"COMPREHENSIVE" IMMIGRATION REFORM: A PATH TO NATIONAL SUICIDE
THE GREAT REPUBLICAN MYTH # 1:
"They'll vote for us if we give them amnesty and a path to citizenship."
Many Republicans believe that in order to get the Hispanic vote they must give legalization (amnesty) to the estimated 11 to 20 million migrants who have illegally entered the U.S. Republicans justify this belief by declaring that Hispanics share their values, thus would get their votes. While many family values are shared by Hispanics, no case can be made that Hispanics share Republican political values such as wanting limited government or are concerned about the nation's debt or oppose the raising of the minimum hourly wage.
History is very clear that when the vast majority of poor undereducated Hispanic immigrants who violated our immigration laws become citizens, vote democratic. This is easily explained - Democrat politicians outbid Republican politicians with promises of government gifts. Polls show that most Hispanic immigrants are not concerned with the environment, deficit spending, the national dept, or sprawl. Polls also show that when Hispanic immigrants are asked why they came to the U.S., the overwhelming answer is "for a better life." To most Hispanic immigrants a better life is a job, a decent place to live, free schooling for their children, a car, a big screen TV, air conditioning, and all the environment destroying comforts of life not easily attainable in their native country.
THE GREAT MYTH # 2:
Granting legal status to those who have entered and/or reside in the U.S. illegally would NOT be Amnesty because they would have to learn English, pay a fine, pay back taxes, won't be able to become a citizen for 10 years, be extensively background checked, would come out of the shadows so they could be tracked, and would have to go to the back of the line.
Lets examine the above talking points:
IT'S NOT AMNESTY BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO LEARN ENGLISH.
How would this provision be enforced? Would ICE deport any immigrant who had already been granted legal status but failed to take English classes? Of course not. So the "learn English" provision is not a viable provision at all.
IT'S NOT AMNESTY BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO PAY A FINE.
In 2001, congress temporarily approved the 245(i) provision of immigration law which required those who applied under the provision who were in the U.S. illegally to pay a $1,000 dollar fine to allow them to remain in the U.S. while applying for a visa. My wife who immigrated from Mexico and who became an American citizen, used the 245(i) provision to sponsor her two brothers already living in the U.S. illegally. It's been thirteen years since my brothers-in-law applied for legal status under the 245(i) provision. In all that time they were never asked to pay the $1,000 fine and I have serious doubts that they ever will.
IT'S NOT AMNESTY BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE TO PAY BACK TAXES.
History repeating itself: New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer, who is one of the movers and shakers of amnesty for illegal aliens was a member of the House of Representatives in 1986 when the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed. Recently as one of the Gang of Eight Senators, he joined in the promise that within the framework for "comprehensive immigration reform", illegal immigrants would "earn" their initial amnesty status by "settling their debt to society by paying a fine and back taxes". The IRCA amnesty was immediate, but enforcement came later, and the same legislators and political groups who had insisted on amnesty as a trade-off for enforcement began immediately to undermine the enforcement provisions. The then newly implemented Tax Reform Act alleged to require any alien applying for lawful permanent residence to provide information on the then IRS FORM 9003 on whether he or she was required to file a federal income tax return for the "most recent three taxable years". The agency (then INS) that collected this information was required to forward this information to the IRS. IRCA did nothing to relieve illegal aliens who qualified for amnesty from their obligations to file federal income returns and pay "back taxes". But in January 28, 1987, then Rep. Schumer wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, urging the government "immediately" to issue a regulation declaring that illegal aliens applying for permanent residence pursuant to IRCA should be exempt from providing tax disclosure requirements that Congress had enacted two weeks earlier. Schumer's objective was achieved. On November 10, 1988, congress enacted 499 pages of tax legislation entitled the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988. Tucked into page 187 was a one-sentence provision (Pub. L. No. 100-647, § 1012(o)) that barred the INS from sharing with the IRS any tax information that IRCA amnesty applicants submitted pursuant to section 6039E, rendering the submission irrelevant.
IT'S NOT AMNESTY BECAUSE THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO BECOME CITIZENS FOR 10 YEARS.
Lets be honest, it is the liberal Democrat politicians and activist groups that want to grow their numbers with the objective of making conservative voters extinct. This has already happened in California.
IT'S NOT AMNESTY BECAUSE THEY WILL HAVE TO UNDERGO AN EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND CHECK.
In order to find background data on someone, there needs to be a background history. It is naive to think that someone who entered the country one month ago, one year ago, or three years ago, would have any background history on file in any of the law enforcement departments in the U.S. In fact, many Mexican deadbeat dads illegally enter the U.S. for the sole purpose of getting a new identity to relieve them of the responsibility to the family they left behind. In California and many other states, law enforcement recognizes the Mexican Matricula card as valid identification even though U.S. local and state law enforcement does not exchange background information on its citizens with other countries unless there is probable cause to do so. Moreover, even if there was sufficient background data to do a background check, it would take years to do a thorough check on 11 million illegal aliens.
IT'S NOT AMNESTY BECAUSE THEY WILL HAVE TO GO TO THE BACK OF THE LINE
My Mexican immigrant wife who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, petitioned in 2001 for her sister who lives in Mexico, to immigrate legally. It's been 13 years and her sister is still waiting for her visa. It would seem to me that the back of the line is in Mexico where my sister-in-law is waiting. Now, my sister-in-law says that she would like to sneak across the border, learn English, pay a fine, doesn't mind waiting 10 years to become a citizen and will get in back of President Obama's line (will someone explain to my sister-in-law where the back of Obama's line is so she can get in back of it?).
THE GREAT MYTH # 3:
By offering legalization, illegal aliens will have to come out of the shadows so that their whereabouts will always be known. This is laughable. How do you expect the government to keep track of 11 million newly legalized immigrants when they cannot even keep track of the millions of existing permanent resident green card holders. The law which requires that all non-citizens report any change of address within 10 days of the change, is totally ignored by most green card holders and is not at all enforced by the Department of Homeland Security.
WHY COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM CAN'T WORK.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Let's get one thing straight: The reason that our immigration system is broken, is because it's laws have not been and are not presently enforced. History should dictate that any "comprehensive" reform would only be a waist of time because there is no reason to believe that the new laws would be enforced any more than the existing laws are.
Advocates call "comprehensive immigration reform" a grand package consisting of amnesty for illegal immigrants in exchange for tougher enforcement in the future. But if Arizona's SB1070 experience has taught us anything, it's that any new enforcement measure will be tied up in the courts for years by the ACLU et al. This makes a grand bargain impossible. The amnesty part of the deal would be implemented immediately, while the promised enforcement would languish in courts for years -- allowing a new cycle of illegal immigration to swell our nation with millions more illegal aliens.
ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT.
WHEN YOU STOP LOSING, YOU START WINNING.
Since mass deportation is not practical and legalization is not workable, the only solution is attrition through enforcement. It took 30 years for the problem to get to where it is now. and it will take many years to fix the problem.
