Barack Obama Part Fifteen

Obama's Support for “La Raza” (“The Race”)

In July 2007, presidential candidate Obama was a featured speaker at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza, which lobbies for racial preferences, mass immigration, and a path to legalization for illegal aliens. He pledged to “never walk away from the 12 million undocumented immigrants who live, work, and contribute to our country every single day,” and lamented that opponents of illegal immigration had created an atmosphere “that was both ugly and racist.”

In July 2008, candidate Obama again spoke to the National Council of La Raza. Soliciting the help of this “extraordinary” organization in his quest to “transform this nation,” he said: “The system isn't working when 12 million people live in hiding, and hundreds of thousands cross our borders illegally each year; when companies hire undocumented immigrants instead of legal citizens to avoid paying overtime or to avoid a union; when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids—when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel….”

A Judicial Watch investigation revealed that federal funding for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and its affiliates skyrocketed after President Obama had appointed NCLR's senior vice president, Cecilia Muñoz, to be his director of intergovernmental affairs in 2009. The year Muñoz joined the White House, government funds earmarked for La Raza increased from $4.1 million to $11 million. Fully 60% of that money came from the Department of Labor, headed by Hilda Solis, who has close ties to the La Raza movement.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): Implementing the DREAM Act by Executive Fiat

The Center for Immigration Studies explains the Obama Administration's controversial "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program and its enormous significance:

"On June 15, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] announced that most illegal aliens purporting to be under age 31 and claiming to have come to the United States as a child would be granted a two-year legalization. Further, most amnesty recipients could seek a work permit. This 'legal' status could lead to acquisition of a bona fide Social Security number. Amnesty applicants with a 'serious' criminal record may be turned down, although such an overwhelming volume of applicants will likely cause DHS to approve questionable applications, even of criminals and frauds, instead of adequately screening and denying those who would actually not qualify.

"The 'Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals' initiative unilaterally applies an exception-making policy known as 'deferred action,' normally reserved for use on an extraordinary, case-by-case basis, to an entire class of illegal immigrants. This step is remarkable for its breadth, covering about one-fifth of the estimated illegal population, as well as its wholesale application of what can only be described as turning the exception into the rule.

"The amnesty stratagem came about because Congress has declined to enact the DREAM Act legalization bill, despite its being introduced in a string of Congresses. The DREAM Act would confer permanent legal status on the same class of illegal aliens as DACA. The bald-faced exercise of enacting, by executive branch fiat in defiance of congressional will, any policy outcome that rightfully remains the prerogative of the legislative branch disregards the separation of powers delineated in the U.S. Constitution. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement rank-and-file have sued over the action."

DACA Completely Contradicts Obama's Lip Service to Constitutional Limitations

The Obama Administration's implementation of DACA was wholly contradictory to what the President had said at a Univision town hall on March 28, 2011:

"With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that’s just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed.... Congress passes the law. The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws. And then the judiciary has to interpret the laws.

There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President".

The implementation of DACA was also contradictory to what Obama would say to a group of Latino journalists on September 28, 2011:

"I just have to continue to say, this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is, there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating [sic] the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true.... [W]e live in a democracy. You have to pass bills through the legislature, and then I can sign it.... We have to recognize how the system works, and then apply pressure to those places where votes can be gotten and, ultimately, we can get this thing solved. And nobody will be a stronger advocate for making that happen than me."

And implementation of DACA was likewise contradictory to what Obama would say on November 25, 2013: “If, in fact, I could solve all these problems without passing them through Congress, I would do so. But we’re also a nation of laws. That's part of our tradition.”

Obama Says Illegal Immigrants Should Not Be “Expelled from Our Country”

During his second inaugural address as president on January 21, 2013, Obama emphasized his commitment to passing “comprehensive immigration reform” and the DREAM Act, both of which would include a path-to-citizenship for illegals currently residing in the United States: “Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity, until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.”

Obama Says That People From Mexico "Did Not Cross the Border, The Border Crossed Them":

When outgoing Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who is of Mexican heritage, formally stepped down from his post in early February 2013, Obama suggested that the Hispanic Cabinet member was more authentically American than the Pilgrims of New England: "His ancestors were here before the Mayflower set sail." The president then echoed a phrase common among Nativists who believe that lands belong to ethnicities rather than to countries: "[Salazar and] his family did not cross the border, the border crossed them. And that's why, when I needed somebody to lead Interior, I didn't have to look very far."

