Jun 04 2007
Fred Barnes Supports Immigration Bill
More and more the far right is losing its support in the conservative coalition. Now Fred Barnes makes a good case as to why this is a good immigration bill, better than anything before and anything we will see again.
t the top of the list of what conservatives can get is significantly beefed-up security along America’s southern border. And that’s just what’s in the initial bill negotiated by Republican Sen. Jon Kyl and Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy. Without blowing up the Kyl-Kennedy compromise, border enforcement can be further strengthened through amendments. Indeed, it was strengthened, in the first week of debate in May, with an amendment by Republican senator Judd Gregg that requires “demonstrated” operational control of the entire border with Mexico.
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Next is a temporary worker program. We desperately need one. There’s a labor shortage in America and not only in agriculture. That’s why businesses employ so many illegal immigrants in the first place. The Senate bill limits the program to 200,000 foreign workers a year, but that can and should be enlarged. And in a bow to conservatives, guest workers must return to their native country. There’s no special path to citizenship for them, as there was in last year’s Senate immigration bill.
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Perhaps best of all, there’s a reform that’s been drastically undervalued by conservatives and everyone else: the end of chain migration.
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Also terminated in the Kyl-Kennedy legislation, thank heavens, is the “visa lottery” that lets 50,000 immigrants in annually, their names selected at random. Among those who have benefited was Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, an Egyptian with a Muslim Brotherhood background whose wife won a green card in the lottery. In a 2002 terrorist attack, he opened fire on the line of passengers at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, killing two people.
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Fine, some conservatives think, let’s cool our heels. Attitudes on immigration will change. Then we can take action. But this means waiting until Washington is ruled by Senate majority leader Jim DeMint, House speaker Tom Tancredo, and President Pat Buchanan. It means waiting forever.
At no time in the recent past could conservatives get what they crave on immigration and nothing more. And at no time in the foreseeable political future will they get only what they want, with no serious concessions or compromises, weakening amendments or offsetting liberal modifications.
And besides that, all the naysayers have are unsubstantiated fears which really have very little chance of coming true. This Bill will pass if the liberal poison pills can be defeated in the Senate this week. Reality is starting to sink in and the zero sum folks are losing support quickly.
Good Piece.
from mr barnes…..
“Indeed, it was strengthened, in the first week of debate in May, with an amendment by Republican senator Judd Gregg that requires “demonstrated†operational control of the entire border with Mexico.”
here’s his amendment–passed on a voice vote– for those not reading the bill. this is from the senator’s own page:
FULL BORDER CONTROL:
The Gregg enhanced trigger requires the Department of Homeland Security to certify that it has established and demonstrated operational control of the ENTIRE U.S.-Mexico border.
NOTE: In the Secure Fence Act of 2006, Congress already required DHS to achieve “operational control†over ALL borders within 18 months.
HIGHER BORDER SECURITY ASSET TARGETS:
The Gregg enhanced trigger requires DHS to certify that it:
Has hired and trained 20,000 Border Patrol agents. The current trigger only requires 18,000, which is less than the President has requested in FY08 and less than the former Commissioner of CBP has stated as the optimal number of agents;
Has put up 300 miles of vehicle barriers. The current trigger only requires 200 miles;
Has set up 105 radar and camera towers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The current trigger only requires 70 towers.
lipstick on a pig….
now i feel sooo much better about border security. as i have said previously a/this bill will pass in a landslide when the border is first secured. this amendment isn’t even a band aid. there will be more amendments on border security before this bill makes it out of the house. otherwise we will have this enjoyable charade again in 20 years for the next 20 million. I wonder if teddy kennedy, the old lion himself, will still be around to lend further assurances as he has steadfastly since 1965. you know, given his background, he may be senile by then and accidently tell the truth…..”we never planned on enforcing the border”.
Oh right Patrick, the nation will live with the current mess for another 10 years because someone said 70 radars and not 105…
Right. We throw it all away for that? This what happens when people get obsessed and have tunnel vision. Their world view shrinks down to the inane.
