During an appearance on "Face the Nation", House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told Bob Schieffer, "We have a problem with 11 million people who are here without documents."
Unfortunately, this means that the Speaker is developing public policy based on an erroneous premise because, as I wrote in 2009:
John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Illegal immigrants are not "undocumented". They have fraudulent documents such as counterfeit Social Security cards, forged drivers licenses, fake "green cards", and phony birth certificates. Experts suggest that approximately 75 percent of working-age illegal aliens use fraudulent Social Security cards to obtain employment.
Of course, Boehner is not the only politician who ignores this situation. And perhaps he has to ignore these job-related felonies in order to provide illegal aliens with immediate legalization and a path to citizenship.
After all, Boehner and the other advocates of comprehensive immigration reform simply cannot openly acknowledge massive illegal alien-driven document fraud and identity theft since it would destroy the image of the good, hard-working, honest illegal alien. And if that image is destroyed, then so is comprehensive immigration reform.
If Boehner and other politicians were to acknowledge the commission of serious job-related felonies, including identity theft, by 75 percent of illegal aliens they would either have to deny the vast majority of illegal aliens legal status or they would have to openly acknowledge that illegal aliens are being given amnesty from serious felonies while their victims are left holding the bag and while American citizens and legal residents are being prosecuted for these very same crimes.
Sens. Schumer and Rubio (R-Fla.) understand just how critical it is to keep this inconvenient truth hidden. That is why their amnesty bill (S.744) prohibits the release of any information collected by government officials about the use of fraudulent documents and about the identity theft that illegal aliens routinely commit. And that is why their amnesty bill imposes a $10,000 fine on any federal employee who would provide this information to law enforcement or to the victims of identity theft.
The bottom line is that good public policy cannot be made when politicians deliberately ignore key elements of a problem in order to achieve the political ends that they want. However, Boehner and all of those who use the term "undocumented" are doing just that in order to hide the amnesty components of immigration reform and the harm that it does to innocent American victims and to all of those who played by the rules.
Until all elements of the illegal immigration problem are acknowledged and all of those harmed by the identity theft and other felonies committed by illegal aliens are recognized and made whole, immigration reform will be flawed and unjust.
Speaker Boehner says he wants to facilitate the discussion. Maybe he could start by being brutally honest about all aspects of the problem and finding solutions for everyone rather than the special few.
