By the editors of National Review
The Senate isn’t serious about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. It is bad enough that the bill that 39 Democrats and 23 Republicans just voted to pass provides an amnesty to illegal immigrants already here. There might be an argument for doing that if there were any evidence of a commitment to enforce the immigration laws in the future. But the bill actually prohibits local police from enforcing civil violations of immigration laws—which in practice, given the byzantine rules distinguishing between civil and criminal violations of those laws, will get local police out of the enforcement business altogether. No serious effort is being made to make the bureaucracy capable of the enforcement tasks that will now be asked of them, such as performing background checks on the illegal population.
All throughout this week’s immigration debate in the Senate, I have personally felt that leaders in the Senate and those in the infamous gang of 14 don’t really care about the will of the people in terms of immigration policy. The Senate has defied those in the House of Representatives and the majority of the American people who favor an enforcement first policy. The reality is the border must be secured first and foremost to cut back on illegal border crossings - ultimately the source of the United States’ immigration problem.
The bill forbids the federal government to use any information included in an application for amnesty in national-security or criminal investigations. Any federal agent who does use that information would be fined $10,000—which is five times more than an illegal alien would have to pay to get the amnesty. The Senate, on a tie vote, defeated John Cornyn’s (R., Tex.) attempt to rectify these provisions.
Unlike law enforcement standards for true American citizens where local police can arrest someone for outstanding charges while giving a speeding ticket, illegals are actually given more rights in the Senate version of the immigration bill. It’s an absurd idea to tie the hands of police who are the main law enforcers of our society. We must give local police forces the ability to arrest illegal aliens (a large source of border crime) for simply being in this country illegally.
When Sen. Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.) offered an amendment to require that enforcement be proven to have succeeded before the amnesty or guest-worker provisions could take effect, he was voted down, 55-40. For most senators, enforcement is just boob bait for the voters. They are not willing to demand it before getting what they, for various reasons, really want: an amnesty and a massive increase in legal immigration.
If the Senators in Washington were actually serious about the crackdown on illegal immigration, they would’ve supported the House’s proposal - an enforcement first approach. Instead, the Senate has put election year politics ahead of the people’s will, defying what millions of Americans have been saying since 1986 - illegal behavior must not be rewarded with a path to citizenship, directly or indirectly.
The “temporary” guest-workers will be eligible for citizenship. If they overstay their welcome, there is no guarantee they will be deported—especially when Congress will have signaled, by passing this bill, its view that deportation is draconian. So these “temporary” workers will permanently change America. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation estimates that the bill would make for an inflow of 66 million immigrants over the next 20 years. Since much of this inflow would consist of poor and relatively uneducated people, one result would be, he says, the largest expansion of the welfare state in 35 years. (And he’s not accounting for the likely effects of these people’s votes.) Another very likely result would be the increased balkanization of America, as this massive inflow slows both economic and cultural assimilation.
Many experts and common sense Americans agree that a large influx in illegal immigration will put a huge burden on states’ social services. Illegal immigration fiscal problems followed by the large increase in baby-boomer medical and social benefits will tax our government tremendously, both at the state and federal levels, producing a fiscal crisis not seen since the Great Depression.
Read more analysis at National Review Online