Immigration Reform
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21 May 2007 |
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What Part of Illegal Don’t Senators Understand?
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Human Events | By: Congressman Brian Bilbray
WASHINGTON D.C. — When offered the opportunity to take
a stand and defend the rule of law principles our
country was founded upon, lawmakers in the Senate gave
into political pressure and betrayed the American
people. The “grand bargain” announced by Sen. Kennedy,
Bush Administration officials and other “friends” will
do more to encourage illegal immigration activity in
America than any other policy that preceded it. Now, the
only hope to prevent such an amnesty from moving forward
is for the American people to put the pressure on
Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.
You would think that Congress would learn from the
failures of the past. We’ve all seen how the ’86 amnesty
became a gateway for illegal immigration. What was
promised as a one-time fix that would be matched with
real employer enforcement and commitment to securing the
border resulted in a public policy nightmare we are
almost doomed to repeat. Why anyone thinks that
repeating the failed policies of years gone by is the
solution to this out-of-control problem is beyond me.
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In the first day and half that followed Mr. Kennedy’s
announced amnesty plan, my offices in San Diego County
and Washington D.C. were flooded with outraged phone
calls from across the country pleading with me to do
something to stop this bill from becoming law. My
message to them and to everyone else in America is to
call your Congressman, call your Senator and hold their
feet to the fire.
Make a phone call, mail a letter, send a fax or an
e-mail -- just let your elected leaders know that an
‘aye’ vote for amnesty is no vote in November! Some will
say that this “compromise” isn’t an amnesty. They’ll say
that it isn’t possible to deport 12-20 million illegal
immigrants. They will tell you that this bill will
secure the border and hold employers accountable. Don’t
for one second believe them. |
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We’ve heard it all before. We’ve been down that road
before. Where has it gotten us? Our borders aren’t
secure. Out Border Patrol is overwhelmed. For every
illegal immigrant they apprehend at the border, two or
three slip by them. The National Border Patrol Council
says the Kennedy-Bush plan “falls woefully short…and
needlessly jeopardizes the security of this Nation.”
There is so much wrong with the Kennedy-Bush bill I
don’t even know where to start. The basis of this plan
is to create a new category knows as the Z visa for the
12-20 million illegal immigrants who are currently in
our country. That’s right -- the solution to illegal
immigration is establishing a special program for
illegal immigrants to come forward, acknowledge they
have broken our laws and to stay here while they begin
to move ahead on a path to citizenship. This will
certainly send the message that we’re starting to get
tough on illegal immigration. While millions of people
around the world wait patiently to enter our country
legally, the 12-20 million illegal immigrants currently
here will get to stay here, work and enjoy the benefits
of living in the United States.
Supporters of this proposal tout the promise to add
5,000 more Border Patrol agents, 200 miles of vehicle
barriers at the border and 370 miles of border fencing.
The White House says “an Employment Eligibility
Verification System must be ready to process new hires
before the Z visa and temporary worker programs go into
effect.” The plan calls for a “trigger” that would have
to be authorized by the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) certifying that these security and verification
benchmarks have been met before any of the new visas
could be issued.
Sunday’s Washington Post editorial framed it well, all
DHS has to do is “hire, train and deploy 5,000 to 6,000
additional Border Patrol agents, bringing the total
force to 18,000. Hire, train and deploy thousands more
civilian workers who would begin registering an
estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the
country, and provide the technical and logistical
capacity to do that, including registration centers,
electronic fingerprinting, etc. Erect 370 miles of
fencing along the Mexican border. Develop and implement
a comprehensive worker-verification system that would
enable employers to quickly check on whether a job
applicant is in the country legally. Oh, and by the way,
the deadline for all that would be the end of 2008.”
This from an organization so caught up in its own
bureaucracy that it has lost track of 600,000 foreign
fugitives, failed to implement the REAL ID program and
has turned the US-VISIT program into the stay in the
United States indefinitely project. Given their track
record, I can see why the Senate and the White House
would have DHS be in charge of authorizing border
security and employer verification.
Thankfully, there is still time left. Congress has an
opportunity to make the right choice, not the political
one. The only thing that could escalate and exacerbate
the current problem is to repeat the failed policies of
the past by granting legal status and citizenship
opportunities to illegal immigrants. When amnesty was
granted to millions of illegal immigrants in 1986, it
was done so with the promise of securing the border and
enforcing the law. Twenty-one years later, that promise
has been broken and the problem has multiplied. The
interior enforcement provisions of the ’86 amnesty were
never implemented.
Perhaps it would do us all some good to heed to warnings
from our Border Patrol officers. The President of the
National Border Patrol Council said, “Every person who
has ever risked their life securing our borders is
extremely disheartened to see some of our elected
representatives once again waving the white flag on the
issues of illegal immigration and border security.
Rewarding criminal behavior has never induced anyone to
abide by the law, and there is no reason to believe that
the outcome will be any different in this case.”
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Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad) is the Chairman
of the Immigration Reform Caucus and represents the 50th
District of California, a region that neighbors the
busiest border in the world.
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