What’s next with immigration?
My favorite moment last night was when Reid thanked 5 Republican Senators for voting ‘Aye’ to the cloture vote, quickly followed by McConnell thanking the 12 Democratic Senators for voting ‘No’. (Yes, I watched C-Span instead of Fox for this, lol.)
The bill isn’t dead. It has been taken off the floor but not dead. It’s in stasis. They will bring it up again, more than likely at a time when they have our attention diverted to something else, like a new Paris Hilton scandal. Remarks made by one or another of the Senators during the speeches after the cloture vote failed for the second time told me this, plus Reid more or less said so when he referred to the next 16 months before elections. Now, as much as before we need to be vigilant against a Congress that does not have the United States best interests at heart.
Yes, we should celebrate a victory this morning, but the war isn’t over.
A transcript of Rush Limbaugh’s show yesterday reveals this:
… Also yesterday, in the House they had a judiciary hearing, and the black caucus members visibly broke with their Latino colleagues yesterday. Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters berated representatives from the restaurant industry and agriculture and even from Google because apparently the black caucus members got an earful from constituents back home over the recess. Their constituents are saying they are taking jobs that we want, these illegals. Typical quotes that came out of this hearing yesterday. “What have any of you done to hire Americans first, to avoid worker displacement?” This is what the black caucus was asking representatives in the restaurant industry and agriculture and so forth. “My son goes to Morehouse College, have you gone there recruiting or are you just looking for illegals? Have you tried to employ urban black workers for agriculture jobs? What percentage of your employees are black Americans?” These are some of the questions. There was a pretty tight-knit coalition between the black caucus and the Latino caucus but the split yesterday in the House over this. (roughly midway through the 3rd paragraph)
So, now, it’s finally becoming public what we U.S. Americans have been saying all along and show’s the statement “Jobs Americans Won’t Do” for the lie it is. However, that telling paragraph tells us even more. Amnesty won’t serve the illegal aliens any better than it will serve citizens. With amnesty, they become relative citizens, with the same rights as we have with some few exceptions. That means work benefits, health insurance, and all the other perks that employed U.S. Americans enjoy. Well, guess what, folks? The businesses employing illegal aliens don’t want to give those benefits… that’s why they hire illegals in the first place. Now, if they don’t want to provide those, what’s amnesty going to do but create a higher rate of unemployment? Those businesses will just import a new group of illegal aliens to replace the ones who have been “legalized.”
Nothing in the bill that was put on hold would stop that happening. Nothing in it would have been enforced once amnesty was accomplished. They made it plain in the language of the bill. They just didn’t expect an interested public being able to understand that.
They’ve tried to guilt us into accepting it. “Think of all the poor immigrants who just want a better life…” plus Harry Reid’s little drama of the high school student whose parents are illegal aliens. That bill would not have given them that. It would have made them just like us and having to deal with a new batch of aliens taking the jobs “they won’t do, now they are as good as a citizen” perpetuating the lie that politicians are using against the public. One must wonder if those immigration advocates or the Hispanic Caucus even think about this aspect when they advocate amnesty; that it won’t change illegal immigration one whit. And I wonder if they will realize that it is an extremely powerful Democrat who keeps putting them in that position considering his hands have been all over immigration since the 60’s.
They’ve tried to tell us deportation is impossible while leaving unanswered how they expect to do it with the passage of a new bill. They exaggerate and say mass deportation. There’s a very simple way to effect deportation. Make staying an unattractive prospect. They could have rounded up many thousands in one great swath during the protests of those waving Mexican flags, chanting, and clogging up streets. Cut off funding to sanctuary cities (declared and undeclared)Â and that will go a long long way toward making illegal immigration unattractive.
They talk about loopholes in the old laws but don’t offer to close up loopholes in existing legislation. Instead they write a whole new bill, behind closed doors, hoping to get it through the Senate and House before the public discovers just what they did: construct a bill that not only doesn’t close up the existing loopholes but adds more, cuts back the amount of fencing specified in an earlier bill, promises better security with one hand while redirecting the focus of that security to facilitation with the other, and ups the penalties for businesses with one hand while negating those penalties with the other hand. There are more such contradictions hidden within the pages of this bill but those are enough alone to make this bill a piece of trash.
They mention fines for the aliens making it not amnesty… to the tune of $5000 payable in installments over 8 years. No, it’s not a fine under such conditions. It’s buying amnesty.
They talk of bringing aliens out of the shadows. Just because they are uneducated doesn’t mean they’re all dumb enough to fall for that trap. Some of them will probably realize what the politicians are trying to hide. They come out of the shadows, they lose their jobs because of the very reason they got the job in the first place. And all we will have done is buy into another unenforced bill that will take another 20 years to “rewrite” while illegal immigration continues.
