Is amnesty really dead?
If so, then there is a chance for immigration reform if Democrats stop holding other reforms hostage to electorate reform.
Immigration reform could pass easily if Democrats did not insist on holding the entire enterprise hostage to their demand for amnesty and citizenship even for adults who knowingly and deliberately broke our immigration laws to get here. (Does that make Democrats hostage takers and immigration reform arsonists?)
Rationalizing the system by which people legally enter the U.S. so as to accomodate a variety of national objectives, including agricultural and high-tech workforce needs, is the equivalent of a 25-yard field goal. Not a gimme, but pretty close. Enforcement mechanisms are the potential gusts of wind that could throw the ball off course, but those could be overcome.
The problem is that Democrats don’t want reform, they want amnesty and more Democrat voters. Fundamentally transforming the electorate, not immigration reform, is the Democratic objective.
John Boehner just said no to mixing reform and amnesty in one massive bill which mixes good reforms with bad amnesty provisions.
The Washington Times reports:
House Speaker John A. Boehner on Wednesday flatly ruled out even entering into negotiations with the Senate on that chamber’s immigration bill, signaling that the issue is dead for this year — and setting up major hurdles for any action before the midterm elections.
Emerging from a meeting with fellow Republicans, Mr. Boehner said he won’t be bound by President Obama’s timeline on action this year, and firmly rejected the Senate’s approach, which would legalize most illegal immigrants and rewrite the legal immigration system.
We’ve made it clear that we’re going to move on a common-sense, step-by-step approach in terms of how we deal with immigration,” Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, told reporters after the meeting. “The idea that we’re going to take up a 1,300-page bill that no one had ever read, which is what the Senate did, is not going to happen in the House. And frankly, I’ll make clear we have no intention of ever going to conference on the Senate bill.”
Needless to say, Democrats are accusing Republicans of holding reform hostage, via Greg Sargent:
Many of the same constituencies within the GOP who are warning against letting the hard liners’ demand for a Total War against Obamacare drag the party into situations like the recent shutdown debacle – the business community, the professional consultant establishment, etc. — are the same ones who are urging the party to adopt immigration reform, for the long term good of the GOP. But it isn’t happening. We are not getting immigration reform if House GOP leaders are not willing to get the anti-amnesty-at-all-costs crowd a bit riled up at some point in the process. Boehner’s quotes today suggest they just aren’t willing to do that, whatever the long term costs to the party.
Meanwhile, pro-amnesty supporters continue the “Why do you want to deport my daddy?” tactic, sending children of illegal immigrants to confront Boehner while he was eating breakfast at a local diner (via Gateway Pundit):
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Sorry sweety, but your daddy intentionally broke the law to come to the United States. He cut in line and hurt other people who didn’t cut in line. If he wants to come here, he needs to go to the end of the line and wait his turn. Would you like some pancakes?
The intent of illegal immigration is to allow the upper middle class and upper class to pay less for working class types of work. Why pay an American $25/h when you can pay an illegal $15/h?
This should be an easy issue to demagogue the left on but the Republicans seem to be terrified of making this argument.
It is even easier than that to demagogue the issue. What is wrong with Repubs? Here’s the 10-second pitch:
“Why open up jobs to Black kids trying to escape poverty when you can get an illegal for the same wage?”
…and don’t forget the mining for votes by the democrats!
Dems really screwed this one up. Comprehensive immigration “reform” was sacrificed during the first two Obama years, for matters more important to more important Dem constituencies. They then list the House, and quickly found themselves working to keep the Senate and Presidency in 2012. Dems promised Hispanics that it would be top priority after the election, if they would again pull the Dem lever. But then, the pent up scandals started to roll out, and then ObamaCare blew up.
The Reps aren’t enthusiastic about giving the Dems many millions more reliable voters. But were being pushed hard by the Wash DC establishment and the MSM to go along. And have no doubt that there are many millions of dollars behind parts of Immigration “Reform”. But ObamaCare in particular has taken the pressure off the Repubs. First, it’s failure has taken the spotlight. And, secondly, Obama has shown that he is more than willing to ignore parts of laws he doesn’t like. So, at a minimum, there would have to be a complete rewrite of the enforcement provisions to account for a President who can be expected to waive most any law or provision that is inconvenient.
