As we noted on Friday, even though Schumer completely repackaged the amnesty bill with only 3 days to comb through 1190 pages, the fix is in. Every Democrat is prepared to vote for this bill, and at least 10-12 Republicans couldn’t care less about their constituents. They have the votes. They don’t care about the American people. Amazingly, there is a supermajority of Senators who are more in tune with the whims of foreign lobbies than with the security needs of the American people.
I have no plans to reread this entire bill in order to ascertain all the changes and shenanigans in the bill. But here are some of the highlights:
- Immediate Amnesty; Security Never: The 2006 Secure Fence Act spelled out every mile of fencing and required immediate construction. Ninety-five percent of the fence was never built. This bill grants immediate amnesty, and doesn’t require the surge in border agents until 2017. That will never happen. As for the fence, here is what Senator Sessions noted over the weekend, “the fencing language in Corker-Hoeven is ineffectual and unenforceable. The underlying bill still says that nothing in this provision shall be interpreted as requiring the Secretary to construct fencing. Also, it is weaker than the 2006 law which requires double-layer, reinforced fencing. The amendment establishes a ten-year deadline for completing the fence but retains the waiver authority for DHS not to build fencing. Under their proposal, the fence will never be completed.” See page 35, as reported by Breitbart.
- Permanent Defacto amnesty: Throughout the process, we’ve noted that the most pernicious part of the bill is that it permanently ties the hands of border agents, and in conjunction with the requirement that every alien be afforded reasonable opportunity to stand for legal status, this bill will void out all deportations. The substitute amendment takes this further by granting those who are caught overstaying their visas in the future an opportunity to stay on the path to citizenship. This is literally a bill that takes the worst elements of a supposed broken immigration system and blows the holes wide open.
- Visa Pork: Much like Obamacare, this bill contains earmarks in the form of “visa pork” to buy off votes. Section 4407 (Page 983) expands the J-Visa Summer Work Travel Program to seafood processing positions in Alaska, in order to buy off Murkowski and Begich. It also includes a provision in the new low-skilled W-visa guest worker program, exempting jobs in the Alaskan seafood processing industry from the annual cap. Page 52 of the bill extends the Travel Promotion Act, which is something the Nevada tourist industry has been pushing. It’s a carve out for Dean Heller.
- Triggers: Obviously, the triggers 10 years from now mean nothing because the illegals will enjoy immediate legal status with social Security numbers and drivers’ licenses. But even the triggers before the citizenship aren’t triggers. The legal waivers in the underlying bill will allow the issuance of green cards to proceed if the security measures are blocked due to the inevitable lawsuits. Also, the language of the amendment only requires the Secretary of DHS to “consult” with the Attorney General and other department heads before going ahead with green cards.
- Stimulus: It provides $1.5 billion in stimulus to “create” jobs for the youth.
Oh, and it still retains almost all of the several dozen fatal flaws in the underlying bill.
This is the single worst piece of legislation to come before the Senate in years. There is no excuse for every Republican senator not to do everything in his/her power to block this, irrespective of their personal views on the immigration issue. No Republican can vote for a bill that will exacerbate the problem and create permanent lawlessness. This is worse than Charlie Brown and the football. Lucy [aka Chuck Schumer] is not even putting down the football. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are just kicking air.
Ultimately, we know that there are at least a dozen more allies of McConnell who would like to vote for this bill provided that they can secure the requisite cover. These people should man up and vote for it already instead of letting only 10 or 12 members take the fall for them. It’s time for these people to come out of the shadows and stand before their constituents while proclaiming their support for the death of our Republic.
“How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [be] God, follow him; but if Baal, [then] follow him.”