Posted on 06/16/2007 5:19:45 PM PDT by hardback
PROVIDENCE — Immigration reform was to be George W. Bush’s legacy. It’s now clear that he won’t have a legacy to stand on.
The president’s visit to the Capitol was supposed to restart the immigration “grand bargain,” currently in a mid-air stall. As is his habit, he painted scary scenarios if things don’t go his way. (Note how he lists the dire consequences of pulling out of the mess he created in Iraq.) On immigration, he warns that “the status quo is unacceptable.”
And we can thank him for that unacceptable status quo. As America’s chief executive, it was Bush’s duty to enforce the laws against hiring illegal immigrants.
And for seven years, he did next to nothing. No, he did worse than nothing. In 2004, he publicly vowed to “match any willing worker with any willing employer,” thus ending the tradition that stressed the interests of American labor in making immigration policy. The message was heard as intended, setting off a new surge of illegal entrants.
One recalls the famous line in the movie “Touch of Evil,” when Orson Welles, a corrupt U.S. cop, asks Marlene Dietrich, a fortune-telling madam in Tijuana, to read his future. “You haven’t got any,” she says ominously. “Your future is all used up.”
The same can be said of Bush’s future as a leader on immigration reform. The president’s credibility is all used up by his conscious strategy to neglect immigration enforcement — part of a shameful drive to cheapen American labor for the advantage of business.
Bush also pulled a bait-and-switch. He always spoke of amnesty as something that would be extended to illegal aliens who’ve been here a long time and paid their back taxes. But the bill he supports gives amnesty to people who crashed the border as recently as six months ago, and it drops the part about back taxes.
So, small wonder that Americans greet Bush’s views on the immigration bill with either hostility or utter indifference. They sense that the fix is in — that illegal-alien advocates and big business have combined with lawmakers to sell them out.
And they don’t want to fall for a repeat of the 1986 grand bargain, which promised amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in return for fines against employers who hire them. The amnesty came off, while the employer sanctions were sabotaged. The original proposal called for a computerized registry against which employers would have to verify the right of all job applicants to work in the United States. It was ditched and replaced with an “honor system” that let employers accept documents that looked OK to them. Thus, a new era of counterfeiting was born.
Here’s a simple idea to build public support for an immigration compromise: Have Congress pass the part of the bill that would force employers to check all new hires’ eligibility to work in the United States with a database (and fine those who don’t). Once that’s being done to the public’s satisfaction, we can discuss what to do about the illegal immigrants living here and whether to increase the number of legal visas.
The latest round of threats has it that if Congress doesn’t pass comprehensive immigration reform right away, the issue will get lost in the upcoming presidential campaigns. Wrong. On the contrary, the American people will have the opportunity to press the candidates on what they would do about a matter that affects their wages, health care, taxes and the environment.
There are worse things than the status quo. Bush has shown time and again that he knows how to create them. Now, if he would only just go away.
n Froma Harrop is a member of the Providence (R.I.) Journal editorial board and a Creators Syndicate colum
Important paragraph:
Bush also pulled a bait-and-switch. He always spoke of amnesty as something that would be extended to illegal aliens who’ve been here a long time and paid their back taxes. But the bill he supports gives amnesty to people who crashed the border as recently as six months ago, and it drops the part about back taxes.
Now, if he would only just go away.
Here’s hoping we can hold off the immigration bill until he goes away. It’s fascinating to me that Bush has managed to infuriate the only people in this country who still supported him, conservatives. Talk about a tin ear.
Regardless, dealing with current "facts" and conditions, what is your position on the Bush/Kennnedy/McCain/Reid... bill?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
If it’s a good deal today, it will be a good deal tomorrow. In otherwords, we don’t have to immediately do this. Of course, with this bill, tossing it out is the only answer. Maybe we could toss out Kennedy too. I think the main pushers in this hoax should resign.
I Like Ike.
Take the Pledge: "I pledge to never, ever vote for anyone, for any office, who votes in favor of the Mexican Invasion Surrender Bill."
The penalty for being politically tone-deaf is death of one's political career. Amnesty for illegal immigrants--which means any path to any sort of permanent legal residency of any kind (let alone citizenship,) regardless of cost--is worse than the "third rail of politics." It's the Guillotine.
The reason for the rush to act now is the ruling elite realize that they have a rare oppoprtunity to subvert the nation: amn ignorant population, a Democrat controlled Congress, and a compliant Executive.
Impeach.
bttt
There is something very wrong about wanting this horrible bill so badly.
I never thought I'd see this happen.
sw
I am beginning to think that why should a boy down the street give his life for a country that is willing to sell itself out. There is no way the system can swallow 12 to 20 million new legals with access to SSI, SS, and Medicare,...as well as a string of other services. Until they fix “anchor baby” the country will eventually sink into anarchy.
Yet, even as she revels in Bush's difficulties, she shockingly reveals that she understands the underlying cynicism of the entire "comprehensive immigration reform" putsch.
And, even though her Democrats would benefit from this abomination, she clearly grasps that America wouldn't.
Kind of refreshing, in a way...
It’s not amnesty. It’s a massive Presidential Pardon.
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