President Obama Invites Former Terrorist Sympathizers to Immigrate to America

President Obama has taken another step away from the American citizens who elected him - he has eased the rules for would-be asylum-seekers, refugees and others who want either to come to or remain in the United States, making it possible for the first time since 9/11 for those who gave given "limited" support to terrorists or terrorist groups to seek residence status. The change, carried out by executive order, is one of President Obama's first actions on immigration since he pledged during his January State of the Union address to use more executive directives - use his pen to go around Congress, as he put it. Congress passed legislation in the wake of 9//11 making it impossible for anyone considered to have provided support to terrorist groups to seek entry into the United States. The law's prohibition, known as terrorism related inadmissibility grounds, had affected anyone considered to have given such support. The provision has been applied rigidly to those trying to enter the US and to those already in the US but wanting to change their immigration status. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the rule change, which was announced last week without consulting Congress, gives the government more discretion, but won't open the country to terrorists or their sympathizers. People seeking refugee status, asylum and visas, including those already in the United States, still will be checked to be sure they don't pose a threat to national security or public safety, the department said. The new rule allows officials to consider whether the support was not only limited but potentially part of "routine commercial transactions or routine social transactions," according to Homeland Security spokesman Peter Boogaard. "Nothing in these exemptions changes the rigorous, multilayered security screening we do." The new rule is silent about members of rebel groups who have led revolts in Arab Spring uprisings, and it does not specifically address "freedom fighters" who may have fought against an established government. The rule change will help people Boogaard described as deserving refugees and asylum-seekers. Democrat Senator Pat Leahy said in a statement that the previous rule barred applicants for reasons "that no rational person would consider." Republican lawmakers, however, argue that the administration is relaxing rules designed by Congress to protect the country from terrorists. Representative Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the change naive, given today's global terrorist threats. The government should be protecting US citizens rather than taking a chance on those who are aiding and abetting terrorist activity and putting Americans at greater risk," said Goodlatte. ~~~~~ Dear readers, one is tempted to say that President Obama has taken leave of his senses. Using an executive order to taunt Congress for trying to provide protection from terrorists for Americans and, at the same time, taking lightly the to-be-expected negative reaction of both Congress and Americans seems both foolhardy and deliberately provocative. That the President chose not to explain such a sensitive action to America directly bespeaks a detachment from them and an indifference to their reasonable post-9/11 concerns. Has an American President decided to taunt not only Congress, which is after all a time-honored tradition, but also the American people? While it is true that Barack Obama is a figure now largely cast aside by a majority of the citizens who elected him, he is also for two more years the embodiment of the Office of the Presidency. If Americans do not support Mr. Obama, they nevertheless have enormous respect for the Office itself. President Obama should exercise sufficient self-restraint to prevent that respect from cracking into contempt. King George III made a similar mistake and paid dearly.