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Is Fair Immigration Compromise Possible Out of Failed Schumer Shutdown?
Townhall.com ^ | January 25, 2018 | John Kass

Posted on 01/25/2018 7:17:03 AM PST by Kaslin

Is there a fair, reasonable way to deal with immigration without shutting down the government as the Democrats did just recently?

Yes.

A way to save the "Dreamers" and build President Donald Trump's wall to protect the borders, and lower the anxiety of millions of Dreamer parents, those immigrants who crossed over illegally for a better life in America.

A way for Americans to accept immigration policy as fair, not just something jammed down their throats by politicians.

We'd have to take the tribal politics out of it, and we probably should stop weaponizing the immigrants for future elections. But it can be done.

Yet not until we admit what went terribly wrong with the failed Charles Schumer shutdown, when the Senate minority leader and the Democrats held the American government hostage to their version of immigration politics and then caved after Democratic senators seeking re-election in 2018 realized voters wouldn't stand for it.

Perhaps a good jumping-off point are the comments of the famous sage of Chicago, Luis the Lip, champion of Democratic immigration plans, who offered to build Trump's wall with his own soft political Chicago hands to save the Dreamers.

"If that is what it is going to take to get 800,000 young men and women and give them a chance to live freely and openly in America, then I'll roll up my sleeves, I'll go down there with bricks and mortar and begin the wall," U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez said on CNN before the Democrats broke down.

Sadly, it didn't happen, although I'd pay to watch Gutierrez do something with his hands other than risk paper cuts. Just seeing Luis do real work and then driving home bone-tired would be worth a few bucks. It might even be better than a movie.

Unfortunately, Luis' hands aren't made for bricks and mortar. Yet even as he promised to help build Trump's wall, I heard something in his voice: the sound of Democrats caving.

And soon, the shutdown was over, the Dreamers felt betrayed, the hard left was livid, and Trump and the Republicans had an amazing victory in the immigration debate.

Unfortunately, some in the Democratic Media Complex are having a difficult time dealing with this reality.

Some are still in denial, pretending there were no winners and losers. Others clearly seek refuge in fantasy. Happily, most of us wake up from our dreams to live in the place where reality bites. And there it is: The Democrats caved, and Trump and the Republicans won.

Why?

Because on the immigration debate, Democrats were on the wrong side of the American people. To their credit, a few realized this fact, perhaps even Gutierrez.

Now what?

There is room for compromise on immigration, the American people want it, some Republicans and even some Democrats want it.

The first thing to do is to figure out what should be done about the Dreamers, those hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to this country illegally by their parents, who are themselves here illegally.

The Dreamers are in limbo through no fault of their own, trapped between two cultures, with no place of their own to legally call home. Yet opinion polls show that much of the America public is sympathetic to their plight.

So let the Dreamers stay. Those who are in criminal gangs or have violent criminal records have no right to be here. But the others, sure, why not?

It would be quite easy to protect the Dreamers and their parents, except for the politics.

Democrats want them as votes. Republicans are worried this could tip elections. So why not take the politics out of it?

Here's a possibility to consider: Let Dreamers stay -- given permanent work and resident status -- but not citizenship and voting rights. Conferring something as precious as citizenship upon people as a reward for their parents' breaking the law isn't the right way to go about this.

If they want to become American citizens and vote, they'd be free to leave and attempt to re-enter the country as legal immigrants.

If protecting Dreamers is the issue, then you'll agree with me. But if weaponizing the Dreamers for the next election is your plan, then you won't.

And what about their parents, who crossed the border illegally and who worry about being deported? We can protect them, too, with some reasonable amnesty.

Why not give them permanent work status, like green cards?

But no welfare. Yes, you read that correctly.

The idea isn't to penalize people in this country illegally who would be given legal status in any amnesty. The idea is about convincing Americans that amnesty would be about fairness, not power. Those who enter our country illegally shouldn't be given government benefits that would lock them in as permanent clients of the Democratic Party, compelling them to vote for taxpayer-subsidized benefits.

Banning such benefits would be an important and reasonable step. It would convince Americans that decency, rather than raw Chicago Way power politics, is what should drive immigration policy.

Again, no citizenship, unless those here illegally first leave the country and petition to re-enter legally.

And in exchange for all this, where a border wall is required, we should build it. American employers should be required to immediately use the E-Verify program to determine whether new workers have legal status or not.

Those workers who don't have legal status should be turned over to immigration authorities and deported.

It's called compromise. You get some of what you want. The other guy gets some of what he wants.

But it must be understood as fair, not just for the immigrants, but for the American people who believe that this is their country, and they still have a say in who stays and who goes.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: governmentshutdown; illegalimmigration
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1 posted on 01/25/2018 7:17:03 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Not liking the use of “fair”.....at all.


2 posted on 01/25/2018 7:19:03 AM PST by cranked
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To: Kaslin
Schumer said the wall is off the table.

So I'd say DACA is off the table.

3 posted on 01/25/2018 7:19:16 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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Is there some way to fully reject and not use the word “dreamer”. This word is the ultimate in propaganda designed to elicit an emotional response. I reject its premise utterly.


4 posted on 01/25/2018 7:20:09 AM PST by dsrtsage (For Leftists, World History starts every day at breakfast)
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To: Kaslin

“Fair” - to WHOM?

What we think is fair to us will no doubt be seen as unfair to the illegals.


5 posted on 01/25/2018 7:23:31 AM PST by NEMDF
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To: cranked

Nope. Whenever you hear the word “fair”, hang onto your wallet.


