Godfather of the immigration mess

SENATOR Edward Kennedy has been the godfather of America's immigration policy since the mid 1960s. No other figure in American politics bears as much responsibility as he for the current pathetic state of U.S. immigration affairs.

As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Senator Kennedy has had chief oversight responsibility for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which he has allowed to degenerate into one of the most ineffective agencies in the Federal Government. He was the chief sponsor of the Immigration Amendments of 1965 and the Refugee Act of 1980, and a major proponent of the fraud-ridden 1986 immigration amnesty. In each case, he has grossly miscalculated the number of immigrants who would enter the country, the administrative burdens on the INS, and the magnitude of fraud.

In 1965, the American people were guaranteed that immigration would never exceed its then low level of 250,000 a year. Today, it is at an all-time high: nearly one million a year and growing. Because of persistent congressional miscalculations, immigrants and their descendants will fuel a massive increase in the population of the United States for the foreseeable future. Immigration continues unabated, without regard to changing U.S. labor markets, conditions in the inner cities, or the growing costs to state and local taxpayers. Kennedy's role in creating this situation has been enormous.

Miscalculations of the impact on immigration of changes he sponsored. Legislation that Kennedy marshaled through Congress in the mid 1960s, 1980, and 1990 produced massive immigration flows--flows of a magnitude unprecedented in American history--for which the American public and the INS were, and are, ill prepared. Despite repeated promises from Kennedy that these laws would not increase overall immigration, they have done just that.

Miscalculations of the administrative impact of his changes. Senator Kennedy has persistently miscalculated the administrative impact of changes he has made in immigration laws. For example, the 1980 Refugee Act was designed to remove foreign-policy considerations from the formulation of our refugee laws. Instead, it laid the foundations for a massive bureaucracy that has sent phony asylum applications skyrocketing to over 100,000 a year.

Another example is the Seasonal Agricultural Worker (SAW) amnesty. This program was enacted at the behest of Senator Kennedy as an alternative to the temporary-worker program promoted by California growers. The SAW amnesty was estimated by the New York Times to have fraud rates as high as 70 per cent, and the number of people who took advantage of the amnesty was estimated to be at least three times the number that were qualified given the size of America's agricultural labor force.

Huge backlogs, crushing numbers. Thanks to Senator Kennedy's mismanagement of the nation's immigration laws, there are now over three million people on the visa waiting list, which stretches for years and years. Thanks to the amnesty pushed by Senator Kennedy in 1986, millions more will be getting onto the list in the next three years. This volume of applications will crush an already dysfunctional system.

Visa fraud. It is now impossible to detect people who overstay visas. INS has no effective arrival/departure tracking system, so those who enter through fraud can never be detected.

Ineffective border patrolling. We now have a Border Patrol that is unable to stop most of those who seek to enter the nation illegally. Since the mid 1970s, the Border Patrol has been returning apprehended aliens right back to the border to try again moments later. Senator Kennedy's tacit acceptance of this status quo has been a source of growing dissatisfaction in Massachusetts and across the country.

Lack of oversight. In the past 14 years, Senator Kennedy has held only one general oversight hearing on the operations of the immigration service. He has ignored or glossed over the causes of America's immigration crisis, including massive administrative backlogs, overburdened investigators, inadequate detention space, largescale asylum fraud, and ineffective use of technology.

Today, amid a national clamor for more effective immigration controls, Senator Kennedy stands as the politician most responsible for the mess.

It’s beyond good. This is key wisdom in why things are so screwed up... I coincidently got this in my email box.

Good points!

Immigration Bills since 1965
1965 Immigration and Nationality Act:

* Eliminated country-specific quotas
* Broad numerical limits were nearly doubled from 154,000 to 290,000
* Changed Eastern Hemispheric annual quotas to 170,000 (20,000 per country)
* Created a first time annual cap of 120,000 for the Western Hemisphere
* Special preference rules making immediate family members exempt from numerical quotas, however, caused the 290,000 official ceiling to be shattered.
* Coupled with European economic prosperity in mid 1960s, European immigrants to the US dropped to less than 20%. Latin America and Asia become the leading sources of immigrants.

Refugee Act of 1980

* U.S. broadens definition of allowable refugees
* 125,000 refugees allowed annually
* From 1981-1986, more than 450,000 refugees and asylum seekers

1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)

* Legalized 2.7 million unauthorized aliens (about 1.6 million illegal residents who entered prior to 1982, and 1.1 million illegal agricultural laborers who had worked in the U.S. for at least 6 months)
* Sought to curb illegal immigration by establishing penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens

1990 Immigration Act

* Raised the annual ceiling from 270,000 to 700,000 for 1992-94 and 675,000 afterwards (including 480,000 family-sponsored, 140,000 employment-based, and 55,000 “diversity” immigrants)
* Allows an unlimited number of visas for immediate relatives -children, parents and spouses - of US citizens, not counted under the cap
* The 125,000 allowable refugees are also not counted under the cap
* Almost nine (9) million immigrants came to the U.S. in the 1990s

1996 Immigration Reform Law

* Addressed concerns about illegal immigration through a variety of law enforcement measures, including increased border control personnel, equipment and technology.
* Doubled, for example, the number of border patrol agents from 5,175 in 1996 to almost 10,000 by 2000.
* Confronted concerns about illegal immigrants access to government benefits by making undocumented immigrants ineligible for Social Security benefits
* Illegal immigrants still currently enter the U.S. at an estimated rate of 300,000 per year. Seven million illegal immigrants are currently estimated to be living in the U.S.

1996 Welfare Reform Law

* Barred legal immigrants entering the U.S. after 1996 from most federal means- tested programs (food stamps, CHIP, Medicaid, etc) for 5 years
* Raised the income and legal standards for U.S. residents who sponsor immigrants
* Barred illegal immigrants eligibility from most federal, state and local public assistance

2000 H-1B Visa Legislation

* Increased the number of temporary immigration visas for high-technology workers from 65,000 in 1990 to 115,000 for fiscal years 1999-2000 to 195,000 for fiscal years 2001-2003. In fiscal year 2004 the number was returned to 65,000.

Ted Kennedy has already pushed SEVEN amnesties into law. None was followed by a reduction in illegal immigration. Why should anybody believe this one will be?

1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy’s blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirments for actual reductions in illegal immigration. The illegal flow continued.
2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy’s Section 245(i) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens. It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, come on to the country illegally. The illegal flow continued.
3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy’s extension of the Section 245(i) rolling amnesty was followed by an increasing flow of illegal immigration.
4. In 1997, Ted Kennedy also won an amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America. Illegal immigration sped up some more.
5. In 1998, Ted Kennedy won an amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti. The illegal flow continued.
6. In 2000, Ted Kennedy got the so-called Late Amnesty, legalizing another 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed that they missed out on Kennedy’s 1986 amnesty. Illegal immigration continued unimpeded.
7. In 2000, Ted Kennedy also won the LIFE Act Amnesty for an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. It was another reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty., an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. Illegal immigration accelerated.

Now, Ted Kennedy is saying that this amnesty is necessary if we are ever to stop the flow of illegal aliens. Why would any of these Senators believe him when he says this amnesty bill will end illegal immigration with a track record like his?

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