THe bill is a good one. The workforce verification system is again the key here. We just need to get the guest worker numbers up
For a fraction of the cost of handing out all these goodies to any and every group with a cause to gain their support for this new Immigration Reform Bill, and splitting the country down the middle into warring camps, one for and one against this monster called The Immigration Reform Bill, the government could solve most of the problems caused by this massive illegal invasion by passing a few new laws to fix the “compromises” in last “Immigration Reform Bill.” which were added along with massive pork, to get that bill passed.
It should be simple enough to deport criminal aliens by passing a law to deport them PDQ after the first offense, whether it’s criminal misdemeanors or a felony. It should not be necessary for this to be tacked onto any other piece of legislation and subject to compromises and deals to get it passed. If our law makers had to vote for or against it, just how many do you think would vote against it? . We may already have such a law on the books. How else is it that they can revoke someone’s citizenship and deport him if he is deemed undesirable?
A law could be passed requiring a biometric ID cards for all aliens holding jobs in this country. If they want a job, let them apply for the ID card. No ID Card, no job. This should be enforced by hefty fines and mandated, strictly enforced jail sentences for employers who hire persons who do not have a valid ID Card. No excuses should be accepted. “Ignorance is no excuse under the law.”
ID Cards should NOT be given to people who are already in this country illegally unless they go home and apply for one before they come back across the border. Those here illegally now would be forced to go home when they find they can no longer work here without the ID Card.
How are they supposed to get back home? They managed to find their way here without our help, they can find their way home the same way.
What about the labor shortage caused by forcing all these workers to go home? Not to worry. There will be plenty of people who are willing to come here legally with the proper ID to replace them.
I have no problem with a guest worker program as long as it does not allow employers to import foreign workers to replace US citizens who are presently doing those jobs. This is a common practice today.
According the the Wall St. Journal, most of the highly skilled engineers and sceintists in Silicone Valley are foreigners who are willing to work for a fraction of what Americans demand. While foreign Engineers and Scientists work for $25,000 a year, many of our educated young men are forced to form their own businesses such a lawn and pet care and carpet cleaning businesses. None of these foreign temporary workers ever go home. Once here, they stay here forever. At one time being a butcher was considered an honorable profession. Today we are told that Americans won’t do that kind of work and the meat packing plants must hire foreign workers. However, when those plants were raided recently and the foreign workers were hauled off by ICE, there were long lines of American applying for the vacancies.
If you think I am a heartless bitch who wants to hog the good life for me and my offspring and deprive others who are unfortunate enough not to have been born here from cashing in on it by pushing us aside and demanding that we make life easy for them, you have me pegged right. I grew up in Appalachia where people lived like the pioneers until after WWII. We had to work our tails off to get out of poverty and provide an education for our children so that they could have a better life. If we could do it, all these immigrants from these porvety stricken countries can do it too. But they aren’t going to even try as long as we open our arms and welcome them to come here and take advantage of our free schools, housing, food stamps, healthcare etc.
Once we solve the problem of million of people coming here illegally to work under the table, most of our other problems will be solved. our hospitals will no longer be forced to be free clinics, our schools won’t be over crowded by people demanding bilingual education, our prison population will be reduced by one forth, etc.
If the above laws were passed idividually so that they would not be hidden in an omnibus bill where they will be subjected to compromises, it would not be necessary to build a fence or hire thousand more border patrol agents. Once the incentives that lure people to come here illegally are no longer available , we won’t have millions flooding across our borders as they are now.
Maybe what these people need is a swift kick in the rear. It just might give them the incentive to go home and work to make things better there.
Next is a temporary worker program. We desperately need one. There’s a labor shortage in America and not only in agriculture. That’s why businesses employ so many illegal immigrants in the first place.
The guy needs to look at the BLS employment charts.
The unemployment numbers are low , but they only include those “actively participating in the workforce”.
Look in particular at the numbers of discouraged workers no longer even trying to find jobs.
We have chip designers for Intel being downsized and replaced by L-1 visa workers from India because with job cost plus per diem they are still only 60% of what the guy or gal who was displaced.
Momdear1
The blot in the ointment with the ID card is simple to point out issues with.
Lets say you are second generation Hispanic legal citizen of the US of A.
You are Hispanic, but you don’t have an ID because you are legal.
