Post by W.O.M.I on May 23, 2007 14:15:16 GMT -5
(h/t to Michelle Malkin and others)
Forgive me for cutting-and-pasting such a lengthy article, but it bears repeating in total so one can appreciate just how bad this bill is:
It is mind-boggling that politicians OF BOTH PARTIES (there I go shilling for Repubs again...) have the cojones to conceive of such a tragedy, much less seriously consider it!
Call Sen. Shelby and Sen. Session's offices and tell them not only "No" but, to quote that great American "Stone Cold" Steve Austin- "Oh HELL No!" to Amnesty 2007.
Forgive me for cutting-and-pasting such a lengthy article, but it bears repeating in total so one can appreciate just how bad this bill is:
John Boehner called the Bush-Kennedy immigration bill a "piece of s**t" last night. Yeah, after sifting through it the past couple of days, I need a shower.
Debate resumed in the Senate this morning. Yesterday, an amendment sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would have deleted the bill's guestworker provisions was voted down.
Update: Sen. DeMint calls out the Dems' move to limit amendments from critics of the bill.
While they debate, here are 7 things buried inside the Bush-Kennedy amnesty goodie bag you should know about--plus more questions raised about the phony triggers and point system (all links referring to the bill provisions take you directly to the section in the 317-page draft bill released Friday night and published in online/linkable form by N.Z. Bear):
1) It includes Ted Kennedy's DREAM Act (Title VI, Section 611, Subtitle B)--a key goodie demanded by illegal alien lobbyists. The DREAM Act gives illegal alien students in-state college tuition breaks not available to out-of-state American students and legal immigrant students. The Dream Act would repeal a clearly worded provision in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) that states:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.
Ten states defied that federal law and offered in-state tuition to illegal aliens: California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington. The last time the DREAM Act champions tried to tack their scheme onto a larger immigration proposal, they snuck in language that would absolve those ten states of their law-breaking by repealing the 1996 law retroactively--and also offered a special path to green cards and citizenship for illegal alien students.
That's right. A key feature of this "immigration reform" bill includes repealing old laws meant to discourage illegal immigration--and then absolving all the states and the beneficiaries that thumbed their nose at the federal law.
Oh, yeah, that'll really help discourage border crossings.
2) It creates a new "UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER ENFORCEMENT
REVIEW COMMISSION" (Title I, Section 138) that appears to be a Trojan Horse for more proxy meddling by Mexican consular officials hell-bent on undermining border enforcement and interior enforcement. Members from the law enforcement community will be balanced out by members from "academia, religious leaders, civic leaders or community leaders" (read: the open-borders lobby). Their purpose:
The Commission shall review, examine, and make recommendations regarding border enforcement policies, strategies, and programs, including recommendations regarding
(1) the protection of human and civil rights of community
residents and migrants along the international border
between the United States and Mexico;
(2) the adequacy and effectiveness of human and civil
rights training of enforcement personnel on such border;
(3) the adequacy of the complaint process within the
agencies and programs of the Department that are
employed when an individual files a grievance;
(4) the effect of the operations, technology, and
enforcement infrastructure along such border on the-
(A) environment;
(B) cross border traffic and commerce; and
(C) the quality of life of border communities;
(5) local law enforcement involvement in the enforcement
of Federal immigration law; and
(6) any other matters regarding border enforcement
policies, strategies, and programs the Commission
determines appropriate.
Sounds innocuous, right? Well, here's a thorough reminder of how this agenda works in practice to undermine rank-and-file border enforcement.
3) It promises to create a database to track exiting temporary visitors that was mandated more than 10 years ago and has yet to see the light of day. Here it is in Section 130. Yadda, yadda, yadda. As I reported a week after the 9/11 attacks:
The U.S. remains the only major industrialized nation in the world with no centralized system for monitoring alien visa-holders. As part of a 1996 immigration reform measure, Congress mandated an automated entry-exit tracking system for all foreign nationals. But with bipartisan cooperation, President Clinton effectively repealed it and replaced it with a toothless database requirement that remains unenforced. Over 40 percent of illegal aliens in this country are tourists who overstay their visas. What good is an expiration date if no one enforces it?
The nationwide entry-exit database was mandated in 1996, sabotaged by special interests until 9/11, stonewalled again after the terrorist attacks, and just recently shelved by the again by the Bush administration because they said it was too burdensome and costly.
Here's a novel idea: Instead of using another promise to build this database as window-dressing for shamnesty, why doesn't Congress just do what it said it would do in 1996 and re-stated it would do after 9/11: Build the damned database, make sure it works, and make sure it is integrated with other DHS and FBI databases.
4) The requirements for proof of eligibility and bogus background checks for the illegal alien amnesty are a joke. Illegal aliens would be allowed to use the following, easily faked documents for their "Z visa" applications:
(I) bank records;
(II) business records;
(III) employer records;
(IV) records of a labor union or day labor center;
(V) remittance records;
(VI) sworn affidavits from nonrelatives who have direct knowledge of the alien's work, that contain-14
(a) the name, address, and telephone number of the affiant;
(b) the nature and duration of the relationship between the affiant and the alien; and
(c) other verification or information.
Who would be verifying these documents as legitimate? Yeah, the same immigration/homeland security bureaucracy that is incapable of stopping the Bush administration-approved spread of bogus matricula consular cards.
Former DOJ/AG adviser on immigration law Kris Kobach sheds light on three more goodies (I've added hyperlinks to the provisions he points to):
5)"The bill effectively shuts down our immigration-court system. If an alien in the removal process is eligible for the Z visa, the immigration judge must close the proceedings and offer the alien the chance to apply for the amnesty. The wheels of justice won't just turn slowly, they'll go in reverse."
6) "The bill transforms the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from a law-enforcement agency into an amnesty-distribution center. If ICE officials apprehend an alien who appears eligible for the Z visa (in other words, just about any illegal alien), they can't detain him. Instead, ICE must help him apply for the Z visa. Rather than initiating removal proceedings, ICE will be initiating amnesty applications. It's like turning the Drug Enforcement Agency into a needle-distribution network."
7) "The bill even lets gang members get the amnesty. This comes at a time when violent international gangs have brought mayhem to our cities. More than 30,000 gang members operate in 33 states, trafficking in drugs, arms and people. Deporting illegal-alien gang members has been a top ICE priority. This bill would end that: Under it, a gang member qualifies for the Z-visa privileges as long as he simply signs a "renunciation of gang affiliation." He can keep his tattoos.
It is mind-boggling that politicians OF BOTH PARTIES (there I go shilling for Repubs again...) have the cojones to conceive of such a tragedy, much less seriously consider it!
Call Sen. Shelby and Sen. Session's offices and tell them not only "No" but, to quote that great American "Stone Cold" Steve Austin- "Oh HELL No!" to Amnesty 2007.