Posted on 06/14/2013 5:02:07 PM PDT by iowamark
The Senate will begin debate on the Gang of Eights immigration proposal next week. Here are four words to watch out for as the Senators make their caseand warnings about what they might mean.
1. COST
Cost is one word that should come up in the immigration debate, because the Gang of Eights amnesty proposal has a cost that is simply too high for Americans to bear. Heritage analysis found that amnesty would cost taxpayers trillions of dollars.
Amnesty means that illegal immigrants become legaland become eligible for Obamacare benefits, Social Security, welfare, and Medicare. But they wont pay enough into the system in taxes to cover the cost of all these benefits, meaning the rest of the taxpayers will have to bear the burden. This simply isnt fair to hard-working Americans.
2. BORDER
Despite claims of securityand talk of amending the billthe Gang of Eight immigration bill doesnt secure the border. Instead, it delivers nothing newother than the promise of spending a lot more money and running up our debt. As James Carafano, Heritages E. W. Richardson Fellow, explains: Amnesty immediately creates an incentive for illegal border crossings and overstays. Thus, the bills strategy would drive up the cost of securing the border.
3. AMNESTY
Heritage President Jim DeMint has said that its a false choice for people to say that amnesty is necessary to immigration reform. Amnesty encourages more illegal immigration, and that is not what immigration reform is supposed to do.
Former Attorney General Ed Meese, Heritages Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus, reminds us that America has tried this before, and it didnt work:
Today they call it a roadmap to citizenship. Ronald Reagan called it amnesty. And he was right. The 1986 reform did not solve our immigration problemin fact, the population of illegal immigrants has nearly quadrupled since that comprehensive bill.
4. COMPREHENSIVE
Beware the word comprehensive. As Meese notes above, the amnesty of 1986 was also called a comprehensive approach to immigration reform. It doesnt work, and its not what we need. We need a separate, step-by-step approach to immigration reform. An approach that worksthat the American people can trustwould start with reforming the legal immigration system and enforcing the security measures that are supposed to be in place.
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