Exactly how is an employer to tell the difference between you and the illegal who chose not to register for the program?
AJ,
You do realize we have been told the same thing every year sense 1986, right?
Why do you believe we will get more enforcement at the border if this bill is signed into law?
Will the next administration, rep./or dem. take it seriously?
If not, then what?
Seems like good questions, given Gov’t.s track record.
The answer is simple the employer looking down the gun of high dollar fines for slipping up will take the “blessed by documentation” neolegal worker over the non documented resident citizen to cover his butt since the neolegal will have the good housekeeping seal of approval under this bill.
Simply the path of least resistance.
But still we are told this bill is the best thing since sliced bread!
Yup I got all that.
,
“You do realize we have been told the same thing every year sense 1986, right?
Why do you believe we will get more enforcement at the border if this bill is signed into law?
Will the next administration, rep./or dem. take it seriously?
If not, then what?
Seems like good questions, given Gov’t.s track record.”
Stevevvs this is not the 86 bill. I thin we can come to the conclusion honestly this bill is way different. I saw this at NR
” in response to an e-mail I posted back here the other day in response to the original posting—going to the EEVS business. E-mail:
Rich,
Your reader’s assertion is incorrect — far from preventing employers from terminating individuals who fail the EEVS check, the bill actually requires them to do so. The bill is very clear that someone who receives a final nonconfirmation under EEVS must be terminated. The bill says, “If the employer has received a final nonconfirmation [from EEVS] regarding an individual, the employer shall terminate employment (or recruitment or referral) of the individual,†unless the individual appeals. The bill goes on to state that failure to terminate creates a rebuttable presumption that the employer is unlawfully employing an illegal alien.
Nonconfirmations may be appealed in a streamlined process to make sure the decision is correct and that the employee is, in fact, ineligible for work. However, pursuing the further action or the appeal is the responsibility of the employee. The employer has no role.
Moreover, while the employee is not terminated while an appeal is pending, with limited exception, the appeal it shall be decided and become final within 30 days. Further appeals that are frivolous, unlikely to succeed on the merits or filed for purposes of delay will not stay termination of employment.”
Needless to say that was not in the 86 bill
I can foresee this being a windfall for the business liability insurance industry creating new policies for “regulatory compliance missteps”.
What a nightmare all of the side effects this will have.
What so many over look in the “Wall” or “Fence” debate is the Environmental Destruction an army of Migrants make, on their way to the promis land. Tucson Weekly often does articles on it, but not much anywhere else. You would think the Enviro. Crowd would have a cow, but instead we get the sound of Silence. Some interesting stats out recently:
Just doing the littering Americans won’t do:
After three years of cleanups, the federal government has achieved no better than a 1 percent solution for the problem of trash left in southern Arizona by illegal border-crossers.
Cleanup crews from various agencies, volunteer groups and the Tohono O’odham Nation hauled about 250,000 pounds of trash from thousands of acres of federal, state and private land across southern Arizona from 2002 to 2005, says the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
But that’s only a fraction of the nearly 25 million pounds of trash thought to be out there.
Authorities estimate the 3.2 million-plus immigrants caught by the Border Patrol dropped that much garbage in the southern Arizona desert from July 1999 through June 2005. The figure assumes that each illegal immigrant discards eight pounds of trash, the weight of some abandoned backpacks found in the desert…
…In 2002, the United States estimated that removing all litter from lands just in southeast Arizona – east of the Tohono Reservation – would cost about $4.5 million over five years. This count didn’t include such trash hotbeds as Ironwood Forest National Monument, the Altar Valley, Organ Pipe and Cabeza Prieta.
Since then, Congress appropriated about $3.4 million for a wide range of environmental remediating measures in all of southern Arizona. This includes repairing roads, building fences and removing abandoned cars.
The five-year tab is $62.9 million for all forms of environmental remediating for immigration-related damage across southeast Arizona, including $23 million for the first year.
Most of the garbage is left at areas where immigrants wait to be picked up by smugglers. The accumulation of disintegrating toilet paper, human feces and rotting food is a health and safety issue for residents of these areas and visitors to public lands, a new BLM report says.
