HIDDEN BOMBS---IMMIGRATION-BILL SURPRISES (slips legislative poison past US senators)

NY POST OP-ED ^ | April 7, 2006 | KRIS W. KOBACH

[Liz]

How do you slip legislative poison past a US senator? Bury it on page 302........it would replace the country's entire bench of experienced immigration judges with pro-immigration advocates.......today's immigration judges (who serve for life) are dedicated to enforcing the law........This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after seven years - and restricts replacements to attorneys with at least five years' experience practicing immigration law.

Virtually the only lawyers who'll meet that requirement are attorneys who represent aliens in the immigration courts - who tend to be some of the nation's most liberal lawyers, and who are certainly unlikely as a class to be fond of enforcing immigration laws.

It gets worse.

Immigration judges are now appointed by the attorney general - whose job it is to see to it that laws are enforced. The Senate bill gives that power to a separate bureaucrat, albeit one directly appointed by the president, making immigration courts more susceptible to leftward polarization.

The second nasty surprise? Just before the committee approved the bill on the evening of March 27, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) offered the "DREAM Act" as an amendment. It passed on a voice vote.

The DREAM Act is a nightmare. It repeals a 1996 law that prohibits state universities from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. The principle, of course, is that no illegal alien should be entitled to receive a taxpayer-subsidized benefit that out-of-state U.S. citizens can't get. But the committee's bill allows illegals to be treated better than those U.S. citizens on tuition.

The bill also gives an amnesty to the nine states (including New York) that have been flouting the '96 law, two of which (California and Kansas) are now facing lawsuits...........

The third nasty surprise lies in what the bill fails to do.

[Liz]

Sen Durbin's DREAM Act is a nightmare. It repeals a 1996 law that prohibits state universities from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. The principle, of course, is that no illegal alien should be entitled to receive a taxpayer-subsidized benefit that out-of-state U.S. citizens can't get. But the committee's bill allows illegals to be treated better than those U.S. citizens on tuition.

This is grounds for lawsuits under the Equal Protection Amendemnt of the US Constitution.

[goldstategop]

Goodies galore for illegal aliens in this package. Most people don't even know what's in this bill and the offending provisions are just the tip of the iceberg. Its a stinker of a "compromise." Only Le Pew would adore it.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[goldstategop]

There are is already a lawsuit against the Kansas in-state tuition statute on just this ground.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Kewlhand`tek]

I dont expect this bill to get out of the house. the senate is insulated by long terms. house has to get re-elected this fall. of course with the attention span of most voters probably dont matter much anyway.

[conservativecorner]

They are also going to allow illegal convicted felons a path to citizenship. Sounds like a great deal for the American people. END SARCASM!

[DumpsterDiver]

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