White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest suggested Republicans are to blame for the heinous murder of a woman in San Francisco last week. Francisco Sanchez, an illegal immigrant who has been deported five times, was charged with the random shooting of Kathryn Steinle.
Confronted with this heart-rending immigration-policy failure, Earnest attempted to shift blame onto Republicans, insisting that because of their opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, the administration has not been able to increase funding for border security.
“I can say as a general matter, that as a part of the executive actions that the president announced back in November of last year, one of the chief goals that we are seeking to accomplish, was ensuring that we were focusing our law enforcement efforts on those individuals who pose a genuine threat,” Earnest began.
“Too often we see those limited law enforcement resources to be focused on breaking up families. The president doesn’t think that’s consistent with our values as a country. It’s also not consistent with the priority the president places on protecting the public (!) and protecting the American people (!!).”
He continued, “I would say, and it bears repeating in this case, that these efforts would be significantly augmented had Republicans not blocked comprehensive immigration reform. You’ll recall that the piece of legislation that was blocked by Republicans in the House of Representatives actually included the biggest ever increase in border security. ”
The reporter pressed the issue, saying that administration critics claim that the administration’s immigration policy is not working because repeat criminals keep coming across the border.
But the White House refused to take any responsibility for their immigration failures.  “I recognize that people want to play politics on this,” Earnest intoned. “But the fact is that the president has done everything within his power to make sure that we are focusing our law enforcement resources on criminals and those who pose a threat to public safety (!!!) and it’s because of the political efforts of Republicans that we have not been able to make the kind of investment that we’d like to make in securing our border and keeping our community safe.”
Because he has taken drastic measures to loosen the nation’s immigration laws, deportations have plummetedunder President Barack Obama’s watch. In addition to his 2012 executive order that suspended deportation of younger illegal aliens, the Obama administration has shut down numerous Border Patrol stations, ended a crucial ICE program that allowed local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law and  instructed Border Patrol agents not to make arrests.
(!) In 2013, the Obama administration released 36,007 convicted criminal aliens from detention who were awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings, according to a document obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies.
This group included aliens convicted of hundreds of violent and serious crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. The list of crimes also includes more than 16,000 drunk or drugged driving convictions. The vast majority of these releases from ICE custody were discretionary, not required by law (in fact, in some instances, apparently contrary to law), nor the result of local sanctuary policies.