The 844-page Immigration Reform bill was dropped on the public late yesterday.
There will be a rush to a vote as on just about every other legislative behemoth in the past four years.
David Frum, so far, is one of the clearer heads on the immigration charade known as the Gang of Eight. What the Immigration Compromise Reveals:
Economists use the term “revealed preference” as a technical substitute for “watch what we say, not what we do.”Here’s what is revealed by the Gang of Eight immigration compromise:1) Republicans want to postpone voting rights for illegal immigrants as long as possible. Unlike some of the more gullible right-wing pundits, congressional Republicans hold few illusions about how the present-day illegals will vote. Under the deal, voting rights wouldn’t begin to arrive until 2027.2) Nobody important much cares about the impact of immigrants on the wages and employment of the native born. The deal immediately opens every category of employment to present-day illegals. Today, large, visible, low-wage employers like Wal-Mart and McDonald’s take care to avoid employing illegal labor. Tomorrow, their labor pool will hugely expand, with resultant downward pressure on wages….3) It’s good to be an employer. Not only is full implementation of e-verify delayed for ten years (inviting lots more illegal migration over the next decade), not only are illegally employed agricultural workers eligible for special legal status but there will also be a low-wage guest worker program….4) Non-Mexican illegal immigration is fine…. The proposed agreement has a lot to say about hardening the US-Mexican border, but allows ten years to implement monitoring of visa-holder exits. Combine that with the ten year delay of e-verify, and the message surely is: if you are a middle-class Pakistani or Ghanaian who has ever aspired to live in the United States, buy an airline ticket, apply for a student visa, and come now – in time to be well settled before the next amnesty which surely will follow this one. [My note — anyone can fly here, btw.]5) The word “amnesty” is very unpopular; the thing, not so much…. The price of life in America has been set at $500… Marco Rubio uses the figure of $2,000, but that refers to the cumulative 10-year total of the fines on the way to a green card. $500 is the immediate price for provisional rights – but they’ll prove permanent enough.
What could go wrong?
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