Amnesty by Any Other Name . . . [Must Read!]

It's not the "immigration bill" or the "attempted immigration bill" or the "failed immigration bill" or the "immigration bill in need of amendment."

It did, however, succeed in giving me a feeling I'd completely forgotten. I was 5 years old. My mother gave her younger sister Margie enough money to take me, Margie, and her friend Harvey to a special kids' show which was five cartoons end to end; no feature film which 5-year-olds find boring.

On the way to the movie, Margie and Harvey were walking quite a distance ahead of me. I didn't know the word "plotting" but I could see they were plotting. Their heads were close together and they were speaking softly to each other. Finally Margie turned around and waited for me to catch up. The odor of adult manipulation was high in my baby nostrils.

"Barry," she said, "Harvey knows all about those five cartoons and he says they're all bad. There's another movie not far away that just has one cartoon but Harvey says it's the best cartoon in the world. Why don't we go see that one instead of those five bad cartoons?

I simply wasn't old enough to stand my ground. Realizing I was being rolled by my own aunt, I mumbled a weak "OK." Margie and Harvey's coup succeeded. The single cartoon was undistinguished and the feature was a typical love story of the period after which I wished my boredom could have been surgically drained.

Both parties and all players are treating the American people in the sordid tradition of Margie and Harvey. "It's not amnesty." "We need these illegals." "They're the same as our immigrant grandparents." "They buy goods and pay taxes and enrich our national life." "Americans won't do that kind of work." "We simply can't deport 12 million." "Quit being a selfish, racist, mean-spirited xenophobic pig." "And, dammit, quit saying that. I told you, It's not amnesty."

All the battlecries of the attempted coup add up to a commodity not uncommon where bulls congregate.

What makes me pitchfolk-toting and musket-loading mad is the accusation that those of us who most bitterly oppose this legislation are somehow bigoted, nativist, or otherwise not quite there as Americans. Up to the 1960s, immigration worked.

It's not widely know, but President Eisenhower repelled an earlier invasion of illegals from Mexico by slashing the cosy political connections between the border authorities and the politicians serving the cheap-labor-hungry ranchers. He exiled the border authorities to other parts of the country and put one of his tough West Point buddies in charge of the southern border.

When I say "It worked," I mean we had a sense that there was a legal way to immigrate to America and obviously not everybody who wanted to come could be allowed but abuse and inundation were not an issue. Every January every alien had to go to a U.S. post office and register. Every single alien, legal; mind you, had to have a sponsor; someone with finances sufficient to guarantee the alien would never be a burden to American taxpayers.

Then we bigoted, mean-minded haters noticed something. Our immigration quotas favored white European Christians. Most Americans at that time were white Christians of European origin and seeking to maintain your nation's demographic make-up isn't exactly a war crime. Nonetheless we didn't want to be oerceived as a country that favored white Christian Europeans. So we junked those quotas and made new ones favoring those who'd previously been slighted.

Then the dam broke and the riptide of illegal immigration surged. Too much is enough! A wise man once said, "It's not whether you win or lose but where you place the blame." I neither know nor care who's responsible for that demographic dam-break.

Promise you won't tell France's new pro-American president you can't deport massive numbers of people who belong elsewhere on the planet. France is busy doing exactly that.

What we need is a wrenching national excruciation. Wrenching national excruciations are nothing new. Turkey is the world's role model for national wrenching excruciations. Turkey was on the losing side in World War I. After that war, a young officer took over named Mustafa Kemel. History prefers his nickname, Ataturk. Ataturk looked around and said, "Turkey is in the 15th century. We've got to get out of here!" And get out Turkey did.

Under Ataturk's rule, Turkey changed its alphabet! Can you imagine America changing over to the Arabic alphabet tomorrow? It's just as impossible to go the opposite way, but that's what Turkey did. They transitioned from the Arabic alphabet to the ABCs as the first move to join the modern world.

