The Obama-appointed inspector general who looked the other way when
his boss enacted illegal amnesty programs and ignored federal court
injunctions blocking them has launched an investigation into President
Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning travel from seven
Muslim-majority countries. The political grandstanding is behavior
unbecoming of a federal agency watchdog, which is charged with
independently investigating wrongdoing and rooting out fraud, waste and
abuse at 64 of the biggest and most important government agencies.
In this case the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector
General (IG) appears to be selectively investigating based on his
ideology and perhaps loyalty to the former commander-in-chief. Just days
after Trump signed the controversial executive order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” Obama’s DHS IG, John Roth, fired off a press release
announcing his probe. “In addition to reviewing the implementation of
the Executive Order, the OIG will review DHS’ adherence to court orders
and allegations of individual misconduct on the part of DHS personnel,”
the announcement states. “If circumstances warrant, the OIG will
consider including other issues that may arise during the course of the
review.” The probe was initiated in response to “congressional request
and whistleblower and hotline complaints,” according to the
announcement.
Trump issued the order on January 27 halting for 90 days the entry of
citizens from notorious terrorist nations—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya,
Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—in the name of national security. “Numerous
foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in
terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2001, including foreign
nationals who entered the United States after receiving visitor,
student, or employment visas, or who entered through the United States
refugee resettlement program,” Trump’s order explains. “The
visa-issuance process plays a crucial role in detecting individuals with
terrorist ties and stopping them from entering the United States.
Perhaps in no instance was that more apparent than the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001, when State Department policy prevented consular
officers from properly scrutinizing the visa applications of several of
the 19 foreign nationals who went on to murder nearly 3,000 Americans.”
Simply put, the order was issued to protect Americans by ensuring
that those admitted to the U.S. don’t bear hostile attitudes toward it
and its founding principles. “The United States cannot, and should not,
admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would
place violent ideologies over American law,” the order states. “In
addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of
bigotry or hatred (including “honor” killings, other forms of violence
against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions
different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any
race, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Predictably, the order ignited protests, hysteria among virtually all
mainstream media outlets and a series of legal challenges claiming
discrimination and violations of religious freedoms. An Obama-appointed
federal judge in Los Angeles, California has already issued an emergency order
forbidding government officials from enforcing Trump’s measure. The
case was filed on behalf of 28 Yemen nationals who claim they will
“suffer irreparable harm.” The judge, Andre Birotte Jr., who was also a
federal prosecutor under Obama, agreed and writes in his order that the
injunction “is in the public interest.” The order bans government
officers, agents, employees or attorneys from removing, detaining or
blocking the entry of the Yemenis or any other person from Iran, Iraq,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
When a federal court in Texas issued an injunction halting Obama’s
broad executive amnesty order, the administration ignored it and
continued to protect illegal immigrants. A federal appellate court
upheld the decision and the U.S. Supreme Court slammed the illegal Obama
policy by upholding the injunction. The preposterous measure would have
granted unilateral amnesty to millions of illegal aliens in the U.S.
and the administration violated the court orders by implementing
prosecutorial discretion, which allows federal agencies to decide to
what degree they enforce certain laws against particular individuals.
Under this outrageous initiative, DHS lost track of
how many unauthorized foreigners—some felons in their native country—it
refused to prosecute under Obama’s broad and illegal amnesty
initiative. The DHS IG opted to sit those out and let Obama carry on
with his illegal mandates.
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