The Senate's Immigration Legislation

So the Senate passed some legislation regarding the immigration problem yesterday:

The Senate yesterday approved legislation that would trigger the biggest changes to U.S. immigration policy in decades, by strengthening border security, establishing a guest-worker program, and providing the means for millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the country and possibly become citizens.

The product of a tenuous bipartisan coalition that faced tough conservative opposition, the measure calls for 370 miles of triple-layer fencing along the Mexican border, a complicated three-tiered system for determining who can stay and who must leave the country, and more jail cells for those awaiting deportation. It would declare English the country’s national language, a gesture that many advocates found insulting but accepted in hopes of helping millions of undocumented workers achieve legal status.

[…]The Senate bill calls for 1,000 new Border Patrol agents and thousands of National Guard troops to support them, plus 500 miles of vehicle barriers on the Mexican border. Several such provisions, added during two weeks of debate, were designed to appease Senate conservatives who threatened to kill the entire bill. But senators repeatedly rejected conservatives’ bids to strip or weaken the provisions allowing legal status for undocumented immigrants.

The Senate bill would provide 200,000 new temporary guest-worker visas a year, while creating a separate guest-worker program for immigrant farm laborers. Its key compromise would divide the nation’s estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants into three groups.

Those here five years or longer would be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship, provided they pay back taxes, learn English and have no serious criminal records. Those here two to five years would eventually have to return to another country and apply for a green card, which could allow their immediate return. The roughly 2 million immigrants who have been in the United States illegally for less than two years would be ordered home and be subject to deportation. Illegal immigrants convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors would be deported no matter how long they have been in the United States.

[…]Those claiming five years of residency or more would have to prove they were employed for at least three years to qualify for a citizenship application.

Which is a good start. Some of the legislation is ludicrous, such as consulting Mexico prior to building more walls…wont happen and is the stupidest thing I’ve seen the Senate pass in oh say a week. Social Security entitlements, give me a break.

BUT this is not the finished product. It still needs to be worked out in the House and believe me, those things won’t pass muster.

You wouldn’t know this by some of the Conservatives shrieks tho:

This would be catastrophic…..because the Senate’s bill is garbage.

Screw politeness, screw nice, these bastards should be removed from office for acting against the interests of the United States and violating the oath they’ve taken- more than once.

This not an immigration bill, it’s amnesty and open invitation to tens of more Mexicans and Central Americans to infiltrate our country and take it over. And the Dims get a lot more “victims” to give money to.

The so-called “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act” (“CIRA”) being debated in the United States Senate is quite possibly one of the most far-reaching and dangerous pieces of legislation to be proposed in many years.

To whit I would say, calm the eff down please. This is not going to be the final legislation so relax. Every legislation that gets voted on has things in it that some like and some don’t. That is politics. It all gets worked out in the end and you know the House will not vote these things in.

But if your talking about the guest worker program, this you will have to deal with. Most Republicans support it along with Democrats:

RNC senior adviser/BC04 senior strategist/Ron Fournier co-author Matthew Dowd urges Republican Nat’l Committee members to favor a “comprehensive” solution to immigration, which the public believes is is “unifying — not polarizing.”

Dowd: “Furthermore, majorities of Hispanics back it. Therefore, it is imperative for the Republican Party to talk about immigration effectively and comprehensively and demonstrate leadership on this vital issue as we move toward the mid-term elections.”

Dowd’s memo says that an internal RNC poll conducted by Jan Van Louhuzen finds that “overwhelming support exists for a temporary worker program. 80% of all voters, 83% of Republicans, and 79% of self-identified conservatives support a temporary worker program as long as immigrants pay taxes and obey the law.”

[…]Voters don’t consider granting legal status to those already here amnesty. Seventy percent (70%) of voters say illegal immigrants who have put down roots in the U.S. should be granted legal status after they go to the back of the line, pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English, and have a clean criminal record; just 25% say that would be amnesty and we should instead impose criminal penalties on illegal immigrants in the U.S. Republican and conservative opinion is only slightly lower–68% of conservatives and 64% of Republicans support granting legal status over criminal penalties.

Voters want comprehensive reform, including a temporary worker program and legal status, not inaction. When voters are given the choice between a comprehensive reform plan of getting tough on border security and a temporary worker program or no reform at all (below), 71% choose comprehensive reform and 19% choose no reform. Support for comprehensive reform is even higher among GOP base voters–80% of conservatives and 72% of church-going Protestants want comprehensive reform over no reform.

[…]Dowd concludes: “Finally, when discussing immigration reform, tone and language are extremely important. To continue to grow the party, we must conduct this debate with civility and respect for our nation’s heritage — as the President has said, we are both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. That is why the American people favor a balanced plan that secures the border, improves enforcement, enhances immigration avenues AND deals compassionately and equitably with those who are already here.”