Then Ataturk said Turkey would be a modern secular state, the fundamental Islamists would have to go back to the mosque and stay there. And there they still remain. There's more, but you get the point.

Sweden needed a national excruciation and pulled it off beautifully. Sweden always drove on the left-hand side of the road. That may have been OK for an island like England, but Sweden bordered other countries. I remember the odd sensation of crossing from Norway with right-hand drive over to Sweden and changing sides of the road.

The Swedes knew the longer they waited the more excruciating the shift would be. In the 1960s they bit the bullet and did it. There were predictions of hundreds of terrible accidents. There wasn't a single one!

Finland, a democracy with a population of three and a half million, lost World War 11 to the Soviet Union. They were saddled with a war debt of 350 million dollars. They paid it. And they proceeded to zoom upward economically surpassing the standard of living of the victorious Soviet Union within a year or two after the war.

There's an intellectual and emotional weakness in America likely to equate deporting illegal aliens back to their homeland with jamming Jews into boxcars and sending them to Auschwitz. That's what the "Margies" and the "Harveys" of today want us to believe.

America is the country most people in the world would prefer to live in. It's a marvelous national compliment, but we can't accommodate them all.

What we can do is help the Mexicos of the world be more like America. The formula for Coca-Cola is a secret. The recipe for Heinz Ketchup is a secret.

The recipe for American prosperity is no secret; democracy, rule of law, the Bill of Rights, the market economy, and the eternal struggle to elect the worthy and reject the corrupt. All that's easy to translate into Spanish.

America built the Panama Canal. America made the atomic bomb. America landed on the moon. America can cut through the cant and con of the open-border pimps and deport as many people as deserve deportation. Excruciating? Yes. Appropriate? Also, yes.

If we could muster the will to pull off only half a national excruciation it would be enough. If we really landed hard on the employers of illegals there would be a massive self-deportation.

A country that cannot control its borders does not deserve the respect of those who cross those borders illegally.

In the past there were differences between Democrats and Republicans. There may someday be differences between them again. But for right now, on this immigration matter, our two parties are just "Margie" and "Harvey."

"I won't belong to any organization that would have me as a member".-- Groucho Marx

The recipe for American prosperity is no secret; democracy, rule of law, the Bill of Rights, the market economy, and the eternal struggle to elect the worthy and reject the corrupt. All that's easy to translate into Spanish.

Any country wherein breaking the law puts you in good graces with the government is not a government you should want to be a constituent of.

Yes, your government is worth spit. We have our government problems too. Go back and fix yours and we'll carryon fixing ours.

A country that cannot control its borders does not deserve the respect of those who cross those borders illegally.

Yes.

In the past there were differences between Democrats and Republicans. There may someday be differences between them again. But for right now, on this immigration matter, our two parties are just "Margie" and "Harvey."

Political man busies himself in the differences across the political aisle. The focus is on differences when in reality, the differences are trivial compared to the similarities. They're parasites leeching off value producers and value creators -- men and women that respect inalienable rights and expect the same in return.

The "natives" are getting restless and soon, it's afraid, that they'll be demanding respect for their inalienable rights.

Hoodwinked, political man continues to vote for the lesser of evils despite knowing that evil always begets evil. Real man knows they're both bad and uses that reality against them. If you're on the right the left is bad. If your on the left the right is bad. To God Believers Allah and his followers are bad. To Allah believers God and his followers are bad. To unbelievers they're all bad.

But that's just politics and religion. Because...

Because what remains is science, business/free competition and art. What would be the state of man without science and business? What would the state of man be without politics and religion?

Man needs to be left alone to develop his and her own character. Trading with whomever agrees to trade and associating with whomever agrees to associate. Always the freedom to not associate or trade.

No person has the right to obligate another person so as to force them to associate or trade with any person, business or organization. No person has the right to obligate another person so as to force them to not associate or not trade with any person, business or organization. For example, While Sue can't deny John from shopping at Mary's bookstore nor force him to shop there, Jane can do either and or both.

