Better a deal on this than on immigration.
I do believe congress is a bit more conservative. The tea partiers we elected in 2010 are out of the “freshman” category and no longer firmly under the boot of leadership.
Conservatives are killing themselves in their war against illegal immigration. I’ve said before and I’ll continue to believe that illegal immigration is not the problem - the welfare state’s extension of benefits to illegal immigrants is the problem. Those benefits act as a beacon, calling poor minorities across the border from Mexico. What do we expect them to do when we’ve basically placed a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
We can offer a compromise on this issue. We should agree to some form of amnesty for all illegal immigrants currently here, on the following conditions:
1. The border is closed to prevent further illegal immigration.
2. A federal law is passed that makes it a crime to extend benefits, such as unemployment and welfare payments, to any immigrant who is not documented to have been in the United States for at least 3 years prior to its passage, and to any future illegal immigrant.
3. An amendment to the Constitution is passed that clarifies that natural US citizenship is only automatically conferred on those born on US soil to US citizen parents, or to US citizen parents temporarily overseas at the time of the birth. In other words, no more anchor babies.
In exchange for those things, we should be willing to offer amnesty and a path to citizenship to those current illegal immigrants who have been here for at least 3 years, if they can prove that they have been otherwise responsible residents of this country during that time (i.e. no arrests, paid their bills, etc.). All will have to register and prove their status. The path to citizenship can not be a shortcut to existing citizenship procedures.