Obama Says He Is "Proud" of Immigration Activists

On November 29, 2013, President Obama and his wife went to the National Mall in Washington to visit 10 activists who were in the 18th day of a hunger strike protesting House inaction on immigration-reform legislation. "We are very proud of you," Obama told the activists on behalf of his administration. “I remain optimistic that we’re going to get this done. It’s more of a question of when not if. But I’d rather get it done sooner rather than later because each day, obviously, it’s not done makes it more difficult because we still have a system that’s not working for too many people.” Reiterating his view that there was still time in 2013 for the House to pass such legislation, Obama added: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”

Obama DHS Instructs Border Guards to Run Away from Illegals Throwing Rocks at Them

On March 10, 2014, the Daily Caller reported:

Top administration officials have directed 21,000 border patrol officers to retreat whenever illegal immigrants throw rocks at them, and to avoid getting in front of foreign drug-smugglers’ vehicles as they head north with their drug shipments.

“Agents shall not discharge firearms in response to thrown or hurled projectiles… agents should obtain a tactical advantage in these situations, such as seeking cover or distancing themselves,” said the instructions, issued Mar. 7, under the signature of Michael Fisher, chief of U.S. Border Patrol.

Agents were also directed to keep their weapons holstered when drug smugglers drive by.

Agents can’t use guns against “a moving vehicle merely fleeing from agents,” say the instructions.

The new instructions do allow agents to use guns to defend themselves from vehicles that drive at them. “Agents shall not discharge their firearms at a moving vehicle unless the agent has a reasonable belief that… deadly force is being used against an agent,” the new instructions say.

However, the instructions also suggest that officers be penalized if they don’t step back. Agents “should not place themselves in the path of a motor vehicle or use their body to block a vehicles’s path,” according to new instructions....

The new rules were issued at the direction of Jeh Johnston, the new head of the Department of Homeland Security....

Obama Administration Deports/Removes Almost No Illegal Alien Who Has Not Also Committed an Additional Crime

A March 2014 report by Senator Jeff Sessions stated that 98% of individuals deported from the United States in 2013 either were criminals, had been previously deported, or were apprehended while illegally crossing the border (in which case their removal from the U.S. are not deportations as commonly understood). The report noted that under Obama's ICE, illegal aliens were considered deportation-worthy only if they met at least one of the following four specific criteria: (a) they had been convicted of committing a serious criminal offense; (b) they had been apprehended while crossing the border (which, as noted above, does not constitute deportation as commonly understood); (c) they had resurfaced after having been previously deported; or (d) they had been fugitives from the law.

Said the report: “Remarkably, the first two categories—border apprehensions ... and convicted criminals—account for 94% of the 368,000 removals (235,000 and 110,000, respectively).” Only 0.2% of the illegal aliens who were actually placed into removal proceedings in 2013 did not have a violent or otherwise serious criminal conviction on their record. Only .08% of the total number of illegal aliens placed into removal proceedings in 2013 were neither repeat immigration-law violators nor convicted of a serious crime. In other words, explained Sessions:

"The evidence reveals that the Administration has carried out a dramatic nullification of federal law. Under the guise of setting ‘priorities’, the Administration has determined that almost anyone in the world who can enter the United States is free to illegally live, work and claim benefits here as long as they are not caught committing a felony or other serious crime."

ICE Released 68,000 Criminal Illegal Aliens in 2013

In March 2014, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reported that in 2013, U.S. immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) had 722,000 encounters with potentially deportable aliens, most of whom came to ICE's attention after they had been jailed in connection with a local arrest. But ICE officials followed through with immigration charges against only 195,000 of these aliens (about 27%). The other 530,000+ were released, mostly "because of current policies that shield most illegal aliens from enforcement, not because the aliens turned out to have legal status or were qualified to stay in the United States."

Added CIS: "Many of the aliens ignored by ICE were convicted criminals. In 2013, ICE agents released 68,000 aliens with criminal convictions, or 35 percent of all criminal aliens they reported encountering. The criminal alien releases typically occur without formal notice to local law enforcement agencies and victims."

All told, more than 870,000 aliens who had been ordered deported, were still in the U.S. in defiance of the law. "Under current policies," said CIS, "an alien's family relationships, political considerations, attention from advocacy groups, and other factors not related to public safety can trump even serious criminal convictions and result in the termination of a deportation case."