"If one person has a right to something he didn’t produce, simultaneously and of necessity it means that some other person does not have right to something he did produce." -- Walter Williams

If one person has a right to obligate another person, simultaneously and of necessity it means the other person doesn't have a right to their own life. No man-made law can change that.

Despite Hillary Clinton. It doesn't take a village. Nor do you need things "take[n]... away from you on behalf of the common good." Sacrificing the individual, in whole or in part for the alleged greater good of the group always diminishes the group. Obviously it diminishes the person being sacrificed. For, without the individual there can be no group.

Set on a path of self-destruction, under the weight of its irrationality comes its inevitable collapse. Simultaneous, the rise...

Make a call to your Senators and use these loopholes as talking points about why the Bill should not be passed.

20 Loopholes in the Senate Immigration Bill

Loophole 1 – Legal Status Before Enforcement:

Amnesty benefits do not wait for the “enforcement trigger.” After filing an application and waiting 24 hours, illegal aliens will receive full “probationary benefits,” complete with the ability to legally live and work in the U.S., travel outside of the U.S. and return, and their own social security card. Astonishingly, if the trigger is never met and amnesty applications are therefore never “approved,” the probationary benefits granted to the illegal alien population never expire, and the new social security cards issued to the illegal alien population are not revoked. [See pp. 1, 290-291, & 315].

Loophole 2 – U.S. VISIT Exit Not In Trigger:

The “enforcement trigger,” required to be met before the new temporary worker program begins, does not require that the exit portion of U.S. VISIT system – the biometric border check-in/check-out system first required by Congress in 1996 that is already well past its already postponed 2005 implementation due date – to be in place before new worker or amnesty programs begin. Without the U.S. VISIT exit portion, the U.S. has no method to ensure that workers (or their visiting families) do not overstay their visas. Our current illegal population contains 4 to 5.5 million visa overstays, therefore, we know that the U.S. VISIT exit component is key to a successful new temporary worker program. [See pp. 1-2].

Loophole 3 – Trigger Requires No More Agents, Beds, or Fencing Than Current Law:

The “enforcement trigger” does not require the Department of Homeland Security to have detention space sufficient to end “catch and release” at the border and in the interior. Even after the adoption of amendment 1172, the trigger merely requires the addition of 4,000 detention beds, bringing DHS to a 31,500 bed capacity. This is far short of the 43,000 beds required under current law to be in place by the end of 2007, or the additional 20,000 beds required later in the bill. Additionally, the bill establishes a “catch, pay, and release” program. This policy will benefit illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico that are caught at the border, then can post a $5,000 bond, be released and never show up for deportation hearings. Annual failure to appear rates for 2005 and 2006, caused in part by lack of detention space, doubled the 2004 rate (106,000 – 110,000 compared with 54,000). Claims that the bill “expands fencing” are inaccurate. The bill only requires 370 miles of fencing to be completed, while current law already mandates that more than 700 miles be constructed [See pp. 1-2, & 10-11, and EOIR’s FY2006 Statistical Yearbook, p. H2, and The Secure Fence Act of 2004].

Loophole 4 — Three Additional Years Worth of Illegal Aliens Granted Status, Treated Preferentially To Legal Filers:

Aliens who broke into the country illegally a mere 5 months ago, are treated better than foreign nationals who legally applied to come to the U.S. more than two years ago. Aliens who can prove they were illegally in the U.S. on January 1, 2007, are immediately eligible to apply from inside the U.S. for amnesty benefits, while foreign nationals that filed applications to come to the U.S. after May 1, 2005 must start the application process over again from their home countries. Last year’s bill required illegal aliens to have been here before January 7, 2004 to qualify for permanent legal status. [See pp. 263, 282, & 306].