Maybe we can tack on another $250 dollard each to the $5000 they will never have to pay, for help in the clean up.
It’s hard to see why my Tax Dollars have to be used to clean up after un invited guests.
Yes, this is not the 86 bill. But we have had numerous amnesties sense 86. And each time we end up with MORE ALIENS, not less, and the border….well…some things never change.
All this is probubly for nothing anyway. Nancy will have to really pork it up to get 218 votes to pass it. Remember, those Freshman ran against amnesty, and for border security. And their re election isn’t far enough off for people to forget. Should be interesting when it gets to the house!
Biglsu
You keep avoiding there was another attempt at fixing this mess before 86.
This is the third time to the plate and Kennedy had a hand in each.
It has more troubles than a mortgage agreement with a subprime lender.
Read Redstate today with their latest post of all the other amendments to this bill that have already been submitted for floor vote for consideration.
I keep telling everyone this bill really doesn’t matter in how the worker/immigrant situation will bypass all this stuff no matter what is passed or fails.
Kennedy is still pulling a win/win situation with all this debate over something that in the end will have little or no effect on what the outcome will be.
As I said before many are concentrating on the read flag being waved in front of the bull and being just as much taken in by it.
biglsusportsfan,
I made a mistake! You quoted something from the Corner at National Review!!! Don’t you know those people are nuts? They are part of the Far Right, Foaming at the mouth, hypocondric crowd! Remove that post! It has to be in error! Why I’m sure of it!
There, just trying to help AJ while he eats dinner!
MerlinOS2, You mean we should not trust Ted”The Swimmer” Kennedy? You meen he was wrong from 1965 on? Please, Ted, John, Lindsey, Susan, Harry, Hitlery, they are all honest brokers doing what’s right for North America, ..I meen America!
Stop it!
No, this is not the 1986 bill and Iraq is not Viet Nam. What is it with people getting stuck in the past?
The thing is to look at the situation and make sure you do not repeat the same mistakes. Just refusing to consider any kind of bill out of hand is another mistake of a different kind. And a lot of people have decided that they will oppose this thing without every giving it a chance, they don’t know if it will work or not and they don’t much care.
Fred Barnes has been around a long time and he know as much or more about this as anyone else out there.
And as far as trusting Ted Kennedy is concerned, this is not about trusting Kennedy, this is about facing the political reality that unless a Democrat supports the bill it will not even be introduced.
We have all these people out here demanding all this stuff and they are apparently so ignorant of the way our government works that they do not understand that when a party controls the House they decide what does and does not get voted on. They run the committees, they set the agenda. So if you are sitting there waiting for a world without people like Kennedy in it, there could damn well be a lot more illegals up here before things change. And truth be told I am beginning to think that is ok fine with a lot of these people. They don’t really care if they take care of this problem or not. It is too useful politically.
Stevevvs
I have tried to play this thing down the middle, even if some will still declare me otherwise.
I am approaching it from a simple pragmatic analysis of the issues the bill has.
I don’t have a dog in this hunt if it passes or fails.
But surfing around today I have seen right of center blogs starting to ask what is going on here at AJ’s place.
That should give all a bit of pause.
Terrye
You are buying into that Ted wants a bill.
Where has he been in front of the cameras giving the hard charge to this thing except for the mandatory cspan coverage?
You are being suckered and leaning into a left hook.
He saw the way the issue fell the last time to the fence only crowd and just playing political wedges and sitting back sipping the brandy.
Terrye,
All the more reason to just do what little we do now, and let this be an issue for the 2008 Presidential Debates. Let the National discusion continue, and People can pick the Candidate that they think will do the best job fixing the problem going forward.
If they run on this as a priority of theirs, and win, then they will have a “Mandate” to do what he or she campaigned on to do, that the American People can embrace.
To pass a bill for the sake of doing something isn’t the answer. Let the Candidates decide this issue. Leave Ted and the rest out of it.
Let Bush serve out his term, concentrating on the war, and he can continue to do what little he’s doing. After all, they sure as hell aren’t going anywhere, and the Wall at this pace, willstill be in the planning stages!
What’s the Rush?