El Paso, aka the border fence, and declared that America's borders are more secure than they have ever been. (They've never been secure at all, so "more secure than ever" doesn't mean very much - but that's another MacGuffin for another day.)

Never mind that even this relative assertion is vehemently disputed by border county sheriffs from Texas to Arizona. The president told us that our immigration problem was the border. He has added some additional Border Patrol agents to the federal payroll and built a few additional miles of fencing, albeit far short of what was originally called for by Congress. Problem solved.

While the president has been trying to keep our collective eyes on the MacGuffin, he and his administration have been doing everything in their power to ensure that America's immigration laws are not enforced. He has ended meaningful enforcement of laws against the employment of illegal aliens and replaced it with meaningless paperwork audits. His administration has taken discretion away from local police who were effectively using the 287(g) program to identify and detain illegal aliens who came to their attention. His Justice Department slapped Arizona with a lawsuit for trying to enforce immigration laws enacted by Congress, but has given a free pass to jurisdictions that openly defy federal immigration authority. He continues to promise amnesty as a reward to those who find a way to get here. The list goes on.

Illegal immigration is not simply a border problem. Controlling our borders is important for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is stemming the flow of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is a systemic problem. We promise jobs, public benefits, birthright citizenship, and a never-ending effort to secure amnesty for those who break our laws.

President Obama may believe that the American people are gullible enough to believe that the problem is just at the border. He may actually believe that we're stupid enough to believe that the border is under control. But the illegal aliens know a MacGuffin when they see one.

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/the_border_macguffin.html

[Vi-Jay 218]

Let there be no doubt.

Obama was panhandling and it made him look an azz.

[TBoneTX 45,536]

Let there be no doubt.

Obama was panhandling and it made him look an azz.

The "alligators in moats" comment was decidedly unpresidential, too.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Glossing over, in fact omitting outright, the fact that deportations have accelerated under Obama. Not sure if that could be called un-FAIR but pretty sure it was a MacGuffin...

[peejay 327]

Glossing over, in fact omitting outright, the fact that deportations have accelerated under Obama. Not sure if that could be called un-FAIR but pretty sure it was a MacGuffin...

Only because of ICE Secure Communities (a watered down version of long standing 287(g)) doing what it is mandated to do. However the illegal alien cheerleaders running sanctuary cities are already refusing to cooperate in even that program and Obama Justice Department hasn't gone after them for refusing to enforce federal law.

Come on...12 to 20 million illegal aliens in the USA and his administration only deports a couple of hundred thousand that happen to land in jail? What a joke! Obama immigration and work authorization enforcement is a joke.