Loophole 5 – Completion of Background Checks Not Required For Probationary Legal Status:

Legal status must be granted to illegal aliens 24 hours after they file an application, even if the aliens have not yet “passed all appropriate background checks.” (Last year’s bill gave DHS 90 days to check an alien’s background before any status was granted). No legal status should be given to any illegal alien until all appropriate background checks are complete. [See pp. 290].

Loophole 6 – Some Child Molesters Are Still Eligible:

Some aggravated felons – those who have sexually abused a minor – are eligible for amnesty. A child molester who committed the crime before the bill is enacted is not barred from getting amnesty if their conviction document omitted the age of the victim. The bill corrects this loophole for future child molesters, but does not close the loophole for current or past convictions. [See p. 47: 30-33, & p. 48: 1-2]

Loophole 7 – Terrorism Connections Allowed, Good Moral Character Not Required:

Illegal aliens with terrorism connections are not barred from getting amnesty. An illegal alien seeking most immigration benefits must show “good moral character.” Last year’s bill specifically barred aliens with terrorism connections from having “good moral character” and being eligible for amnesty. This year’s bill does neither. Additionally, bill drafters ignored the Administration’s request that changes be made to the asylum, cancellation of removal, and withholding of removal statutes in order to prevent aliens with terrorist connections from receiving relief. [Compare §204 in S. 2611 from the 109th Congress with missing §204 on p. 48 of S.A. 1150, & see missing subsection (5) on p. 287 of S.A. 1150].

Loophole 8 – Gang Members Are Eligible:

Instead of ensuring that members of violent gangs such as MS 13 are deported after coming out of the shadows to apply for amnesty, the bill will allow violent gang members to get amnesty as long as they “renounce” their gang membership on their application. [See p. 289: 34-36].

Loophole 9 – Absconders Are Eligible:

Aliens who have already had their day in court – those subject to final orders of removal, voluntary departure orders, or reinstatement of their final orders of removal – are eligible for amnesty under the bill. The same is true for aliens who have made a false claim to citizenship or engaged in document fraud. More than 636,000 alien fugitives could be covered by this loophole. [See p. 285:19-22 which waives the following inadmissibility grounds: failure to attend a removal proceeding; final orders of removal for alien smuggling; aliens unlawfully present after previous immigration violations or deportation orders; and aliens previously removed. This appears to conflict with language on p. 283:40-41. When a direct conflict appears in a statute, the statue is interpreted by the courts to the benefit of the alien.].

Loophole 10 – Learning English Not Required For A Decade:

Illegal aliens are not required to demonstrate any proficiency in English for more than a decade after they are granted amnesty. Learning English is not required for an illegal alien to receive probationary benefits, the first 4-year Z visa, or the second 4-year Z visa. The first Z visa renewal (the second 4-year Z visa) requires only that the alien demonstrate an “attempt” to learn English by being “on a waiting list for English classes.” Passing a basic English test is required only for a second Z visa renewal (the third 4-year Z visa), and even then the alien only has to pass the test “prior to the expiration of the second extension of Z status” (12 years down the road). [See pp. 295-296].

Loophole 11 – Earned Income Tax Credit Will Cost Taxpayers Billions In Just 10 Years:

Current illegal aliens and new guest workers will be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit designed to encourage American citizens and legal permanent residents to work. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this loophole will cost the U.S. taxpayer up to $20 billion dollars in just the first 10 years after the bill’s enactment. To be consistent with the intent of the 1996 welfare reforms – which limited new immigrants from receiving public benefits until they had been legal permanent residents for five years – the bill should withhold EITC eligibility from amnestied aliens until they become legal permanent residents. Closing this loophole will save the taxpayers billions of dollars. [See p. 293 after S.A. 1190 was adopted, p. 307, p. 315, §606. All that is required for EITC eligibility is a social security number and resident alien status. Nothing in the bill’s tax provisions limit EITC eligibility. The issuance of social security numbers to aliens as soon as they apply for amnesty will ensure they are able to qualify for the EITC.]

