I’m already on record as supporting the President on his immigration reform efforts. I may not agree with him entirely on his preferred legislation, but I’d rather have his immigration reform than the one the Democrats are planning to put in place if they win both Congress and the White House.
Plus, the current state of affairs is worse than most people think. Enforcing the current laws is impossible without a huge increase in Federal police powers, and there are just too many people and organizations out there that will interfere with rigid enforcement of the current laws. The atmosphere in our country would start to feel oppressive and the government would cave under popular sentiment to end such enforcement. Reform is the only politically viable option available to us, after which enforcement of a comprehensive and less convoluted immigration policy should be easier and more likely to succeed.
However, immigration reform without a secure border is going to fail regardless. First secure the border, then reform immigration. I do so wish Bush would recognize this fact. If he visibly secured the border, there’d be a lot less opposition to his reform policies. Perception is everything in American politics, and although I believe we’ve succeeded in apprehending terrorists who try to cross illegally into our country, the rest of the illegals are still trickling in in droves, and that needs to be stopped as well.
“”However, immigration reform without a secure border is going to fail regardless. First secure the border, then reform immigration. I do so wish Bush would recognize this fact.””
He does.
That’s we his National Chamber of Commerce lawyers invented the “triggers” tricks.
Or I shouldn’t say “invented.” For the most part the “triggers” are the same as the “triggers” in the 1986 bill.
A Democratic President could never get away with this. Also, it is hard to imagine what the Democrats could do “worse.” Lower instant lifetime work permit/Z Visa fees from $250 per year to $100?
I am one who largely agrees with you about the need for immigration reform, however, Bush bought non-enforcement when he said that we needed guest workers to do "jobs Americans won't do". Another big stumbling block for any immigration legislation Bush endorses is that Chertoff has been making statements that are easily interpreted as, we will only do enforcement if we get amnesty.
Bush also lost a lot of good will in the debates about immigration reform last year when he seemed to consistently come out in support of the bill with the weakest enforcement provisions and the widest amnesty.