...and STAY Dead!

Teddy Kennedy's hopes for an influx of new Democratic voters and President Bush's hopes of gaining a major domestic legislative legacy came crashing down in the United States Senate today. As the Associated Press sadly reports,

President Bush's immigration plan to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants while fortifying the border collapsed in the Senate on Thursday, crushing both parties' hopes of addressing the volatile issue before the 2008 elections.
The Senate vote that drove a stake through the delicate compromise was a stinging setback for Bush, who had made reshaping immigration laws a central element of his domestic agenda. It could carry heavy political consequences for Republicans and Democrats, many of whom were eager to show they could act on a complex issue of great interest to the public.

After the defeat of the bill, President Bush was reported as saying,

"Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congress' failure to act on it is a disappointment," a grim-faced president said after an appearance in Newport, R.I. "A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn't find common ground. It didn't work."

Actually, Mr. President, if this were about legal immigration, the voters probably wouldn't be nearly so upset. It is the fact that this was a blatant attempt to give the benfits of American citizenship to folks without their earning it that enraged so many Americans. Why is it so hard for Washington to realise the difference between LEGAL and ILLEGAL immigration?

While this is a much-needed show of empathy with the concerns of their LEGAL constituents by Senators, I disagree with the A.P.'s analysis that it could have "heavy political consequences for Democrats and Republicans", however. It has been plain throughout that a very large majority of voters in both Democratic and Republican parties was furiously opposed to this shamefully conceived attempt to ramrod millions of new illegals down the throats of American voters who have already been forecd to pay for the many peccadillos of earlier attempts at amnesty.

I think that the Republicans (and Democrats) who so strongly opposed the bill will reap rewards, while the forces of amnesty (excluding the buffoonish Kennedy, who is essentially unbeatable in Massachusetts) may well suffer for their attempt to push this shamnesty past American voters. If I were a supporter of amnesty, I would be hoping that voters forget before I face them again. The House, who would have been most concerned, must have breathed a sigh of relief, as the failure of the Senate to force cloture means the House does not even need to address the issue.

Hopefully this will serve as a lesson that however much illegals lobby Congress, American citizens and legal residents do not like to see criminals granted privileges that they cannot access. And that is what this bill amounted to- an attempt to give Mexican criminals more rights in the United States than Americans. Remember, Congresspeople- it is legal voters who hold your fate in their hands- not illegals from across the border. Next time, maybe you can figure out that simply enforcing existing laws and securing the border must come befroe you attempt to further dilute this great county with an influx of those who neither deserve nor waznt to become American.

States Against Illegals

While Congress tries to figure out how they can pull a boondoggle of an amnesty over the wide-open eyes of American voters, some states have tired of Washington's pandering to illegal aliens at the expense of legal residents and citizens, who are asked to fund these giveaways of privileges to people who have no wish to beecome American- they only want our money while being able to spit on our culture and laws.

One Florida sheriff has found a highly effective way of catching illegals- enforce the laws on the books. According to the Associated Press, Florida Sheriff Frank McKeithen of Panama City has created a task force to enforce "a long-standing Florida law prohibitiing employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants". McKeithen's tactics? Simple. Have several uniformed deputies pull up to a construction site and then chase and catch whoever runs. The runners' names are then turned over to the federal immigration authorities. If no one runs, the deputies require the employers to produce proof of their employees' legal residence. Any who cannot prove they are legal are then arrested. And the tactic works. Since the sheriff began enforcing the laws, even the ACLU admits that illegals are leaving Panama City Beach.

This sounds like a brilliant plan- enforce laws already on the books and maybe the illegals will get the message. And so will the employers who are willing to play the game along with them. if you take aways the benefits and jobs that illegals are not entitled to anyway, you will eventually convince them that there is no benefit in breaking the laws to come here. Now all we have to do is somehow convince our pandering Congress and President that laws are to be enforced, and before they give away any more of our privileges to people who have not earned them, maybe they ought to try doing what they take an oath to do when they take office- enforce the laws and protect Americans, not Mexicans.

It Lives!

Just as Michelle Malkin and other commentators warned, the illegal alien amnesty has arisen from the grave. The Houston Chronicle reported this morning that

"Senate leaders, under intense pressure from immigrant-rights groups, the business sector and the White House, agreed Thursday on a plan to revive an immigration bill sidetracked last week by partisan clashes and conservative opposition.

...

The move to offer the downpayment on border and interior enforcement marks an attempt to quell a revolt by Americans bombarding senators with angry phone calls, e-mails and faxes. Their message: We've got no faith that you'll actually enforce the law or increase border security.

Well, yes, that is precisely the point. Every time our elected representatives in Washington do something about the "immigration problem" it seems they only try to make it easier for undesirable illegal aliens to get citizenship. No wonder that the American people do not trust Congress on this issue, considering how many times we have been told that enforcement will happen, yet somehow, as Malkin has documented, illegal aliens still are able to game the system to get multiple chances- something not even US citizens receive from the courts. Is US citizenship something that ought to be given away to anyone who thinks they deserve it?