Loophole 12 – Affidavits From Friends Accepted As Evidence:

Records from day-labor centers, labor unions, and “sworn declarations” from any non-relative (acquaintances, friends, coworkers, etc) are to be accepted as evidence that the illegal alien has satisfied the bill’s amnesty requirements. This low burden of proof will invite fraud and more illegal immigration – even aliens who are not yet in the U.S. will likely meet this burden of proof. DHS will not have the resources to examine whether the claims contained in the “sworn declarations” of the alien’s friends (that the alien was here prior to January 1, 2007 and is currently employed) are actually valid. [See p. 293: 13-16].

Loophole 13 – Taxpayer Funded Legal Counsel and Arbitration:

Free legal counsel and the fees and expenses of arbitrators will be provided to aliens that have been working illegally in agriculture. The U.S. taxpayer will fund the attorneys that help these individuals fill out their amnesty applications. Additionally, if these individuals have a dispute with their employer over whether they were fired for “just cause,” DHS will “pay the fee and expenses of the arbitrator.” [See p. 339:37-41, & p. 332: 37-38.]

Loophole 14 – In-State Tuition and Student Loans:

In-state tuition and other higher education benefits, such as Stafford Loans, will be made available to current illegal aliens that are granted initial “probationary” status, even if the same in-state tuition rates are not offered to all U.S. citizens. This would normally violate current law (8 U.S.C. §1623) which mandates that educational institutions give citizens the same postsecondary education benefits they offer to illegal aliens. [See p. 321: 8-31].

Loophole 15 – Inadequacy of the Merit System:

The “merit system,” designed to shift the U.S. green card distribution system to attract higher skilled workers that benefit the national interest, is only a shell of what it should have been. Though the merit system begins immediately, it will not increase the percentage of high skilled immigrants coming to the United States until 2016, 8 years after enactment. Of the 247,000 green cards dedicated to the merit based system each year for the first 5 years, 100,000 green cards will be reserved for low-skilled guest workers (10,000) and for clearing the current employment based green card backlog (90,000). From 2013 to 2015, the number of merit based green cards drops to 140,000, and of that number, 100,000 green cards are still reserved each year for low-skilled guest workers (10,000) and for clearing the current employment based green card backlog (90,000). Even after 2015, when the merit system really begins (in 2016) by having 380,000 green cards annually, 10,00 green cards will be reserved specifically for low skilled workers, and points will be given for many characteristics that are not considered “high-skilled.” For example, 16 points will be given for aliens in “high demand occupations” which includes janitors, maids, food preparation workers, and groundskeepers. [See p.260: 25 – p. 261: 20, p. 262, & The Department of Labor’s list of “occupations with the largest job growth” available at www.bls.gov/emp/emptab3.htm].

Loophole 16 – Visas For Individuals That Plan To Overstay:

The new “parent” visa contained in the bill which allows parents of citizens, and the spouses and children of new temporary workers, to visit a worker in the United States is not only a misnomer, but also an invitation for high rates of visa overstays. This new visa specifically allows the spouse and children of new temporary workers who intend to abandon their residence in a foreign country, to qualify to come to the U.S. to “visit.” The visa requires only a $1,000 bond, which will be forfeited when, not if, family members of new temporary workers decide to overstay their 30 day visit. Workers should travel to their home countries to visit their families, not the other way around. [See p. 277:1 – 33, and p. 276: 38-43].