They try to reason with us, pointing out that we’re all immigrants. While that’s true to a point, but times have changed greatly. The first immigration bill changed it when conditions were set on immigrants and citizens alike. In succeeding years, as government has taken a greater interest in laws that restrict the citizens, times changed more, and the citizens are tired of footing the bill for the government’s lack of consideration of ”for the people and by the people.” Every law they enact, affects the average citizen more than anyone else, yet, we are the least considered. The rich and the poor are typically the target groups for governmental facilitation, yet, there are more average citizens than any other group in the states.
For a simplistic example, think about automobile insurance, how much it costs for full coverage or even liability. What’s the chances of getting compensated by an illegal or legal immigrant under the present system? Get in an accident that is their fault, they hightail it out of the country and you’re left holding the bill, one way or another.
They say they pay taxes… well, no they don’t… at least not very many of them. Consider, an illegal alien making $15/hour who claims 12 dependents. How many taxes do you think he honestly pays? How can he claim so many? Well, under head of household filing and given Hispanic and Middle Eastern cultural implications, it’s quite a reasonable expectation. So that person’s take home pay is probably higher than that of a citizen’s making a couple of dollars more hourly, making an honest tax exemption claim. But middle America isn’t supposed to be upset by that, right?
Between government adding more dependents to the entitlements system and raiding that same system at will when they want to spend beyond their budgets, middle America is screwed time and again. However, middle America is beginning to wake up and fight back. Now is not the time to go back to sleep but stay ever vigilant of a disconnected federal government and continue to protest the injustices they seem determined to impose upon us.
I could go on and on citing dozens of examples and arguments but, for now, we have won. So, yes, let’s celebrate our victory but remember, the war isn’t over.
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This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration
(CAII).
“illegal immigration”
If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let us know at what level you would like to participate.
If you’d like to see the results of last night’s cloture votes see here: Bear Creek Ledger
If you need some more arguments try these: http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/06/the_neglected_truths_of_the_im.html
June 9th, 2007 at 2:16 am
The business/labor factor is summarized well here http://www.vdare.com/fulford/usa_today.htm The article is several years old, but outlines the particular business which prefers immigrants (and why). One wonders if the phenomenon is part and parcel of shipping US jobs overseas to save labor costs, only with an import version. IMO grassroots America spoke out loud and clear on the amnesty approach and it will remain dead, despite some big business support. The question becomes, now what? Certainly it can be argued that existing immigration law should be enforced. Indeed why has it
NOT since the Reagan illegal immigrant amnesty in the mid-eighties? There are some powerful economic interests at play here and any solution is going to be
costly and agonizing.
June 9th, 2007 at 3:58 am
Michelle Malkin live blogeed fro the Senate floor during the debates, the yeas and nays are very interesting for sure. McCain has blown any chance of getting the nomination and the base is wide awake and stirred up like a hornet’s nest that he and Bush just poked. Once we can trust Congress on security then we can move forward on some way to deal with those already here. We definately do not need to offer any incentive to get here soon as amnesty is coming type position either. I proud that Sen McConnel , Mitch slapped Reid all over the floor.
BB, Vdare is a good site, and while I agree with you to an extent, the trades are having a hard time finding labor and can support something once they secure the borders and other laws on the books already. A Shamnesty shovedown was all this bill was and disgraceful but it offered us a glimpse behind the door and now the foot and leg are in.
June 9th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
BBIdaha, I agree with you. No matter how we look at it, it’s going to be costly and agonizing. However, we need to work toward the least costly and least agonzing for middle America… because it’s shrinking fast. While I don’t envy the rich their riches, I don’t think the rich should have power over my money while safeguarding theirs… if that makes sense.
Goat, McConnell gave him such a smack down, I just laughed, but McConnell wants this bill to pass too and I can only imagine why. Yes, he voted against it as did most of the others because his constituents and theirs made such a furor they had no choice unless they wanted to wave good-bye to their political careers.
The truth is… and they’ve made it very plain… they don’t want to secure the border. I read that bill until my eyes crossed and saw all the contradictions and loopholes they included. We told our leaders what we want in a bill but relatively little was put into it and they kept freezing out amendments to our benefit.
I believe the feeling about that bill was/is of such magnitude that many of those leaders who initially voted for it but changed their minds only under extreme pressure are still going to have a hard time come the elections in spite of the fact they did the right thing in the end. They broke trust and we know once trust is broken it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get it back. I know I’m going to have a hard time choosing Alexander when the elections roll around. Corker, on the other hand, kept his campaign promises, in spite of being the junior Senator.
In AZ, the papers don’t even call Kyl Senator when they speak of him. The last article I read called him “Mr.” Kyl. They’ll all be watching their step now.
The businesses aren’t thinking either. Middle America are the consumers for most of their products. I think that needs to be our next step… avoiding those businesses who hire more illegal aliens than citizens, such as ConAgra and Walmart for starters. I know there are a host of them out there. I believe Tyson is one here in TN. If we stop buying the products that make them so much money, perhaps they’ll think about what they’re doing as well.
In the late 70s and 80s there was a national pride movement “Made in America”. Perhaps it’s time to revive it in a slightly different form.