It seems to me that we need to make it much more of a privilege. We already make those who are willing to come here legally go through a very painful process. What exactly is the rationale in putting illegal aliens, who by definition have already broken our laws, before those who have patiently stood in line? Legal immigrants are very welcome, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for illegal aliens. Their countries certainly do not extend the privileges they are asking for to illegal aliens back home. Why should we extend rights to people who have not done anything to earn them, and who have shown their contempt for our laws by their very behavior in coming here illegally?

Contact your representative via the hotline number listed below:
1-800-417-7666

Immigration and Approval

The immigration shamnesty bill is apparently not dead. that is a disappointment. However, there is hope. Rasmussen polls reported today that support for the bill is far greater amongst Congress than American voters.

Rasmussen says on their website,

Just 20% of American voters want Congress to try and pass the immigration reform bill that failed in the Senate last week.

...

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters would favor an approach that focuses exclusively on “exclusively on securing the border and reducing illegal immigration.” Support for the enforcement only approach comes from 84% of Republicans, 55% of Democrats, and 69% of those not affiliated with either major party.

In a related study, Rasmussen found that President Bush's approvals dipped to 33 percent when immigration is the major topic. However, interestingly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's favorable rating is merely half of that, coming in at a measly 19 percent.

This should tell Congress that it might be better to wait and put together something that the public approves of, as opposed to trying to please the illegal alien lobby. It would help, of course, if our elected officials would actually realize that illegals have no right to be in this country and that there are many well-qualified, would-be legal immigrants who have patiently waited and done things thAT right way that should be given the privilege of US residence before a bunch of uneducated criminals.

Don't let this monstrosity become law. Contact your congressman and let him or her know your displeasure with this bill now. As Michelle Malkin has tirelessly documented, the current state of affairs is to game the system to let the illegal win. This is reprehensible. But the only way to kill this thing is to stay vigilant. And step one is to kill this immigration bill. Don't forget to ask your elected officials, "What part of "illegal" do you fail to understand?"

Shamnesty Tabled

Excellent News! The attempt by our elected representatives in the Congress to legalize a massive invasion of illegal aliens has been temporarily derailed. Throughout this brazen attempt to push through a massive amnesty, the blogosphere has been doing a far better job of coverage than the so-called professionals in the MSM. Michelle Malkin, Captain Ed and the Power Line crew have all done outstanding work on the story. The MSM prefers to merely parrot the talking points of the illegal alien lobby than actually investigate the issues.

However, even the Associated Press has awoken from their propagandistic stupor long enough to recognize that the shamnesty is at least temporarily dead. Unfortunately, as the AP writers mention,

The White House argued the setback was not fatal for Bush's top domestic priority and urged Reid to allow the bill to continue to be debated and eventually receive a vote.

This is all too possible. As Michelle Malkin warned,

This is neither the beginning nor the end of the immigration debate. The White House is still trying to push shamnesty through. I predicted a while ago that after the massive amnesty package failed, Congress would break off chunks of the bill and try and pass it piecemeal. I expect that to happen here, as it has repeatedly in the past.

Malkin's word "vigilance" absolutely applies. This Congress and White House has proved on this issue that they care more for illegal aliens than for the law-abiding LEGAL immigrants who wait sometimes for years to gain legal entrance. And they completely disregarded the tax-paying citizens of this country, who were decidedly against this travesty. We must make certain that our representatives know our anger and that their continued attempts to give amnesty to illegal aliens will cost them the next time they want us to re-elect them. Maybe then they will listen harder to their constituents than to Mexico's version of the Ku Klux Klan- also known as La Raza.

More on Amnesty

Captain Ed Morrissey posted a thoughtful critique of the arguments against the new amnesty agreement reached by the Senate. While I will not recap it in its entirety, I would like to comment on the agreement.

Captain Ed wrote:

There are 12 million illegals in the US. Let me explain how difficult that would be. In the first place, the ICE has to find them, usually where they work. They then have to build a probable cause for a raid and search warrants (unless we want to toss out the 4th Amendment). That takes quite a bit of time; it might take months to build that kind of a case against an employer, but at least it will take a few weeks. Then they raid the shop, arrest everyone without proper identification, and start the deportation process -- which requires a hearing for each person in court to determine their status. During that period, we have to house and feed them.

...

If we really want to solve the porous border and the immigration issue, then we need to start somewhere to stop the problem from getting worse first. This bill is not perfection by any means -- but it is a reasonable starting point.

Captain Ed has a point about the difficulty of deporting 12 million illegal aliens. However, if we simply enforced the laws already on the books- especially as regards employers, we can put the pinch on the companies who employ illegal aliens to the point where it is extremely difficult for them to find work. If we coupled that with a crackdown on illegals' access to Social Security, public education, the courts and healthcare, we could make things very uncomfortable for them. Would they leave? Possibly not, but if we force them to face life without all the perks they seem to feel entitled to (and which their home country certainly would not give to any illegal there), some of them might rethink the benefits of being in the United States.