Loophole 17 – Chain Migration Tippled Before Being Eliminated:

Though the bill will eventually eliminate chain migration (relatives other than spouses and children of citizens and legal permanent residents), it will not have full effect until 2016. Until then, chain migration into the U.S. will actually triple, from approximately 138,000 chain migrants a year (equal to 14% of the 1 million green cards the U.S. currently distributes on an annual basis) to approximately 440,000 chain migrants a year (equal to 45% of the 1 million green cards the U.S. currently distributes on an annual basis). [See pp. 260:13, p. 270: 29 – pp. 271: 17]

Loophole 18 – Back Taxes Not Required:

Last year’s bill required illegal aliens to prove they had paid three of their last five years of taxes to get amnesty. This year, payment of back taxes is not required for amnesty. The bill requires taxes to be paid at the time of application for a green card, but at that time, only proof of payment of Federal taxes (not state and local) is required for the years the alien worked on a Z visa, not the years the alien has already worked illegally in the United States. Though Senator McCain’s S.A. 1190, adopted by voice vote, claimed to “require undocumented immigrants receiving legal status to pay owed back taxes,” the amendment actually only required proof of payment of taxes for “any year during the period of employment required by subparagraph (D)(i).” Since the bill does not contain a subparagraph (D)(i), nor require any past years of employment as a prerequisite for amnesty, the amendment essentially only requires proof of payment of taxes for future work in the U.S., not payment of “back taxes.” [See p. 307, and p. 293 as altered by S.A. 1190, amendment p. 2: 19-20.]

Loophole 19 – Social Security Credits Allowed For Some Illegal Work Histories:

Aliens who came to the U.S. on legal visas, but overstayed their visas and have been working in the U.S. for years, as well as illegal aliens who apply for Z visa status but do not qualify, will be able to collect social security credits for the years they worked illegally. Under the bill, if an alien was ever issued a social security account number – all work-authorized aliens who originally came on legal visas receive these – the alien will receive Social Security credits for any “quarters of coverage” the alien worked after receiving their social security account number. Because the bill requires social security account numbers to be issued “promptly” to illegal aliens as soon as they are granted “any probationary benefits based upon application [for Z status]” (these benefits are granted 24 hours after the application is filed), an illegal alien who is denied Z visa status but continues to work illegally in the U.S. will accumulate Social Security credits. [See pp. 316:8 – 16, and pp. 315: 32-39]

Loophole 20 – Criminal Fines Not Proportional To Conduct:

The criminal fines an illegal alien is required to pay to receive amnesty are less than the bill’s criminal fines for paperwork violations committed by U.S. citizens, and can be paid by installment. Under the bill, an illegal alien must pay a $1,000 criminal fine to apply for a Z visa, and a $4,000 fine to apply for a green card. Eighty percent of those fines can be paid on an installment plan. Under the bill’s confidentiality provisions, someone who improperly handles or uses information on an alien’s amnesty application can be fined $10,000. Administration officials suggest that the bill’s “criminal fines are proportionate to the criminal conduct.” Why, then, is the fine for illegally entering, using false documents to work, and live one-tenth the fine for a paperwork violation committed by a government official? [See p. 287: 34, p. 317: 9, p. 315:6-8, & remarks made by Secretary Gutierrez on Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4:00 May 31, 2007]

Senator Sessions Releases List of 20 Loopholes in the Senate Immigration

—GWB and DHS got $1.2 billion for a border fence,
—GWB authorized 6,000 National Guardsmen to the border in rolling deployments of 3 weeks

—In his 2006 budget, GWB’s budget showed that 216 BP officers would be hired, not the 2,000

U.S. Border Patrol Director David Aguilar said two weeks ago, “The United States will have “operational control” of its border with Mexico by 2013.”

Mr. Chairman of the Board, Mr.CEO,
Are you prepared for the cost of selling our country out from under us? Remember, payback, as they say, is a real bitch.

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STAGE TWO is to go after the people who hire illegals. Start giving them fines and arresting them. Just catch ten or 100 of them on the nightly news. The magnet will dry up and most of the 12 million will go home by themselves.

As an addendum, we should anonymously call the IRS, people working "off the books" means taxes ain't being paid. Make anonymous fliers and hang them around the neighborhood, name names. It's time to embarrass these bustards, whether they give to the GOP or Rats, we don't need them.