President Obama is telling immigrant families that those who are here legally are eligible for Obamacare and none of them need to worry because no health care information will end up in the hands of immigration officials.
Obama made the statement last week in a forum with prominent Hispanic media outlets, sponsored by the likes of Univision and Telemundo. One of the questions dealt with concerns by legal immigrants that signing up for health care through the new laws would expose the illegal status of family members.
“It’s true that the undocumented are not eligible. That’s how the law was written,” said Obama. “None of the information that is provided in order for you to obtain health insurance is in any way transferred to immigration services.”
Now a longtime Republican member of Congress says this is the latest evidence of why Obama’s approach to immigration reform is fatally flawed and provides additional reasons why Obama may not be fit to serve the remainder of his term.
California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a fierce opponent of the the immigration reforms being promoted in Congress. He is disgusted, but not surprised, by Obama’s statement.
“This is consistent with the president’s commitment to the law and to the Constitution. We have him over and over again stating that he’s going to do what he wants. Whether or not this is consistent with the Constitution isn’t even part of his consideration,” said Rohrabacher, who says the job of government is to enforce the laws.
“We actually hire these people, including the president, in order to enforce the laws that have been created by ‘We the People’ through the Congress. Obviously, he thinks he can ignore some laws and enforce others. This is the first president that has been so blatant,” he said.
In addition to alleging Obama is selectively enforcing federal laws, Rohrabacher says failing to crack down on illegal immigrants is adding great sums to our debt, with Obamacare being a prime example.
“We clearly have a president who is dedicated to the well-being of people who are here in our country illegally. Instead of watching out for the interests of the American people, we have him watching out for the interests of foreign people who come here illegally. It is not in our interest to have people consuming health, education and limited other dollars…when our own people are struggling to make the payments that are necessary to provide these services for our own people. So this is an outrage,” said Rohrabacher.
The congressman also says encouraging government agencies not to share vital information is a terrible practice and not long ago led to one of the greatest calamities in American history.
“The last time the issue was whether or not people transmit information from one branch of government to another in order to enforce the law, we ended up with 9/11. We ended up with a major catastrophe for our country,” said Rohrabacher, referring to the “wall” that prevented information sharing between the FBI and CIA during the 1990s.
“Now this isn’t going to happen with the fact that some illegals are now consuming government resources that they shouldn’t be consuming in terms of limited health care dollars, but it still reflects the type of attitude that is a big minus for our country,” he said.
In the wake of unilateral Obamacare delays and adjustments in immigration policies in recent years, frustrated Americans often ask why Congress doesn’t do something about the president’s allegedly selective enforcement of U.S. laws. Rohrabacher says their answer is in the mirror.
“The most important thing we can do is mobilize the American people. The American people can’t sit back and say, ‘Well, Congress has to handle this.’ We all have to do it. We have three years to get this guy out. Let me put it this way, he probably has been engaged in these unconstitutional approaches that may make his own ability to stay in office a question,” said Rohrabacher.
“At the very least, we need to make sure after three years that we get a president who will set us back on the right path and we have a Congress, meaning a Senate and a House, that can stand unified and try to prevent the damage you have from an arrogant president who thinks he can enforce only the laws he agrees with,” he said.
Last month, House Speaker John Boehner said immigration reform is on indefinite hold in the House because a strong majority of GOP members simply don’t trust the president to enforce all aspects of any legislation that gets approved. Rohrabacher says Obama’s statement on health care and illegal immigration is a perfect example of that mistrust.
“I think this is a major factor in every piece of legislation that will actually be a reform of the system. We can actually put down in black and white in terms of what the new system is going to look like,” said Rohrabacher. “But if we’re doing that with the knowledge that the President of the United States will pick and choose how exactly he’s going to enforce that law or how he will structure his reaction to this new mandate by Congress, then it is a deterrent for us to thinking that we can solve any major problems in the next three years.”
