Kris Kobach Appears on Colbert Report
Published August 10, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
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Restrictionist attorney and activist Kris Kobach appeared last week on the Colbert Report. As when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio appeared on the show, I felt like Colbert’s humor ended up not putting the guest on the spot, but rather allowing a deft operative to dodge tough questions and take refuge behind the jokes. (Stephen Lemons from Feathered Bastard had a different take on Arpaio’s appearance.) Perhaps this is Colbert’s MO and the reason why conservatives continue to appear on the show—I don’t have cable and don’t watch the show enough to know.
But Kobach was able to get off shots like this pretty much uncontested:
For all of the 11 million illegal aliens currently in the United States, you have to remember there are 5-6 million people waiting in line outside the United States trying to come in legally and doing it the right way.
There will always be people willing to come to this country legally, we should reward those people.
First of all, for most of the undocumented migrants here already, there is no line.
It makes sense that there should be a line, and we hear stories about family members waiting for ten years or more to reunite here in the U.S. So people assume there actually is a line where people can apply and eventually come into the country if they are patient and stay out of trouble.
There isn't! It's a fantasy. In a reasonable world there would be such a line, but in this world there’s not.
The whole concept of a specific “line” in which people can wait is designed to mislead people about how immigration policy actually works. Some of the undocumented immigrants currently present might now qualify for some kind of visa based on family relationships, but if they leave now, penalties implemented by President Clinton’s 1996 IIRIRA law will bar those people from returning to the U.S. for at least ten years, in most cases regardless of whether the person has immediate family members who are U.S. citizens.
Kobach isn’t interested in talking about family separation, lengthy detention for civil immigration violations or even for the “crime” of seeking asylum, or the ballooning costs of immigration enforcement. He talks about "doing things the right way,” but won’t talk about the continued efforts of the Tanton network (of which his employer, Immigration Reform Law Institute, is a part) to reduce legal immigration and restrict channels for people to enter lawfully. (Read more about Kobach from Jill Garvey at Imagine2050.)
Colbert didn’t ask Kobach about the reforms of the Board of Immigration Appeals which he designed and implemented under former Attorney General John Ashcroft to purge the Board of liberal members and cut the number of immigrant-favorable asylum decisions in half. He didn’t ask Kobach about his ongoing efforts to enable local mayors and law enforcement officers to racially profile nonwhite residents and create a climate of fear more suited to a totalitarian state than the United States.
Kobach specializes in making unreasonable policies sound reasonable, and in my estimation, last week on the Colbert Report, he succeeded.
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Comments (10)
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David is an attorney in Philadelphia, PA, where he helps immigrants to the U.S. navigate the complex immigration legal system. Views he expresses at change.org are his alone and don't represent the views or opinions of his employer, Nationalities Service Center. The information contained on this site is intended for educational and advocacy purposes only.
There is a line to come here legally but that line has limitations on numbers and the types of jobs available that are in keeping with our needs. This is what has happened over the years, we had no need for the millions that came here illegally so technically they ignored the allowable numbers and the limit on available jobs and came anyway.
When a movie theatre is filled up is it ok to crash the doors anyway just because you want to see the movie also? This is a good analogy of what has happened with illegal immgration. Our foreign labor needs were already full up and our quotas met but they didn't care and came anyway.
Posted by Mark Lindley on 08/10/2009 @ 12:27PM PT
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Our quotas bear little relation to supply and demand. H1B visas stood at 65,000 in 2006 and 2007 when there were 3-4 times that many applicants (and many more who didn't apply b/c of expense and low likelihood of success) and were exhausted in one day, and they stand at 65,000 now and even as we reach August the cap has not been met. Congressionally set visa levels are not particularly responsive to anything except the birther/nativist movement and the business community. Which means they've been frozen for many years--Congress is deathly afraid of this issue and most politicians don't understand it well.
Posted by Dave Bennion on 08/10/2009 @ 08:28PM PT
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I got to chime in here. As regards H1-B visas, for educational and research organizations, there is no cap. So, for example, MicroSoft can fund a project thru the University of California, to develop some software, and use as many H1-B workers as it wishes, and these H1-B visas are not counted against the 65,000.
employees of higher education institutions, nonprofit research organization and government research organizations are not to be counted toward the H-1B cap.
You also claim it has been 65,000 for many years. Well, in October 2001, Congress passed S.2045, the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Actwhich increased the H1-B visa ceiling to a whopping 195,000!!!!
The irony of the law's title: "American Competitiveness in the 21st Century" simply amazes me. What a joke!
Then there's the TN visa, and the L, and the diversity lottery, etc. There are so many people pouring into this country, nobody's keeping track of it.
Posted by Kurt Thialfad on 08/10/2009 @ 09:59PM PT
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for educational and research organizations, there is no cap.
