From Senate Majority Leader, a Promise to Take Up Immigration Overhaul

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, told an exuberant crowd at an immigration rally Saturday in Las Vegas that Congress would start work on immigration overhaul as soon as lawmakers return this week.

“We’re going to have comprehensive immigration reform now,” he said in a speech to more than 6,000 people, mostly immigrants.

Reid told the crowd he believes he has 56 Senate votes in support of the legislation.

He outlined legislation that would include border security measures and a temporary guest worker program. To gain legal status, illegal immigrants would face “a penalty and a fine, people will have to work, stay out of trouble, pay taxes, learn English,” he said.

Opponents of such legislation said they thought chances for passage of an overhaul remained slim while the country is facing high unemployment.

“It just doesn’t look very feasible as the next big thing,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, an organization that favors reduced immigration. “I don’t think even Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are radical enough to go back to their districts and say American workers don’t have priority when it comes to American jobs.”

In Chicago, at a rally that drew more than 1,000 people, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, the No. 2 leader in the Senate, echoed Mr. Reid’s promise to try to enact the overhaul this year.

Senators Lindsey Graham and Charles Schumer have been working on an immigration bill. Graham said recently that he did not believe there was sufficient support among Republicans to move forward.

More than one thousand people also turned out for a rally in Seattle, and there were smaller events in El Paso, New York City, Philadelphia, and Providence, R.I.

Emile,

“The Wall” is a political Trojan Horse.

90% of illegal immigrants come to the USA legally - by car, boat, or plane.

They simply overstay their visas.

Almost all the people who cross our borders illegally are people who were previously evicted from the USA.

Like you, I want the “The Wall” built.

However, it will have a very small impact on illegal immigration.

The Democrats will immediately register 10 million new voters and will register 1 million new voters every year afterward. The 2010 election will produce modest gains for the GOP. The long term political destruction of American Conservatism is now an indisputable reality.

It’s a documented fact that Amnesty will result in a massive fiscal burden on American taxpayers. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, a widely recognized authority on the demography of welfare costs did an analysis of the net fiscal impact (benefits received minus taxes paid) of low-skill households (those lacking a high school diploma, including legal and illegal immigrant households) to the U.S. taxpayer. Rector has calculated that on average, once they become eligible, (10 to 13 years after they receive their green card) they will receive over $30,000 in benefits annually and pay approximately $9,000 in taxes. Thus, their net annual cost to U.S. taxpayers is nearly $21,000.

While eligibility for means-tested welfare theoretically would have been constrained during the first 10 to 13 years under an amnesty plan such as Hagel-Martinez, each amnesty recipient would have become eligible for welfare during the last 30 to 40 years of their life. Accepting the Census Bureau’s conservative estimate of 11 million illegal aliens currently in this country, Rector concluded that amnesty recipients would impose a likely net cost of $2.6 trillion dollars on American taxpayers. Extrapolating that to 30 million, (some people say 50 million) results in a net cost in the $7 to 8 Trillion area. Can we afford this? Obviously not! Especially on the heels of Socialized Medicine legislation that is going to burden the US Taxpayers with untold trillions in expenditures.

The cost of Amnesty will mainly occur in two non-welfare programs (Social Security and Medicare) and in one means-tested program (Medicaid). Rector’s results are consistent with a 1997 “New Americans Study” by the National Academy of Sciences. If, as some recent studies have indicated, the actual number of illegal aliens in the U.S. is probably closer to the 30 million range, their net lifetime fiscal cost to American taxpayers could be more than double Rector’s estimate of $2.6 trillion. (or double $7 to 8 trillion - $14 to 16 trillion!). A trillion here, a trillion there, and borrowed money to boot! Sheer insanity.

Idaho,

Excellent post.

Since 2000, 30% of new American citizens do not have a high school education.

Immigrant families use welfare programs more than twice as often as native born families.

America is a sovereign nation with the power to select new citizens the way Harvard University selects new students.

Instead....we opt for 20 million day laborers, who, just by pure coincidence, vote for Democrats.

a penalty and a fine

But of course no criminal record.

Any American convicted of a federal misdemeanor - that's what illegal entry is - would wear that record for life.

But not The Chose Ones.

Isn't it surreal that an American Senator would do a speech to a crowd of illegal alien criminals, promising them that there will be no penalty for their crimes?

Isn't it beyond belief?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.