In CIS's estimation:

"The release of so many convicted criminals back into U.S. communities, when they could be removed to their home countries, is a large-scale abuse of authority that inevitably leads to public harm. There is no possible excuse or logical argument, and certainly no legal justification, for failing to deport tens of thousands of aliens with criminal convictions who have been encountered by an ICE officer. ICE has claimed it lacks the resources to deport more aliens than it has for the last several years, but it has yet to explain why it has used these resources primarily to detain and process individuals apprehended by the Border Patrol, whom the Border Patrol could remove, instead of deporting criminal aliens discovered by ICE officers in the interior. Instead, the administration has repeatedly asked Congress to give it less money for detention. This year the president's budget requests a reduction of $255 million in funding for detention space for ICE, even though they are not now maintaining custody of every alien whose detention is required by law, nor every alien who poses a risk to the public or is a flight risk."

Deportations Decline Dramatically Under Obama

In April 2014, the Daily Caller reported that according to Justice Department statistics, the number of deportations through the courts had declined by 43% since President Obama took office in 2009. This figure included new deportation cases brought by the Obama administration (of which there were 26% fewer in 2013 than in 2009), as well as deportation or removal orders from judges. (Between 2009 and 2013, the proportion of instances in which a judge decided against deportation increased from one-fifth to one-third of all cases.)

36,000 Criminals Freed While Awaiting Deportation

On May 14, 2014, CBS News reported the following about a Center for Immigration Studies report that had been made public two days earlier:

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released 36,007 convicted criminal aliens last year who were awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings, according to a report issued Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The group of released criminals includes those convicted of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping and aggravated assault, according to the report, which cites a document prepared by the ICE.

A majority of the releases were not required by law and were discretionary, the organization says.

According to the report, the 36,007 individuals released represented nearly 88,000 convictions, including:

- 193 homicide convictions

- 426 sexual assault convictions

- 303 kidnapping convictions

- 1,075 aggravated assault convictions

- 1,160 stolen vehicle convictions

- 9,187 dangerous drug convictions

- 16,070 drunk or drugged driving convictions

- 303 flight escape convictions

In a statement which accompanied the findings, Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, called the number of criminal aliens released "shocking." [...]

"Studies have shown that fewer than a quarter of aliens who are released from custody while awaiting the outcome of immigration proceedings will show up for immigration court to finish their case. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice should be asked to disclose how many of these criminal aliens became fugitives after their release from ICE custody," [Vaughan] continued.

The ICE issued a statement in response to the report, saying that most of the individuals described in the report were released under restrictions, such as GPS monitoring, telephone monitoring, supervision or surety bond.

The organizations said that in some cases, the ICE was required by law to release the individuals from custody.

"The releases required by court decisions account for a disproportionate number of the serious crimes listed in the report. For example, mandatory releases account for over 75% of the homicides listed," the statement said. "Others, typically those with less serious offenses, were released as a discretionary matter after career law enforcement officers made a judgment regarding the priority of holding the individual, given ICE's resources, and prioritizing the detention and removal of individuals who pose a risk to public safety or national security."

But, Vaughan said ... the fact that the agency is admitting to having released 25% of the homicide convicts listed by their own choice is "truly alarming."

Obama Says Immigration Law Enforcement Is "Not Smart"

On May 13, 2014, President Obama told a gathering of law-enforcement officials that they should be pursuing major criminals, and not illegal immigrants who were living quietly and peacefully in their districts. Said Obama:

"You’ve got to spend time dealing with somebody who is not causing any other trouble other than the fact that they were trying to make a living for their families. That’s just not a good use of our resources. It’s not smart. It doesn’t make sense....

"Large segments of the community are afraid to report crimes or serve as witnesses because they fear the [possible deportation] consequences for themselves or their families....

"[The illegals] are folks who are woven into the fabrics of our communities. Their kids are going to school with our kids. Most of them are not making trouble; most of them are not causing crimes. And yet, we put them in this tenuous position, and it creates a situation in which your personnel, who have got to go after gang-bangers and need to be going after violent criminals and deal with the whole range of challenges, and who have to cooperate with [the federal government] around our counterterrorism activities."

Deportation Policy: Secure Communities Needs "Fresh Start," Obama Official Says

On May 16, 2014, the Associated Press reported that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was exploring, at President Obama's behest, the possibility of bringing a "fresh start" to the so-called Secure Communities program. Said AP:

"The program allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to run fingerprints of anyone booked for a local or state crime through a federal database for immigration violations. If there's a match, ICE can ask local police and sheriffs to detain the person, and then decide whether to deport them.

