Immigration politics: President Obama's push for reform appears dead

The LA Times writes an obituary for immigration reform and lays out the coming Republican objectives to increase the immigration crackdown.

Immigration overhaul: President Obama's push for reform appears dead - latimes.com: "When New York Republican Peter T. King takes over the House Homeland Security Committee in January, he plans to propose legislation to reverse what he calls an 'obvious lack of urgency' by the Obama administration to secure the border.

Among other initiatives, King wants to see the Homeland Security Department expand a program that enlists the help of local police departments in arresting suspected illegal immigrants. (AMB editor's note: There are two such programs. Secure Communities transfers fingerprints of arrestees - that are already sent from local police, via their state police, to the FBI - from the FBI (in the Justice Department) to the Homeland Security Department to identify possible undocumented immigrants. The 287 program enables local police to become deputies of  Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), part of the Homeland Security Department, and detain suspected undocumented immigrants for ICE.)

Texas Republican Lamar Smith, who will have oversight over deportations and arrests when he takes the gavel as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was an author of 1996 legislation increasing penalties against illegal immigrants.

Called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and signed into law by President Clinton, the bill limited the discretion of U.S. immigration judges and increased the time that immigrants could be detained while awaiting a hearing.

As his first order of business, Smith plans to hold hearings about workplace enforcement and expanding the employee identification program, E-Verify, which is set to expire in 2012." Dec. 27, 2010