July 3, 2013
Amnesty by any Other Name
By Justin O. Smith

In appalling, ignominious fashion, the U.S. Congress passed both the Corker-Hoeven Amendment (June 24, 2013) and the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act (June 27, 2013), as they proved once again, with the help of fifteen Republican senators, that they are more eager to be seen as "citizens of the world" than they are with actually fixing the illegal immigration problem. Much of what occurred during this past week was simply a ploy designed to make the American public think that a tough new immigration bill was passed, when in reality, amnesty was given to upwards of thirty million illegal aliens, rule of law and enforcement was circumvented and our Republic was degraded and endangered.

The U.S. currently deals with an inflow of one million legal immigrants per year; even if one accepts the questionable "11 million" figure for the number of illegal aliens in the U.S., these recent pieces of legislation are illogically conceived, overexpansive, and unsustainable, especially in light of the fact that between 1953 and 2000, the U.S. allowed only 26.3 million legal immigrants into the nation. It is quite like taking the federal responsibility for the addition of two new states, when one considers the numbers.

Border security weighs equally with the economic ramifications of these bills. Sixty-percent of all illegal immigrants are Hispanic, and they account for 30% of the U.S. prison population. But the U.S. government really has no idea how large a segment of the illegal alien population is comprised of criminals and terrorists. In 2010, Jamal Yousef, a Hezb'allah agent, was arrested in New York City with a weapons cache of 100 M-16 assault rifles, 2500 grenades, 100 Ar-15s, C-4 explosives, and anti-tank munitions; and last February, three Mexican nationals were sentenced to ten years in prison for running a marijuana operation out of Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

On June 24th, (FoxNews Sunday) Senator Lindsey Graham stated, "We've practically militarized the border", however, this is far from the reality under an Obama administration that will not even allow Border Agents to question criminal suspects about their immigration status and maintains a "catch and release" policy which basically nullifies any attempts to enforce border controls. No one is "in the shadows". Illegal aliens are now proudly proclaiming their illegal status. And currently, a 70-mile-deep swathe into the U.S. interior along hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico border are posted as outside of effective U.S. government control; much of this corridor is now controlled to varying degrees by transnational criminals and the Mexican drug cartels, who are the only ones "militarizing the border."

Corker-Hoeven, drafted behind closed doors and given no time for constituent review, will cost U.S. taxpayers significantly more than its initial $40 billion price tag, for nothing in return. It adds 20,000 new border agents; it would not make any difference if it added two million new agents. 30 million illegals will be "legalized" and the damage will be done. One should also recall the 1986 amnesty and the broken promise of immigration law enforcement, and the Border Security Fence Act of 2006 that was never fully implemented; in 2011, Janet Napolitano cut border security spending from $1.3 billion to $573 million, and she ended the Security Border Initiative Network, because she did not view it as "cost effective" or "viable": Page 35-line 24 of Corker-Hoeven places the completion of 700 miles of border fence at Napolitano's discretion, and page 30-line 4 does the same regarding the use of technology.

Under Article 32 of the Mexican Constitution, a person cannot immigrate to Mexico without first demonstrating a particular skill or potential usefulness; Article 34 requires immigrants to have the means to support themselves; applicants for legal immigrant status are screened for mental illness and prior criminal acts as outlined by Article 37. And, entering Mexico illegally is a felony punishable by 5 years in prison and a 5,000 peso fine; more importantly, only citizens of their republic can take part in the politics of the country, according to Article 133.
After Monday's vote on the Corker-Hoeven Amendment, Mexico's Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade stated, "Fences do not unite us. They are not the solution to the migratory phenomenon and are not consistent with a secure and modern border." What hypocrisy... what a double standard!

With unbelievable hubris, the illegal aliens exacerbated the problem by demanding a path to citizenship immediately... no humble request here. Much of this emanates from La Raza, Presente.org, and the Dream Act Coalition. Reyna Mntoya of United We Dream in Arizona recently stated, "We're not willing to compromise on citizenship." Wait a minute... whose country is this anyway!?

Claims of deficit reduction from the bills' supporters are full of manipulations and accounting tricks using Social Security contributions by newly created "registered provisional immigrants" to fund associated increases in spending. But, all this and more will necessarily be paid out almost immediately (food stamps/unemployment) to native Americans removed from the workforce, because these newly legalized immigrants are suggested to be ineligible, by the Democrats, for subsidies on the ObamaCare exchanges until after they become citizens, which is certain to be challenged under the 14th Amendment; this allows employers to escape the $3,000 fine attached to failure to insure American workers and makes the immigrants the more cost effective route for businesses. On top of this, add the billions of dollars paid out for the benefits of these RPIs during their retirement.

America witnessed Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and ten other Republican Senators (Wicker changed his vote) shamelessly align themselves against their constituencies and join a coalition of business groups, unions, gay rights, Latino, and immigration advocates, and poltroons, quislings, and Democrats, such as Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez. McConnell could have at least attempted to stop this bill through the Senate procedural process; and, while Rubio has stressed "border security" to Americans for months, he recently appeared on Univision's Spanish speaking talk show, "Al Punto", and said, that if the bill passed, "First comes legalization..."

What "modernization" can be found in a bill stuck in circa 1986 with rewards for illegal aliens, a blanket amnesty, and an immediate path to citizenship? Where is there any real "border security" or "economic opportunity" in this bill for U.S. citizens.-- naturalized immigrants and native born alike -- who pay their taxes, fight our wars and obey our laws?

Many of our Senators, such as Marco Rubio, Chuck Schumer, and Bob Corker, are duplicitous masters of political theater, as they ignore the fact of high unemployment, a $5000 drop in median income for families since 2007 and a .1% economic growth, and they divide and conquer us by engaging in identity politics. They have pushed ahead with this big-government piece of legislation that they call "comprehensive immigration" over the objections of the majority of Americans, in just the same manner they used with ObamaCare; the nation will not get the quality high-skilled, high-tech workers Congress suggests it needs through this Reward/Amnesty bill for thirty million of the most poorly skilled imaginable. And for those concerned about children who grew up here as illegal aliens, their cases can be adjudicated case by case through a special court. But our U.S. government should not assume a responsibility or a constitutional writ that does not exist and spend the treasure of Americans to satisfy foreigners: doing the right thing and following the rule of law is not always easy, and sometimes it includes seemingly harsh action. We are either a nation of laws, a republic, or we are not; identify the illegal aliens and deport them!

Read more:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/07/a...l#ixzz2Xzc5Wl3c

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