The Gang of Eight yesterday:
Individuals who are present without lawful status – not including people within the two categories identified below – will only receive a green card after every individual who is already waiting in line for a green card, at the time this legislation is enacted, has received their green card. Our purpose is to ensure that no one who has violated America’s immigration laws will receive preferential treatment as they relate to those individuals who have complied with the law.
We gotta — we gotta lay out a path, a process that includes passing a background check, paying taxes, paying a penalty, learning English, and then going to the back of the line behind all the folks who are trying to come here legally. That’s only fair. All right.
Where is this back of the line?
Aren’t we dealing with a finite number of Green Cards, so if we put people here in line immediately behind those who have applied, we’re simply putting people who broke the law ahead of future applicants who did not break the law. And, many of those future applicants are not present applicants only because the limits currently imposed prevented them from applying.
I guess we simply could say we keep the same number of Green Cards for future applicants who did not break our laws, but create additional numbers for those here illegally. But that still is a preference as applied to people living here illegally by creating new slots for them but not others.
I don’t see the “back of the line” argument as achieving its stated goals of making sure that people who broke the law don’t profit from it. Maybe that’s okay politically, but then don’t make the argument.
Am I right about this?
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But, really, Professor, as someone famous once said, “What difference at this point does it make?”
I have and idea to create some balance in our immigration system; for every number of citizens from country X who is granted amnesty, and equal number will be subtracted in the future from those allowed to immigrate legally. So if two millions Mexicans are granted amnesty, and 100,000 Mexicans are allow to come here legally (I made the numbers up), for the next 20 years no one will be allow to come here from Mexico legally.
Let’s see, if the line starts in Mexico, then the back of the line should be in Columbia by now…….
It’s all very simple. Since murderers won’t obey gun laws, it has become necessary to pass new gun laws for them to ignore. Similarly, since illegal immigrants won’t obey our immigration laws, it has become necessary pass new immigration laws for them to ignore. Especially important to note is that enforcement of prospective new laws will be conducted by the same governmemnt that has failed and/or refused to enforce the old set of laws.
The goal here, of course, is to convince the electorate that government is actually Doing Something, a goal that does not make it necessary for their actions to actually work.
Some days I watch and read the news and I think, “Shoot me. Just f**king shoot me.”
Hold me, Luke. I suffer.
You’re approaching this the wrong way, Professor – it’s not meant to make any sense ~
But, Prof., that “back of the line” phrase SOUNDS soooooo “fair”.
Under current law, if you are here illegally, you CAN go to the back of the line…really.
You HAVE to go back to your country. THEN you start the process.
ONLY THEN. So you really are in the line in that case.
This whole immigration thing is simply about votes, nothing else.
Pander, bribe, obfuscate, deny are the tools and votes are the goal.
Once again America’s best interests are tossed aside…
Of course you are right but will it matter
and where do these illegals get to live while they are supposedly at the back of the line of people in other countries who have applied for green cards?
so while they wait for their green cards they are still here illegally and still getting whatever benefits they have frauded us for
Is anybody up to explaing ‘sanctuary cities ‘ to me.
Sure: a sanctuary city is a jurisdiction that defies Federal law WRT immigration.
They suspend the rule of law for…something…
The pro-abortion Dems favor aborting natural-unborn citizens and giving illegals the same status as those who have done their due diligence through the immigration process? Huh?! This is insanity!
Gosh, let’s see now..”back of the line”, hmm.
Mali? Egypt? Persia? Lybia (as they once spelled) it.
Pundit Press: Go Figure: Obama White House Can’t Spell “Libya”
http://www.punditpress.com/…/go-figure-obama-white-house-cant-spell.ht…Feb 23, 2011 – Go Figure: Obama White House Can’t Spell “Libya” …. There’s the inner and outer Lybia, just like there’s Inner and Outer Mongolia.
Oooo, oooo, oooo, Mr Kotter I know. Falkland Islands.
Come on, friends…. it’s more of the Obama Bait and Switch at work, here. The whole back-of-the-line talk is just that, talk. Or, more precisely, bullsh!t masquerading as a balancing mechanism to make this turd easier to swallow for anyone right of John McCain. It’s the carrot.
However, once the bill becomes law, one of three things will happen: (1.) ICE will overhaul its system to make it easier to clear the backlog of Green Cards, with fairness, compassion or (all together, now) For The Cheeeeeeeel-dren, offered as compelling reasons; or (2.) Obama will just simply change the rules of the game (call it what it is) using an Executive Order, Chicago Jesus Juice or a Samantha-like twitch of his button nose; or (3.) ICE will just create 11-million new lines, so no one has to wait.
In any event, the Republicans, from Rancid Prius on down, will be scratching their heads. “Didn’t they have to go to the back of the line?” Marco Rubio will become irreparably damaged, as the Democrats will give him all the glowing credit.
When it comes to Democrat versus Republicans, the latter always end being Wylie Coyote, trying to dodge the Acme safe dropped from 50-thousand feet. Whatever the case, when there is a carrot offered and a Democrat is in the conversation, rest assured that carrot will just end up being shoved up your backside. Sideways. Dry.
At some point some “caring” individual is going to claim that “back of the line” is no different than “back of the bus”.
Real reform = Anyone caught in the US illegally gets fingerprinted, photographed, etc, and deported with the additional penalty of permanently being banned from becoming a citizen.
Professor, you are absolutely right!
However Trooper John Smith (a few comments back)is even “righter”. The problem with making any agreement with Democrats is they lie. They have no honor and are capable of literally anything to achieve their goals. They will change any agreement reached to something more politically advantageous as soon as public attention is diverted by something else. They will pick and choose what parts of any legislation they like and either not fund or ignore what they don’t like if they can’t change it. We have a long history of broken agreements to look back on.
I would like to think it is only their leadership that would stoop to any level but it isn’t. Roughly 85% of the rank and file is satisfied with their leadership no matter what they do however foul.
This plan is so full of BS, we will be back to Amnesty 1986. As Rush points out some of the language in he new proposal is the same as the scam that Reagan bought into.
In 1986, we were going to fix border security, it didn’t happen – now the good Senators want to do the same thing.
We are going to offer this deal to illegal aliens who have clean criminal records. Two problems: First there cannot be illegal aliens without them having violated the immigration statutes of the United States. Second, their are not enough government investigators and application processors to honestly process some 15 million applications. After all, the government doesn’t do well without very all easy rules to follow. Fairness will require that everybody who applies will be approved.
The Constitution and law was disregarded to put America’s first Affirmitive Action (son of foreign nationals with anti-American, foreign interest ideologies) President into power…with disastrous consequences.
What makes you think they will enforce any law except those they wish to enforce now?
America has enough problems with this entire corrupt administration and congress, we don’t need to grant amnesty to 12 MILLION lawbreakers/criminals as well. Many of the 12 million are Islamists. Making them voters and citizens will be the nail in America’s coffin.
It’s just a nuance. As in back of which line? All that will happen is to create more lines in which to stand in to get the green card.
Real immigration reform would be tied to the unemployment rate, anything over 6% should cut the quota to ZERO. Those at the front of the line, i.e. the priority should always be given to spouses, children and first degree relatives in addition to political refugees.
As long as border enforcement is given lipservice and deportation of illegals is catch and release or catch and reward (with a green card), those making laws should be ashamed of themselves for failing to do their jobs. Enforce the existing laws. IF DHS and ICE can not or will not do their jobs then they should have their budgets cut to zero and be laid off.
btw- Governor Perry can spend some of that excess tax revenue money he is grand standing on by building a border fence the federal government failed to do.