Posted on 06/20/2013 6:45:10 AM PDT by Qbert
Conservative opponents of amnesty always knew this day was coming. From the beginning of the immigration debate, pro-amnesty Republicans knew they needed a tough-sounding amendment that could both provide enough rhetorical cover for moderates who wanted to vote for Schumer-Rubio and yet still be acceptable to Democrats.
Today, The Washington Examiner‘s Byron York reports, . Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., will present such an amendment.
According to York, Corker-Hoeven maintains the same basic amnesty-now-for-enforcement-later framework of Schumer-Rubio, while making some minor tweaks to the four triggers Schumer-Rubio required before currently illegal immigrants could receive citizenship.
Under Schumer-Rubio, legalized immigrants could not become citizens until: 1) a border security plan has been “substantially deployed”; 2) a border fence is “substantially completed”; 3) a mandatory employment verification system has been implemented; and 4) an electronic exit system has been implemented at all air and sea ports.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, submitted an amendment last week that also tweaked the Schumer-Rubio triggers, but in a way that was ultimately unacceptable to Democrats. Corny required: 1) 100 percent border awareness; 2) 90 percent border crossing apprehension; 3) mandatory employment verification system has been implemented; and 4) a biometric entry and exit system has been implemented at all air and sea ports. Democrats objected to the 100 and 90 percent numbers claiming they were unachievable.
Corker-Hoeven will reportedly require: 1) 20,000 more border patrol agents; 2) almost 700 miles of border fence; 3) other border gadgets like sensors and drones; 4) a mandatory employment verification system; and 5) an electronic exit system at all air and sea ports.
A weaker worthless amendment
If Democrats do sign off on the Corker-Hoeven amendment, they will undoubtedly secure a good 60 to 65 vote threshold for final passage of Schumer-Rubio. But that’s it. They will fail to reach 70 votes because the Corker-Hoeven amendment completely fails to address the fundamental problem with Schumer-Rubio that the Congressional Budget Office exposed yesterday: It doesn’t solve anything.
Not only will Schumer-Rubio leave 3.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States without any legalization, let alone citizenship, but it also completely fails to end future flows of illegal immigration. According to the CBO, Schumer-Rubio will only decrease annual illegal immigration by about 25 percent. And adding even a million border patrol agents won’t help either, because the CBO says these illegal immigrants will almost all have entered the country legally. “Unauthorized residents would find it harder both to enter the country and to find employment while unauthorized,” the CBO wrote. “However, other aspects of the bill would probably increase the number of unauthorized residents—in particular, people overstaying their visas issued under the new programs for temporary workers.”
And here is the kicker: Corker-Hoeven weakens visa tracking! The Cornyn amendment would have required a biometric visa entry/exit system at all ports of entry as recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Corker-Hoeven rejects this security measure for a much weaker biographic visa traffic system that experts say is easily compromised.
What’s the point?
Moderate Republicans have no burning desire to vote for amnesty for amnesty’s sake. Those that do vote for it will do so because they want the issue to go away. But if Schumer-Rubio passes with the Corker-Hoeven amendment, it won’t. Millions of illegal immigrants will be left in the country and millions will keep coming thanks to the guest worker programs and weak visa tracking system. If Schumer-Rubio becomes law, Republicans will only be forced to pass another amnesty, again, sometime in the next decade.
Whether or not I ever vote for a Republican - or support the party in any way - depends on the results of this AMNESTY bill.
I reject the argument that at least the Republicans represent some impediment to the dim-bulbs...but sorry, I’m afraid we’re going to have to change horses (or asses) midstream...despite the problems we’ll have before we can establish a party with morals, intelligence, and folks who have real jobs.
The main motive for most Republicans who might vote for amnesty, other than the longstanding amnesty pushers such as Juan and his sidekick. They're just tired of fighting the Dims and the media and the ethnic groups and the usual amnesty pushers.
We will know that the border is secure when I no longer have to “Push 1 for English”.
What good does any strengthening of the enforcement parts of the bill do when the President will simply issue an Executive order saying he will not enforce or allow the enforcement of this part of the bill? Just like he has done with the exisitng laws! Our good Republicans will not take him to court for violating his oath of office!
“Corker-Hoeven maintains the same basic amnesty-now-for-enforcement-later framework of Schumer-Rubio, while making some minor tweaks”
The money quote.
Correct. It's CYA for those of both parties who pretend that they want to reduce illegal immigration.
Is this Rubio's "substantial improvemont" he announced yesterday?LINK: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that lawmakers in the upper chamber will release an amendment on Thursday that will provide a “substantial improvement” dealing with border security to the proposed immigration bill that has drawn increasing fire from conservatives.
All the illegals are already citizens. They have countries they can flee to. We Americans don’t!
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