Dowd has been more right then wrong in the past and I would give great credence to this memo. The “enforcement only” crowd is going to have to understand that most of us do not see this as amnesty. No matter what Rush says. Having to prove that you have lived here for 5 years, paying a penalty, going to the back of the line is not amnesty and I just do not get how some of you would think so.

As usual The Anchoress nails it:

Build a wall, by all means. Make sure you build it deep, so tunneling is difficult. Arm it and stand guards. I’m all for it. But this overheated rhetoric, this astonishing willingness by too many to keep blowing on the flames until something eruptsâ€¦this is not good.

I cannot buy into this idea that suddenly America will be overthrown unless 11-12 million illegals are “shipped out, no matter what the story isâ€¦” I also cannot buy into the idea that there is a conspiracy afoot to create a socialist state, anymore than I buy the idea that this brouhaha is a conspiracy on the right to form a third party. But what do I know? Maybe everything is a grand conspiracy, after all. In which case, everyone is working at cross-purposes and all of this sound and fury may signify nothingâ€¦

[…]I also believe that Hispanics are the upcoming huge voter bloc in this nation, and that most of them (not the A.N.S.W.E.R. rowdies or the useful idiots who exist in EVERY ethnic group) are fairly conservative types of folks, and the conservatives are doing all they can to convince the Hispanics that they will never be welcome in the GOP.

Take it from someone who works around thousands of illegals in South Central Los Angeles. For the most part they are hard working CONSERVATIVE people. Who are deeply religious and believe in conservative values. Do I think it’s a good thing they are here illegally, no. Am I one of those who believe they are doing jobs Americans won’t do, no. But they are here.

The idea that we will round up 12 million illegals and send them back is ridiculous so we need a bill that takes some of what the House is proposing and some of what the Senate is proposing. Get those who have roots here into the system, get them paying taxes and learning English (my pet peeve, nothing pisses me off more then when a Hispanic won’t even try to learn English) put them at the back of the line AND fix our immigration policies. Build a wall, hire more Border Patrol, GO AFTER EMPLOYERS….(via Let Freedom Ring)

SNOW: […]Now, I don’t think anybody wants to sit around and wait to go after employers who are hiring people illegally and know it. You want to go after them right away, and I don’t think people want to wait to figure out who the illegals are. You want to find out that is rapidly as possible, and I, frankly, don’t think people want to wait to start figuring out what we do with the 11 or 12 million illegals, and that’s really what the presidentâ€¦ It’s interesting. I’ve heardâ€¦ Every conservative I talked to on Capitol Hill says, “We want to do that stuff, but we want to do it later.” My answer is, “Why? Don’t you want to go after employers now and don’t you want to figure out who the illegals are now and don’t you want to start solving this mess now?”

RUSH: But the Senate bill doesn’t do any of this though!

SNOW: Well, sure it does. What the president’s proposing does. I mean, you take a look, for instance, at the issue of illegals. You get these tamper-proof IDs with biometric stuff. You can’t fake that. Now, once you have that in place, employers no longer can say, “Man, I don’t know. That birth certificate looked okay to me, and that fake driver’s license, I thought it was legitimate.” Suddenly you’ve got something you can’t fake.

RUSH: Why should we believe there’s going to be enforcement now when there hasn’t been since â€˜86, there hasn’t been in Simpson-Mazzoli?

SNOW: Well, a couple of reasons.

RUSH: Because the enforcement appears to be voluntary on the illegals. They’ve got to show up to pay the fine. They’ve got to show and up go to the back of the line. They’ve got to show up and do this. Now they’ve got to show up and get this card, this ID card. What’s the incentive for them?

SNOW: There are several reasons. First, on the ID card, again, you get the discipline from the employer side. The employer doesn’t have it, and they’re doing it, and you and I have seen places, you know, in our neighborhoods and elsewhere where guys were probably illegally, they get there they work early they do all the stuff but they’re illegal! Now if all of a sudden somebody shows up and says, “Show me your cards,” and they don’t have it, that does change behavior. The other thing is, this issue is of far more concern now than it was in 1986. From 1986 until, what, eighteen months ago, most people didn’t give a rip. I mean, they really didn’t. Now all of a sudden it’s top of mind, which means the people who see activity that they find objectionable and illegal, they now think, “Okay, I can call the government to do this. I can call the cops on this. I can call the Border Patrol. I can call the legal enforcement.” They suddenly realize that you’re going to have a government that also has gotten a message because for a long time people didn’t the give a rip, and, as you know, this town, Washington, response when people say, “Hey, you gotta do something,” and I think the message has been received pretty loud and clear. We need to do something.

And we’re on the road to solving this issue. Will it be perfect? Don’t be silly. Nothing is in politics, hell nothing is in life. But we deal with it.

As I’ve said many times in my earlier immigration posts….

Calm the eff down people.

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