That being said, I doubt we will do better than this bill in the current political culture. Republicans have no stomach for actually listenting to their legal constituents- they are too worried about the Azatlan-promoting activists with whom the foolish media are so in love. And Democrats see the illegals as a vast new Democratic constituency, so they will certainly not put any obstacles in front of this rush to amnesty.

The only thing we can do is to put pressure on our elected representatives to enforce the border security provisions in this bill, and make enforcement more than just a word thrown around by clueless politicians. We need a strong fence, a robust deportation effort, a campaign by the federal government to take cities like San Francisco who think federal law is made to be broken to court with severe financial penalties, a crackdown in illegal alien employers, a Congressional law depriving illegals of standing in US courts and above all, we need the southern border locked down.

Hat tip to Captain Ed Morrissey.

Immigration Analysis

It has been obvious since the Democrats took control of Congress in the midterm elections that we would see some form of amnesty for the illegal aliens in this country. The only question was to what extent the government would cave to the illegal alien lobby.

We now have our answer. However, one can take either a half-empty or half-full perspective on the resulting bill in the Senate. Michelle Malkin calls it amnesty and condemns the Senate Republicans. Malkin has been on this story for a long time, and she is quite accurate in her characterization. This looks, smells and sounds like amnesty.

However, Captain Ed Morrissey takes a more positive view of the Senate compromise, noting that

Conservatives don't get everything they want, of course, but we don't control Congress any more, either. While one could argue that no bill beats a bad bill, this compromise does not look all that bad. Its focus on border security and identification of illegals as part of the process of normalization addresses two significant national-security concerns, and it still penalizes illegals -- just not to the extent desired by conservatives.

I agree with Malkin, though Captain Ed makes a good point in that elections do have consequences and this is better than the disastrous bill that McCain tried to force through before the elections. I still have to ask the Congress though- what part of illegal do you fail to understand? These folks are here illegally, and thus, it is certainly not our responsibility to feed them or give them anything at all. Legal immigrants I welcome with open armss. Illegal imigrants should receive jail stays and a trip back home paid for either by themsleves or the Mexican government while being fined of every penny they earned while here illegally.

More Immigration Stupidity

So, what part of illegal alien does our wonderful Senate NOT understand? According to the Washington Times, I see that the Senate has so far killed the penalty for employing illegals, and has also given them access to Social Security funds that they have got by lying and breaking American law In addition, they are apparently ambivalent on protecting the border by building an actual, real WALL and they have also, as Senator Sessions of Alabama said made it even more imperative for more Mexican wetbacks to swim the border by pushing for a massive amnesty.

This is NOT what the American people want. Poll after poll, as demonstrated by this FoxNews poll show sizable majorities of Americans want enforcement first. Even sizable (60-70percent) of women and Democrats favor using troops on the border to stop illegal immigration. Why are our Senators unable to understand this? The House didn't seem to have any problem with the concept, except for the usual left-wing moonbats like Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee. I also fail to understand why our elected representatives in the Senate are so blind to the fact that they are increasing the load on American citizens and legal residents (the folks who got here by obeying the law and jumping through all the INS' hoops) in favor of uneducated, anti-American, law-breakers who respect not our cculture, nor our language nor our traditions and certainly not our laws.

So you think I am being harsh on these poor Mexicans by referring to them by the derogatory term 'wetback'? Well, let's review. As I have mentioned before, there are two kinds of immigration- though you would never know by reading what Rush Limbaugh hilariously (and truthfully) calls the 'Drive-by media"! There are legal immigrants who are usually educated, and who have stood in line and filled out many forms and who are actually interested in being Americans. I have a number of good friends who are originally from China. One of them recently became a citizen, after many years of being a legal resident, and I remember when he got back from his ceremony, he was so proud that he was now a citizen. My own wife, who is a legal resident and who is originally from Japan, received her green card a few years back, and she also was both proud and a little amused at the INS' vagaries. However, both my wife and my friend are educated professionals who are law-abiding, valuable assets to this country. My friends are mostly engineers and my wife is a nurse. They didn't jump the border and they are not demonstrating in the streets for rights that they have not earned. Why can't our elected representatives give people like my friends and my wife the respect they have earned instead of throwing them under the bus in favor of a wave of American-hating, entitlement-wanting La Raza scumbags?

Being in the United States is not a right, it is a privilege. And it is absolutely the duty of every American citizen to let these idiots in the Senate know that. It is time to pull in the welcome mat for our southern border. Put the United States Army down there and build a wall along the lines of the Great Wall to protect our citizens from these criminals. And then if Mexico's government wants to push, let them. And if they want a war, we are more than ready. It is time to call this illegal onslaught from Mexico and the southern hemisphere, aided and abetted by rich, corrupt politicians who don't want to upset their little cronyist applecart the invasion that it is. When the Mexican government is publishing handbooks on how to break US law, it is time to make Mexico understand that their are consequences to being unfriendly. And I for one am tired of Mexico running immigration policy in Washington.

Hat tip for the text of the Sessions speech to Joe Guzzardi of the blog VDare.com. Hat tip on the Washington Times article to the inestimable Michalle Malkin, who as usual is on top of this disgrace.