New Illegal Alien Advocate Undercuts Border Control

Law: If anything shows how ever-expanding government works at cross-purposes, it's the Obama administration's newly named post of "public advocate" for illegal aliens. What part of "illegal" don't they understand?

It seems those who've broken the law by entering the U.S. illegally are now entitled to special U.S. government protection from — the U.S.
government. At least, that's the logic of the phony new "public advocate" post created for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In naming Andrew Lorenzen-Strait to the job, ICE announced he would work "directly for ICE's Executive Assistant Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations" to help build "constructive relationships with the community and ... resolve problems or concerns."

And for whom would he do this? "(S)takeholders that include individuals, public, nongovernmental organizations, faith-based organizations and advocacy groups."

"Stakeholders"? Based on that cast of pressure groups, it's plain he'll be an illegal alien advocate.

This new position reflects the Obama administration's open-borders policy on immigration. It just won't say so out loud. Rather than dismantling ICE or offering a blanket amnesty, Obama's creating an illegal alien advocate inside ICE, undercutting its very mission.

Why not have a bank robber's advocate at the FBI?

Four faulty premises lay at the root of the absurdity.

• That ICE's mission is at odds with the public. For all President Obama's syrupy talk about public service, ICE has been turned into a public enemy. Why not just dismantle it if it doesn't serve the public interest?

• That enforcing the law is not the government's job. The advocate twists ICE's mission to customer service, as if lawbreakers needed that.

• That illegals are "stakeholders" in the U.S., a place they have no business being in. And now as "stakeholders" — the U.S. somehow owes them something.

• That some illegals are more entitled to stay than others. Lorenzen-Strait has already advised ICE about whom to deport, regardless of law. Now his job will be to sort out who is most politically useful to Obama to keep.

In reality, illegals already have advocates. They're called embassies. And none of them are shy about making a stink on behalf of their own citizens.

Now they've got another advocate inside the U.S. government, paid for by you. With that kind of coddling, it's just another reason to keep crossing our border.