It's not automatic to qualify--as with any immigration policy, there are reams of regulations that govern this issue. DOL has been vigilent in rooting out what it sees as H1B abuse/fraud. It sounds like you've been reading some disgruntled tech bloggers and gotten a half-@$$ version of the way the process works.
in October 2001, Congress passed S.2045, the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Actwhich increased the H1-B visa ceiling to a whopping 195,000!
Well that didn't last long, did it.
There are so many people pouring into this country, nobody's keeping track of it.
That is simply not true if you ask any immigration official, corporation, or immigration attorney. Of course, according to you they are all engaged in a massive conspiracy to give this country back to Mexico.
Speaking of conspiracies, what's your position on Obama's birth cert? Do we have another birther on the blog? Birthers unite!
Posted by Dave Bennion on 08/10/2009 @ 10:08PM PT
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True, the H1-B visa holder must meet stringent requirements to go to these educational & research facilities. But my point is that if there are 500,000 openings and 500,000 qualified applicants - 500,000 H1-B visas are issued. No Cap.
True, the 195,000 did go back down over the next 3-5 years, but not without a struggle. But other bad aspects of S2045, such as the research institute loophole, remain in place.
This ties into my opposition to the DREAM Act - there are No Caps. Even though 65,000 foreign students graduate from our public high schools, there is No corresponding Cap at 65,000 annual DREAM visas. If the idea is to help these 65K, then limit the program to these 65K.
As far as policing to make sure visa-holders are following the rules - that is not being done - you have J1 visa-holders being employed as professionals; you have F2 student visa holders who are not attending class; you have H1-B visa-holder changing jobs, etc. And I know this is happening because these are people I know and meet in my daily life. And you know it too. So my comment about ' so many pouring in -- nobody knows...' was more an expression of my exasperation and desire for a simpler more manageable system rather than a strict expression of true fact.
About the OBirth Certificate. I think we'll learn the truth after Obama is dead, much like we'll learn the truth about who killed JFK when Cheney is dead
Posted by Wire Paladin on 08/11/2009 @ 12:21PM PT
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Wire = Kurt?
I'm curious as to where your insight into these professional visas comes--you must work with a lot of these visa holders? You're in a tech profession? You don't have to answer, I'm just curious.
Dream is different from H-1B and J-1, etc., because Dreamers are here already, they've grown up here. Why would we allow some but not others to qualify?
As you can probably attest, there is a lot of anxiety among professional visa holders, b/c most know they are one misstep away from being undocumented, which is a terrifying prospect. I also wish for a simpler system that wouldn't waste so much of the government's resources and the time and energy of businesses and individuals.
Posted by Dave Bennion on 08/11/2009 @ 09:27PM PT
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Wire is my roommate. He's the tough guy- straight -shooter. I'm more of the vegan, urban farmer. I didn't realize he was 'logged in'.
Yes, I work in 'tech' and yes, there is a lot of anxiety among American professionals.
But let me deal with 2 of your points:
1. Why would we allow some but not others to qualify? Well, for one thing, if they haven't grown up here, they don't qualify. The question I ask is, why would we allow any?
2. they are one misstep away from being undocumented, which is a terrifying prospect We are all one misstep away from being ... hit by a bus when we step off a curb ... sent into a coma from some tainted prescription medication ... shot at random by some drug-crazed gangbanger ... handed a pink slip when we arrive at the office ...go to the atm and our money has vaporized ... get a B- on an exam and the scholarship is not renewed ... there by the Grace of God go you and I. Phil Ochs had something to say about that.
Posted by Kurt Thialfad on 08/12/2009 @ 12:00AM PT
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Dave? If you don't respond, I win.
Posted by Kurt Thialfad on 08/12/2009 @ 07:43PM PT
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Now it is my turn to chime in. If employers are finding they don't have enough American workers to fill all kinds of jobs then why aren't they passing that along to our government so that all types of visa quotas can be increased? I will tell you why. It is because our government hasn't secured our borders so they have a ready supply of cheap, illegal labor and it is much more profitable to them to do business that way and of course not hire available American workers. The only possible shortage of American blue collar workers would be perhaps in the farming industry. We have no shortage of American construction workers and similar blue collar jobs.
Being a birther and/or a nativist do not necessarily go hand in hand. I believe that Obama was born in our country however I also believe that the soveriengty of our country is something to respect while still taking in legal immigrants. Does that make one a nativist? How many negative labels does you side need to throw around on law abiding Americans to demonize them unfairly?
Posted by Mark Lindley on 08/11/2009 @ 06:01AM PT
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Kobach is also one of the men who is AGAINST lowering the minimum amount of money needed to enroll in the eb 5 visa program. BOTH presidential candidates cam eout in favor of lowering the amount from $500,000 to $250,000 in the last election, but still, nothing has been done. This program allows for immigrans to enter the country immediately if they are injecting that amount of money into the economy AND creating at least 8 jobs. What people like Kobacj fail to realize is that those jobs often go to American workers!
Posted by Mike Fitzgerald on 11/20/2009 @ 06:59AM PT
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