"The program, which was started in 2008 under the Bush administration but has been expanded under Obama, has led to complaints that people are being deported for immigration violations without being convicted of any crime, or with only minor offenses."

Obama Administration Encourages, and Pays for, Massive Increase in Illegal Immigration

On June 6, 2014, the Obama administration announced that it would be paying approximately 100 American lawyers to help young illegal immigrants -- a rapidly growing demographic -- settle in the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder said that these hundred-or-so attorneys -- dubbed “justice AmericaCorps” -- would “protect the rights of the most vulnerable members of society … particularly young people who must appear in immigration proceedings.”

The number of youths illegally crossing the border into the southern U.S. -- mainly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador -- had reached staggering proportions since 2012, when President Obama had announced that his administration would no longer deport minors who were in the country illegally, so long as they met certain basic requirements. Whereas in 2011 about 6,000 young people were apprehended by border personnel, government officials estimated that the corresponding totals would exceed 90,000 in 2014 and 140,000 in 2015. None of these figures included the many tens of thousands more who had avoided, and would avoid, capture.

In response to the crisis, the Obama administration asked Congress for $3.7 billion to help house, feed and transport the children. CBS News reported: "Immigration officials, by policy, do not keep children in detention. They are transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement to be housed in shelters until they can be reunited with parents or guardians."

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, explained the border crisis this way: "[The government] has simply chosen not to enforce the United States’ border security laws."

Many saw Obama's decision to allow this massive influx of illegal border-crossers as a strategy designed to flood the United States with young people whose grim circumstances would make them politically impossible to deport. In this way, the president could fundamentally transform the U.S. population by the sheer force of numbers. A statement released by the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers said:

“This is not a humanitarian crisis. It is a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders that knowingly puts minor illegal alien children at risk for purely political purposes. Certainly, we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States government.”

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) told radio host Steve Malzberg that Obama's motivation for allowing illegals to swarm across the border was as follows: "In the end they have said they want to turn Texas blue, they want to turn America blue. And if you bring in hundreds of thousands or millions of people and give them the ability to vote, and tell them ... 'if you want to keep getting the benefits you have to go vote' ... that drives people to vote and it would ensure Republicans will never get elected again."

The Daily Mail reported that many of the young people entering the U.S. illegally were gang members:

"Border Patrol agents overwhelmed by a recent influx of immigrant children crossing the border illegally have been knowingly letting gang members enter the country. Art Del Cueto, president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson, Arizona told the National Review that officers who recognize gang tattoos on the minors are supposed to treat them like everyone else. For the most part, that means letting these unaccompanied children be reunited with their parents or other relatives already living in the United States."

Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Board Patrol Council Local 3307, described the brazen fearlessness exhibited by many of the illegals:

"I've heard people come in and say, 'You're going to let me go, just like you let my mother go, just like you let my sister go. You're going to let me go as well, and the government's going to take care of us.'"

Various diseases were also widespread among the border-crossers.

The Obama administration relocated thousands of these illegal minors to cities in various places across the United States, without informing state or local authorities in those places, and without revealing the locations of the youmgsters.

Many of the youngsters were traveling alone in search of their parents who were already in the U.S. illegally. The Blaze.com reported: "Like most children who come, they made the dangerous trek believing that they would not be deported once they arrive. Some traveled clinging to the top of the train known as 'The Beast' from Central America, or piled in overcrowded buses until they reached the border towns of Mexico."

In many cases, the children’ parents had paid thousands of dollars to “polleros” — a Spanish term meaning “chicken herders” — to smuggle their children through the Rio Grande crossing. "Some of that money," said The Blaze.com, "is then paid to the drug cartels, mainly the Gulf Cartel, which controls the territory on the Mexican side of the river."

When questioned by Border Patrol, the children and adults alike consistently responded with identical, obviously rehearsed answers. Specifically, they claimed credible fear that they would be harmed or killed by violent gangs in their homelands. “It’s something they’re all saying and it’s obvious that it is well-rehearsed and it is a consistent story,” said Rio Grande Valley sector Border Patrol agent Albert Spratte. “We can’t even get them to answer their name before they tell us the gangs were the reason they fled their country.”

It was common knowledge among the border crossers that their relatives and friends who had already entered the U.S. illegally, had each received a document ordering them “to appear in court” within 90 days, and that this document had allowed them safe passage throughout the country.