6 posted on 01/25/2018 7:23:40 AM PST by Pining_4_TX (For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. ~ Hosea 8:7)
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To: Kaslin

The president hinted on Jan. 24 that he is open to citizenship for DACA. He said it would be over a 10- to 12-year period, but if he is not still in place as president in 2024, that would be meaningless.


7 posted on 01/25/2018 7:25:05 AM PST by Theodore R.
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To: Kaslin

I am kind of partial to this idea: http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=232822


8 posted on 01/25/2018 7:26:20 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: Kaslin
Those who enter our country illegally shouldn't be given government benefits

Democrat judges would reverse that yesterday.

9 posted on 01/25/2018 7:26:36 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (Democrats call Americans "Deplorables" and illegal aliens "Dreamers".)
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To: dsrtsage
Is there some way to fully reject and not use the word “dreamer”.

"Schemers"?

10 posted on 01/25/2018 7:28:33 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (Democrats call Americans "Deplorables" and illegal aliens "Dreamers".)
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To: Kaslin
The only fair immigration policy would be one in which no one who crossed the border illegally benefits in any way from that illegal act. There can be no compromise on this core principle unless we want to invite more illegal entry.

Any policy towards illegals must - MUST - address the incentives that are set up by that policy. Are you incentivizing more to try their hand at illegal entry or are you incentivizing them to stay home and apply through the legal process?

With 600 million people south of our porous non-existent southern border and untold millions outside the Americas who might also avail themselves of this easy access, there can be only one immigration policy -

Stop giving prizes

for illegal entry.

Any measure that permits those who entered illegally to benefit from that illegal act is amnesty. And any amnesty will bring millions more invaders.

This must be stopped.

Will you help stop this?

You can help:
Right-click this image and save it. Post it on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. Send a copy to President Trump, your Senators and Reps right now and whenever you communicate with them. When you get fundraising solicitations, include a copy in your reply. Send copies to your friends and family and ask them to do likewise. Spread it everywhere.

11 posted on 01/25/2018 7:34:40 AM PST by Paine in the Neck ( Socialism consumes EVERYTHING!)
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To: Kaslin

Allow the Dreamers a normal path to citizenship after they have provided the names and locations of those who brought them here. Once verified, those people will be deported and permanently banned from the US since they endangered their own children in the commission of a crime. Problem solved.


12 posted on 01/25/2018 7:36:50 AM PST by fuente (Liberty resides in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box--Fredrick Douglas)
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To: Kaslin

1) Schumer has one item on the table (DACA) and he cannot walk away without it

2) Trump can put any/everything he wants on the table and he’s willing to walk away with no no deal.

3) Schumer has used the media to intimate Rs for decades. That’s his negotiating strategy and it doesn’t work well against Trump.

4) Trump wrote “The Art of the Deal” and practiced it for decades in the real world where results mater and where the deal is about more than getting reelected.

5) Complaints about Stephen Miller demanding the sun and moon in early negotiations and about Trump not providing his minimal demands is evidence that Schumer and Graham have no clue how negotiation works in the real world (where Trump lives). They need to have someone read “The Art of the Deal” to them before taking another step. Then hire a “professional negotiator” for their side and step back and watch. But they won’t.

This is not a fair negotiation and will not be a fair deal. I’m not sick of winning yet.


13 posted on 01/25/2018 7:40:00 AM PST by LostPassword
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To: Kaslin

If the anxiety of the “DREAMERS” parents arises from fears that, since they are not anchor parents they may no longer be able to squat here illegally, I’m pretty sure those fears are well founded.
Since when did “fairness” require the federal government to protect aliens here illegally?
Mexifornia: deputize the 101st airborne into ICE, send them to LA and Sacramento, arrest Gov. Brown, the Mexican Bund and any protesting `Dreamers’ unable to produce proof of legal residence—all for sedition and transport them on Bluebird school buses to DC for trial.


14 posted on 01/25/2018 7:49:41 AM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all white armed conservatives)
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To: Kaslin; Donald J Trump
A way to save the "Dreamers" and build President Donald Trump's wall to protect the borders, and lower the anxiety of millions of Dreamer parents, those immigrants who crossed over illegally for a better life in America.

They can lower their anxiety by going back home. There's no reason whatsoever to reward criminals. Illegal aliens do not make America great.

15 posted on 01/25/2018 7:51:14 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Paine in the Neck

to save the image, just drag it to the desktop.


16 posted on 01/25/2018 8:08:10 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Kaslin; Liz; AuntB; greyfoxx39; La Lydia; sickoflibs; stephenjohnbanker; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; ...

This has nothing to do with IMMIGRATION...

This is about illegal aliens...

Illegal aliens don’t IMMIGRATE...

BTW theres nothing “fair” about the elite treatment for illegal aliens...

Al Capone wishes he had known Chuckie and Nancy...


17 posted on 01/25/2018 8:08:18 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: Kaslin

DACA “kids” number in the 100 thousands, Dreamers number in the many millions.


18 posted on 01/25/2018 8:10:01 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Kaslin

What is fair for someone here illegally?

Deportation.

They don’t want fair. They want mercy.


19 posted on 01/25/2018 8:12:28 AM PST by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory.)
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To: Kaslin

The general concept of granting permanent status but never citizenship looks appealing but has a constitutional flaw. The children of these dreamers will automatically be citizens. This plan gives the democrats their political win but they just have to wait a generation to realize it.


20 posted on 01/25/2018 8:26:17 AM PST by henkster (YA - russkiy bot)
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