Immigration Reform – Or How To Destroy America

Ah immigration reform, we just can’t seem to get enough of it. So I thought I would take little trip down memory lane as McCain is busy brushing up on his tough on immigration rhetoric. He must have found the verbal equivalent of Viagra because it sure does not sound like the same man who, only just five years ago, unveiled The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 along with Edward Kennedy. This failed bill was yet another example of a weak and impotent approach to the disastrous illegal immigration issue that faced us back then and continues to fact this country today.

Let’s take a moment and go waayy back and take a trip down memory lane. This is what Senator Kennedy had to say of Hart-Cellar Act in 1965, the predecessor of a handful of immigration laws over the last 40 years which have led to the current crisis:

The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.

So how’s that working out for us all these years later? Not too good from what I can tell. You can find more information on the Hart-Cellar act in the article Three Decades of Mass Immigration – The Legacy of the 1965 Immigration Act on the Center for Immigration Studies website. The article includes a chronology of bills and summarizes the subsequent developments in immigration reform acts. It is a must read and demonstrates how our government has been tackling the problem with more-of-the-same policies for over four decades.

There is a definite disconnect between the issue and problems that these acts intended to address and the reality that we see today. The reason for this is now clear – the government has never shown any interest in enforcing the immigration laws of this country. Both parties are to blame.

Fundamentally, the Secure America Act was no different from an amnesty program. While the language appeared on the surface to offer a tough stance on illegal immigration, a quick look under the hood revealed new wine in an old wineskin. Like any other bill likely to make its way to the halls of half-wits Congress, let’s dispense with the facade and name the next bill in a way that puts it all out on the table: We could try The Completely Useless and Impotent Immigration Reform Act of 2010 or perhaps The More of the Same Act of 2010 or better yet The Destroy American Through Multiculturalism And Make Us Look Like Europe Act. Ah yes, rioting French Muslims burning cars for days. Who wouldn’t want that here?

Multiculturalism – liberal style. Bring em in, don’t assimilate them, and get yourself an new base of victimized voters to prey upon.

The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act – orderly?! – directed the Department of Homeland Security to develop new approaches to tighten border control. These approaches are to be based on increased use of technology and greater information sharing and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities as well as the Mexican government. Cough, sputter, cough. It’s statements like this that shorthand internet abbreviations like LOL and LMFAO were invented for in the first place. Tailor made my friends.

The first sentence of the previous paragraph would be funny if the situation were not so tragic. With 20 million illegal immigrants currently in this country (hey, who’s counting?) and with an estimated 8000 more immigrants illegally entering this country every day across the southern border, time is of the essence. During the time it would take to debate these proposals ad nausem on Capital Hill, millions of more illegals will enter this country – hardly an acceptable course of action, but par for the course. Given the benefits of illegal immigration for the Mexican government, why would anyone consider cooperation a realistic goal? Recall the publication by the state of Yucatan of a Mexican government illegal-alien travel guide.

Other provisions in the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (I’m still laughing) bordered on the surreal, so thank God it was defeated. However, don’t be too surprised if a similar bill raises from the dead . Remember the details of the failed act?

After a six-year period, payment of a two-thousand dollar fine, an English civics test and a background check, the act would have provided a pathway to citizenship for lawbreakers. The bill allowed for 400,000 new foreign workers a year, with a clause for added increases should this not prove enough (isn’t this how our deficit works?). After a four-year period these workers would have qualified for permanent residency status.

The two-thousand dollar fine was the most laughable part of the bill. A 2005 study concluded that illegal immigration cost this country $68 billion a year – $10.5 billion of that in California alone. With about 15 million illegal immigrants in the country in 2005, a fine of two-thousand dollars would have netted about $30 billion. As hard as I looked, there was no mention of the economic impact the following or subsequent years. Given that current illegal immigrants would continue to burden the American taxpayer, with new members joining this fast growing community it sounds like a fiscal disaster in the making to me, but what’s one more fiscal disaster when there are so many others?. Its party time on the sinking Titanic.

A fine of twenty-thousand dollars or more would still not have covered the cost of illegal immigration to American taxpayers. It would be more accurate to describe the two-thousand dollar fine as a fee for services rendered – the price that our government places on the services of amnesty, a US citizenship, and taxpayer funded healthcare. Feel that slap in the face? Get in line.