Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite has an interesting spin on events this week.

On Immigration: "It's the Economy, Stupid"

Less than 24 hours. That’s the amount of time it took the Obama Administration to take credit for a decrease in illegal immigration to the United States after the Pew Hispanic Center published a new study. The study found that between March 2007 and March 2009 illegal immigration to the United States declined by about 67%. The study also estimates that the total illegal immigrant population in the United States has declined from a high of about 12 million people in 2009 to about 11.1 million people in 2010. In Florida, the total illegal immigrant population is estimated to have declined from over one million to about 675,000 during this same two-year period.

The authors of the study did not credit any of President Obama’s policies for the decrease but that has not stopped the wily coyotes in the Administration from trying to spin the story in their favor. “This administration’s unprecedented commitment of manpower, technology and infrastructure to the Southwest border has been a major factor in this dramatic drop in illegal crossings,” a spokesman for the Obama Administration said. As careful readers may have noticed, however, the Pew analysis covered the period from March 2007 to March 2009. President Obama was sworn into office on January 20, 2009 and did nothing in the first two months he was in office to fight illegal immigration. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to take credit for the decrease. The real reason behind the change is rather simple. As former President Bill Clinton’s adviser, James Carville, liked to say, “it’s the economy, stupid.”

The main factor in stemming the flow of illegal immigration to the United States is the recession. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have left Florida because there are no jobs. There are still 11.1 million illegal immigrants in the United States and 13 million unemployed Americans. So yes, suffocating the economy with failed economic policies will succeed in driving more illegal immigrants out of America but if that’s the President’s only real plan for illegal immigration, it’s a rather abysmal one.

The midterm elections are now only a few months away and President Obama is afraid his party is going to suffer a major defeat, so perhaps it is unsurprising that the President is trying to have it both ways. Instead of engaging in double speak, the President and Democrats in Congress should work with me and my Republican colleagues to increase border security, expand employment verification programs like E-Verify, and enable state governments like Arizona to assist the federal government in enforcing our laws. Now is the time to enhance border security and interior enforcement measures so that when the economy does begin to recover, illegal immigrants do not take the new jobs that out-of-work Americans deserve.

Thank you,

The Congresswoman (Republican, FL 5th District) has self 'term-limited' herself for health reasons. She leaves with grace and style!! And a serious message!