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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