Immigration Tag

From Micky Kaus, a prediction as to what will be in the House proposals we will receive as soon as next week, The Coming GOP Amnesty Sellout Push

Lobbyists, on the march! The coming weeks will see the formal start of the GOP House leadership’s attempt to sneak an immigration amnesty through the Republican caucus and into law. We don’t know the exact details of the proposals, but we know enough: 1) There will be some form of legalization (conditional amnesty) for the 11 million illegal immigrants already here. It won’t give them a “special” path to citizenship, but they will likely be able to pursue citizenship through regular old channels. Either way, the message sent to potential future immigrants will be, “If you come here illegally, you’ll get to stay legally.” Plus, once the bill has passed the Democratic campaign to paint the GOP as racist for not granting general citizenship to the whole group will begin. 2) There will be an attempt to describe Speaker Boehner’s “piecemeal” collection of immigration bills as an “enforcement first” arrangement that will prevent another, future illegal wave despite the incentive created by what will be two successive amnesties.... That means a convoluted debate over “triggers,” the traditional playground for legislative legerdemain.*** Legalizers will try to make the prequisites look tough when they aren’t — certainly nothing that can’t be easily dismantled once the undocumented get their documents. Do not count on the press to correct this misimpression. They’re in the “fool the rubes” camp too.

An important part of all this will be Democrats pretending to fall on their swords just to get something passed. That's just a guess. Oh wait!

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.

Republican split! Rift! Schism! The media is already salivating, Immigration Poses Threat of Another Republican Rift:

A push to bring immigration legislation to the House floor, led by an unusual coalition of business executives, prominent conservatives and evangelical leaders, threatens to create another schism in the Republican Party and could have a noticeable effect on campaign contributions before the midterm elections. Several Republican executives and donors who are part of a lobbying blitz coming to Capitol Hill next week said they were considering withholding, or had already decided to withhold, future financial support to Republican lawmakers they believe are obstructing progress on immigration. “I respect people’s views and concerns about the fact that we have a situation in the United States where we have millions of undocumented immigrants,” said Justin Sayfie, a lawyer from Florida who said he helped Mitt Romney raise more than $100,000 for his presidential campaign last year, in addition to helping other Republican candidates. “But we have what we have. This is October 2013. And the country will be better off if we fix it.”

In reality, the split, rift and schism is mostly over one issue: Amnesty. Democrats repeatedly have said no amnesty, no immigration "reform." It's their hill to die on, much as no meaningful changes to Obamacare was their hill to die on when it came to the "shutdown" and debt ceiling. Republican business interests and money men are willing to give amnesty in order to obtain other non-controversial immigration reforms. And in so doing, the Republican business interests and money men make it less likely they will get anything.

Looks like the chance of "comprehensive immigration reform" (a/k/a amnesty) passing the House just got a little less. From Greg Sargent at WaPo, In blow to immigration reform, House `gang of seven’ bill looks dead In a blow to the hopes of passing immigration reform anytime soon, the bipartisan House...

Why was this person not deported after his involvement in drug trafficking was known?...