Exposing The Five Biggest Immigration Lies

President Obama's recent speech on immigration reform serves as an unfortunate example of the deliberate obfuscation and political pandering by Democrats on this volatile issue. His remarks were replete with factual errors, unsupported claims and downright lies.

Despite this deplorable performance, the president's words escaped scrutiny in the mainstream media. His speech was reported without any of the fact-checking that television, print and radio reserve for those opposed to immigration reform.

But the president has not been the only party guilty of a disinformation campaign on immigration. Various Hispanic activist groups, human rights organizations and even the churches are responsible for heaping one falsehood on top of another to engender sympathy for those who break the law.

If the country is going to have a serious national conversation on immigration reform, facts need to replace fiction. There is plenty of credible evidence available on immigration. President Obama, of all people, should be able to secure the facts, since his own federal government has produced reams of data on the issue.

Yet he and other Democrats cater to their Hispanic constituency by sacrificing truth. It is time to expose the grievous lies that are being perpetuated by the president, Democrats, activists and their allies in the media. Here are the five biggest intentional untruths being spread:

AMERICA IS NOT A WELCOMING COUNTRY ANY MORE: This one has gained traction because churches, especially the Catholic Bishops, have claimed Christians are ignoring Jesus' call to welcome the stranger if they oppose reform. In his speech, the president echoed this theme, accusing some Americans and political leaders of demonizing immigrants. The facts are that no country on earth has admitted more immigrants in its history than the United States. According to a Census Bureau survey in 2009, there are 38,517,234 immigrants living in the U.S. In just the last three years, a total of 2,410,167 immigrants have gained citizenship, reports the Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics. The United States has some of the most liberal immigration laws in the world. Meanwhile, our neighbor to the south, Mexico, has some of the most restrictive. For instance, Mexico regulates immigration to maintain what it calls a "national demographic balance." In other words, too many foreigners living in one section of the country are "deemed harmful to the national economic interests." Immigrants must also show they have income needed for subsistence for themselves and their dependents before they can be granted citizenship. Ironically, Mexico's own president had the gall to complain about strict U.S. immigration laws.

MEXICANS ONLY RECOURSE IS TO ENTER THE U.S. ILLEGALLY: Of all the lies, this one is the most insidious became it has no basis in fact. Again using the government's own statistics, more Mexican immigrants were granted citizenship than any other group during the past three years. A total of 410,507 Mexicans became legal citizens by following the law. In his speech on the Texas border, the president claimed that "high fees and and the need for lawyers" were excluding worthy applicants for citizenship. Mexicans now account for 29.8 percent of all foreign born residents in the United States, by far the largest immigrant group. Apparently, it can't be too hard to gain citizenship. By the way, there are 67,000 Americans living in Mexico, where the impediments to citizenship are much higher.

AMNESTY IS THE ANSWER TO THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM: Government estimates put the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. at 10.8 million. The truth is that figure is only a guess, since there has never been any credible count. Whatever the number, granting amnesty would not stem the tide of Mexicans illegally crossing the U.S. border. Most Americans forget the nation has already granted amnesty once before. In 1987, there were 2.7 million undocumented lawbreakers given amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The law was designed to encourage future immigrants to follow the legal steps to obtain citizenship, instead of opting for illegal entry. Obviously, the law has failed miserably. In the 24 years since the law was passed, undocumented workers have more than quadrupled. Granting amnesty will only encourage Mexicans to continue to ignore U.S. laws in hopes one day they too will be given a free ticket to citizenship.

AMERICANS WANT TO SHIP ALL THE ILLEGALS BACK TO MEXICO: President Obama again raised this specter in his speech, even though he well knows that not a single poll has shown that the majority of Americans hold this view. He said it would be "logistically impossible and wildly expensive" to deport illegal immigrants and would "tear at the very fabric of the nation." This is fear mongering at its ugliest. The Center for Immigration Studies continuing research on the topic indicates that "voters generally reject extremes of mass deportations." In fact, in its most recent study, the center found only 20 percent of voters supported such an approach. Deportation has not been championed by any credible politician. The president should be ashamed of himself for using such a despicable political scare tactic to dupe Mexicans into believing Republicans sanction deportation.

THE BORDER IS NOW SECURE, SO REPUBLICANS NEED TO STOP OPPOSING REFORM: This one falls under the category of damnable lies for its sheer audacity. The president claimed in his speech that the border is "more secure than ever." Even his own non-partisan Government Accountability Office disagrees. It found that only 44 percent of the border with Mexico is under operational control of the Border Patrol. That means 56 percent is wide open for exploitation by illegal immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security contends it has completed (as of January) 643.3 miles of fence along the 1,951-mile border the U.S. shares with Mexico.  That covers less than one-third of the border. Undaunted by these facts, the president touted his administration's "record" deportation of illegals. But the administration used bogus methodology to artificially inflate the numbers, counting 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year. As for Republican opposition, the president had an opportunity two years ago to pass immigration reform legislation with majorities in both the House and Senate. Yet his own lack of leadership doomed the effort to failure. Shifting the blame to Republicans is a vain effort to veil his own political ineptness.

Americans should demand that the president, Hispanic activists, religious organizations and the media stop the lies about immigration. Only if we stick to the facts can the nation grapple with reform in a rational and clear headed way. Otherwise, the country is doomed to make changes that will only worsen the problem.