Dems want a conference committee, so that the House would have to vote on the conference bill, and they figure they would have control over that conference bill, with Dems from both Houses there, as well as Senate Rinos going along. No conference means that it is dead for this Congress. Dems won’t allow big business to get what they want without getting all those new Dem voters. Stalemate.
How many times was ObamaDoggle declared “dead”.
I really don’t recall the exact number (the whole thing is sort of a vague nightmare).
But LOTS of times!
The Collective…like rust…never sleeps. They never take NO! for an answer.
And the NEVER give a rip about the expressed will of the people.
Love her or hate her, Ann Coulter makes a very good point in this exact regard. Established law and/or policy they don’t like? Raise hell, spend money, shove the OWS crowd in our faces, etc., and take it to the courts.
A law on the books they like?
“It’s the law, and there’s nuttin’ you can do about it, suckers!”
Any duly democratically-passed legislation (like Prop 8 in California, for example) that they don’t like gets the smear job and lands in courts until they find a wacko judge to call it “unconstitutional” at which point the victory dance begins and paths to appeal are denied.
“Party of the people,” my anatomical term I won’t write in here.
“Rationalizing the system by which people legally enter the U.S. so as to accomodate [sic] a variety of national objectives, including agricultural and high-tech workforce needs, is the equivalent of a 25-yard field goal.”
It’s a shame to see this canard repeated here. We don’t have a high-tech workforce shortage– we have a surplus of tech workers. The industry says so, but they are lying. It’s all about suppressing the wages of Americans, not filling any kind of skill gap. Outside of outright falsehoods, they play games by advertising for employees that have a large collection of skills such as a new boutique computer language. Then they will claim the position goes unfilled because of a shortage. The industry wants H-1Bs because they are captive workers because the clock for the green card gets reset if they change jobs.
Agriculture labor shortages is another ruse, but not quite as blatant. Again it’s all about cheap labor. If agricultural labor became more expensive, it would get replaced by farm machines. The availability of cheap labors holds back development.
We have high unemployment in the U.S. We have a record low in the labor force participation rate. This could be fixed by decreasing benefits or by cutting legal as well as illegal immigration so as to allow wages to rise.
Immigration reform including amnesty (or amnesty lite versions) is dead for the foreseeable future because all Democrat political amperage will be needed to survive Obamacare and other issues trailing behind it (Benghazi, IRS, etc.).
It may get raised again by the Dems, but only as a political ploy to defocus from Obamacare problems or some other scandal, and without expectation of it getting anywhere.
This is another theme the GOP needs to hit but likely will not – that every single Obama/Democrat Party promise to the illegal immigrant crowd has been broken, just another ruse to get votes. Coupled with ‘if you like your plan’ lying for votes, there is an opportunity here to *justifiably* destroy Democrat Party credibility.
Dalton, Georgia, is where most domestic carpeting is manufactured. It’s in the northwest part of the state, near Tennessee. The public school student composition there is seventy percent (70%) HISPANIC.
Don’t talk to me about anything for Mexicans. This is our country. Obama and Bush, and presumably Clinton, Bush I, and Reagan, have arranged for it to be taken from us, with assistance from Congress and the Supreme Court.
Culture is all bound together. We have a law giving free medical care at hospital emergency rooms, and the next thing you know, you’ve got 20 million anchor children, that WE ARE PAYING to educate. We’ve given too much already.
We don’t need immigration reform; we need politicians who care about America and AMERICANS. This is lacking.
As far as cheap wages for the wealthy, not good psychology. It’s an immutable law: whatever you tax you get less of, whatever you subsidize you get more of. Mexicans get paid under the table, and employers of ALL kinds like not hassling with the paperwork, taxes, insurance and the myriad potential lawsuits American employees bring. If you want Americans to be more employable, GIVE THEM THE FREEDOM TO WORK THAT MEXICANS HAVE IN OUR COUNTRY.
Socialism has costs. Financial, moral, character and cultural.
I love you, Karen!
Professor: To a Democrat, Amnesty IS Immigration Reform.
That’s the whole point.
You’re using the same term they are but clearly have a very different concept of what it means.
No, amnesty is not dead. The Stupid Party, out of some vain and bootless desire to make nice with Hispanics, will resurrect it.