But virtually none of the illegals ever reported to a court at any time thereafter. Most simply disappeared into existing immigrant communities throughout the U.S. without fear of deportation. “They have heard that anybody who crosses into the United States can stay,” said one Border Patrol agent at the site of the chaotic influx of illegals. “So they keep coming.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, meanwhile, emphasized that the U.S. would continue exempting young people from America’s immigration laws: “[A]lmost all of us agree that a child who crossed our border illegally with a parent, or in search of a parent or a better life, was not making an adult choice to break our laws and should be treated differently than adult law-breakers.” 

Notwithstanding the high unemployment rate (about 20%) among American young adults without high-school diplomas, Johnson announced that 560,000 illegal immigrants would soon be given formal work authorization in the United States. Meanwhile, the Obama Labor Department had recently authorized the admission of an additional 100,000 guest workers.

By July 2014, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) was reporting that the illegal minors from Central America were being permitted to board U.S. passenger jets without having any identification; the only papers they need to show airline employees were their Notice to Appear forms -- simple printouts with no photo or security features.

Hector Garza, the spokesman for one of the NBPC's branches, explained: "This is not the CBP [Customs and Border Protection] or another federal agency renting or leasing an aircraft, these are the same planes that the American public uses for domestic travel.... Not only are we releasing unknown illegal aliens onto American streets, but we are allowing them to travel commercially using paperwork that could easily be reproduced or manipulated on any home computer.... We do not know who these people are ... We know nothing about most of them, ICE releases them into the American public, and now they are boarding aircraft at will with a simple paper document."

An NBPC statement backed up Garza's claims: "The fact that TSA is accepting the I-862 [Notice to Appear] as a form of identification and allowing illegal aliens to travel commercially shows just how little regard the federal government has for its own immigration laws."

Garza also reported: "Approximately 70 percent of the border patrol agents have been reassigned for administrative duties including processing of aliens, transporting aliens, and ... leaving a porous border in the country."

Obama Administration Falsely Claims to Have Been Surprised by the Sudden Influx of Unaccompanied Illegal Minors

The Obama administration claimed to have been surprised by the wave of Central American children flooding across the southern U.S. border. But this claim is contradicted by the fact that on January 29, 2014 -- less than five months earlier -- the federal government had posted an advertisement seeking bids for a vendor contract to handle 65,000 "Unaccompanied Alien Children." That figure is highly significant, in light of the fact that the highest number (of unaccompanied alien minors) ever previously encountered in a given year was 5,000.

Obama Administration Has Delivered 290,000 Illegals to U.S. Homes

On July 5, 2014, the Daily Caller reported:

The vast majority of 50,000 unaccompanied youths and children who have illegally crossed the Texas border during the last few months have been successfully delivered by federal agencies to their relatives living in the United States, according to a New York Times article.

A second New York Times article report revealed that officials have caught an additional 240,000 Central American migrants since April, and are transporting many of them to their destinations throughout the United States.

The 290,000 illegals — so far — are exploiting legal loopholes that allow them to get temporary permits to stay in the United States.

Experts say that President Barack Obama’s administration has failed to close the loopholes and is unlikely to deport more than a small percentage of the illegals, despite the high unemployment rates among American Latino, African-American and white youths, and the strapped budgets of many cities and towns.

Illegal Immigrant Flood Makes U.S. Vulnerable to Hamas and Hezbollah, Which Are Known to Be Working with Mexican Drug Cartels

The uncontrolled crossing of America's southern border left the U.S. vulnerable to possible attack by Islamic terrorists and jihadists, who had long been known to be working with Mexican drug cartels and, in fact, to already have a presence in the United States. At a March 2012 hearing, for instance, House Homeland Security Chairman Pete King said that "at a minimum" there are hundreds of "soldiers of Hezbollah" inside the United States.

At the same hearing, Michael Braun, the former chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, testified that Mexican drug cartels were in "very close contact" with Hezbollah, Hamas, and al Qaeda. He then warned of a "nightmare scenario" in which Hezbollah and the Iranian al Quds force "focus on our Southwest border and use that as perhaps a springboard in attacking our country." Added Braun: "If anyone thinks for a moment that Hezbollah and the [Iranian] Quds Force, the masters at leveraging and exploiting existing illicit infrastructures globally, are not going to focus on our Southwest border and use that as perhaps a springboard in attacking our country, then they just don’t understand how the real underworld works.”

