"The Immigration Bill is Not Dead, Just in a Coma."
By Peter and Helen Evans (06/17/07)
Let's not become complacent. We must keep up the fight. Yesterday at the Heritage bloggers meeting we heard these sentiments over and over again. It's true, a lot of people are breathing a sigh of relief thinking the Immigration Bill is dead. It's not, ladies and gentlemen. The consensus thinking is that it will come before the Senate again just a few days before the July 4th break and again we’ll see them try to push it through in a few days. What we’ll hear is that up to 10 new amendments were added to take care of the resistance to the last bill. Basically it was and will be a massive, immediate legalization bill. You’ll hear that we have to have a comprehensive bill or nothing will pass. Not so. Don’t believe this "all or nothing" approach. It's just a bunch of theatrically bi-partisan, across-the-aisle, feel-good flim-flam.
In fact, all we need to do FOR A START is enforce the laws we have right now. By making it harder for people to come over the border we will slow the growth of the illegal immigrant population. By making it more difficult for employers to employee illegals, the illegal immigrant population will reduce itself. Year by year these disincentives will work, if given the chance. That’s what happened with welfare reform. People didn’t leave the welfare rolls immediately. It took some years for the re-structured incentives to work and the program has been working. The welfare rolls have been reduced dramatically.
Many have asked why President Bush is pushing for this bill. Some say it will be his legacy. One of the prime rationalizations for the all-or-nothing ‘comprehensive’ approach is the supposed need for “guest workers” to do “the jobs Americans won’t do.” The recent I.C.E. raid on a bunch of meat-processing plants proved how false that was. About 800 illegals were arrested. Immediately, several times that number of legal applicants showed up to fill the sudden vacancies. It was reported at the meeting yesterday that selective border enforcement efforts have reduced illegal traffic by 60% in those places. The rationale for rushing this abomination down our throats just doesn’t stand up to a close look.
The message is, don’t break out the champagne, it’s not over yet. Keep up your strength and stamina for a fight come late June.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Peter and Helen Evans
