In an effort to make it look like it’s doing something on the immigration reform front, tomorrow, at around noon, the White House is hosting a meeting on immigration. The last meeting the White House held on immigration pushed NY’s Senator Schumer as the legislative champion of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, with his talk of illegals and biometric ids. The choice of host for tomorrow’s meeting is no less disturbing, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

President Obama has made it clear that Comprehensive Immigration Reform is not a priority, for now. However, the Department of Homeland Security under Napolitano has been laying the groundwork, or doing the dirty work if you will. Dirty work including expanding Bush era enforcement measures like Secure Communities & 287(g) programs. Add to this the horrendous record of human rights abuses inside immigrant detention centers , including deaths that the public learns about in pieces and I.C.E’s inability to follow the Constitution, and it makes perfect sense that Secretary Napolitano be the ambassador for CIR, no?

Except what the hell kind of a point person, has a problem making her damn point? According to Maribel Hastings over at America’s Voice:

…she barely mentions the issue of comprehensive immigration reform that she is supposed to promote, like during the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in June, when she dedicated the bulk of her speech to addressing the need to be prepared to deal with natural or manmade disasters (what!?!?!).

When Secretary Napolitano does mention immigration, it’s from a heavy enforcement perspective that is a far cry from when she was governor of Arizona. At a Border Security Conference in El Paso just last week Napolitano said:

“We are not going to sit by at the Department of Homeland Security and wait for change in the laws. We’re going to enforce the laws that are…”

In that same speech, Napolitano said: “I believe that 287(g) is a powerful tool that we will continue to use.”

Powerful indeed.

Quizas the power of a national position has gone to Napolitano’s head. When she was running Arizona, Napolitano seemed to understand the urgency of immigration reform:

My thought is this: House members need to adjust their hearing aids, because Americans – particularly Arizonans – have spoken loudly and clearly: They want the federal government to act on immigration reform, and to do it now.

The only thing that has changed since 2007 to now, 2009 is the President, pero under Napolitano’s DHS, enforcement first is still the name of the game and that’s one parlour game that our communities can’t keep losing their lives in. Clearly Napolitano is not the hostess with the mostest when it comes to changing the immigration system