Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson may have preemptively trumped Edwards's pusillanimity on the border security issue. In an interview in the September 10 issue of the Washington Times, Hutchinson indicated that the administration has no intention of enforcing the immigration laws now on the books and going after the estimated 8 to 12 million illegal aliens resident in the country.
"It's not realistic to say we're going to reduce that number," Hutchinson said. "We don't set goals like that. Our goal is to enforce the law as we see violations of the law. But I don't think America has the will. I think they have too much compassion to tell our law-enforcement people to go out there and uproot those 8 million here-some of whom might have been here 8 or 12 years, who got kids here that are American citizens-and to send them out of the country."