Rep. King, meanwhile, told the hearing, "we know" that Iranian-supported Hezbollah "is in America" and "has been trained to lie low for years." Added King:

"Since 9/11, America's counter-terror officials have focused on finding al Qaeda operatives inside America, as weill as homegrown radicalized Islamist extremists ready to perpetrate violence against our people. Now, as Iran moves closer to nuclear wepaons, and there is increasing concern over war between Iran and Israel, we must also focus on Iran's secret operatives and their No. 1 terrorist proxy force, Hezbollah, which we know is in America.... We know Hezbollah operatives are here. The question is whether these Hezbollah operatives have the capacity to carry out attacks on the homeland, and how quickly they can become fully operational. More than 20 federal investigation since 9/11 identified by the majority's investigative staff offer a chilling view of Iranian and Hezbollah's operations inside the United States.... So will Iran launch terror strikes inside our homeland if it feels threatened? In light of last year's bomb plot, in light of the 20 Hezbollah cases prosecuted since 9/11, and in light of Hezbollah attacks overseas, we have a duty to prepare for the worst."

Obama Honors Illegal Aliens

On June 17, 2014, the Obama White House honored ten young illegal immigrants who had come to the United States as minors and had qualified for the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program -- enacted through an executive order in 2012 -- which had spared such young people from deportation. Obama honored the ten as “Champions of Change,” because they “serve as success stories and role models in their academic and professional spheres.”

Obama Holds Fundraiser with Producer of Film That Advocated Violence Against Opponents of Illegal Immigration

In early July 2014, President Obama held a fundraiser at the luxurious Austin, Texas home of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, director of the 2010 movie Machete. Tickets to the fundraiser were priced between $5,000 and $32,400.

Machete was a highly violent and racist movie whose trailer was released with “a special Cinco de Mayo message for Arizona.” It ended with illegal aliens massacring the fictional version of Minutemen Project volunteers. (The Minutemen Project was a volunteer, grassroots effort initiated in April 2005 by private citizens who monitored sections of the Arizona-Mexico border in an effort to assist the undermanned Border Patrol.)

A Breitbart.com review of the film read as follows:

"The story of a former Mexican 'Federale' ... framed for the attempted assassination of a racist Texas State Senator ... is both racial and racist. Machete isn’t about a political call for the powerless to fight THE corrupt MAN, it’s a call for revolution; Mexicans against Americans -- and in the words of the character meant to be our evolving conscience, Jessica Alba’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Sartana, it’s about how those who believe in only LEGAL immigration 'deserve to be cut down.' This is her rousing, fist-in-the-air message to a gathered army of illegal day laborers who have been patiently waiting for the call away from their jobs as dishwashers, gardeners and hotel maids to wage war against a cruel America ..."

Obama Vows to Reduce Deportations

On July 16, 2014, President Obama reassured members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he would use his executive authority later that year to reduce deportations of illegal immigrant families who had lived and worked in the United States for years.

Obama Considers Actively Importing Illegal Aliens from Honduras, and Transporting them to U.S.

On July 24, 2014, White House officials announced that President Obama was considering creating a pilot program which would give refugee status to young people from Honduras while they were still in their home country, and would transport them by plane to the U.S., so as to allow them to avoid making the dangerous and onerous northward trek through Mexico on foot or by train. According to the White House, this program would start in Honduras and be limited in scope, but if successful could be expanded to include youngsters from other Central American countries as well. If the plan were to be implemented, it would represent the first time in world history that any nation had taken such action. 

The Obama administration claimed that this plan was intended as a measure to slow the influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America. But critics quickly pointed out that in fact it would increase the flow of illegals. Moreover, radio host Rush Limbaugh predicted that the program would soon lead to the importation of the children's parents as well:

"Are they [the children] gonna turn around at the top step [as they board a plane to the U.S.] and wave bye to mom and dad? And if they do, what is up with that?  Who in the world would permit that? So at some point you have to believe that the [Obama] Regime will start tugging at our heart strings and say, 'You know, these kids are here without their parents! We can't allow that to happen,' and then they'll act like there's a big effort being made to find their parents, and then bring them here."

Obama Considers Granting Work Authorization to Millions of Illegals

On July 24, 2014, Time.com reported: "When President Obama issues executive orders on immigration in coming weeks, pro-reform activists are expecting something dramatic: temporary relief from deportation and work authorization for perhaps several million undocumented immigrants."

It was also being reported extensively that Obama's executive actions would probably include an expansion of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, so as to encompass an additional 5 to 6 million adult illegal immigrants.

Obama's executive action was expected to take place by “the end of summer.”