Free Republic

HH: The immigration bill matters a great deal to you. And since we’ve been banging away at it with a sledgehammer pretty much for two weeks, I thought we would bring on one of the more articulate and forceful defenders of the compromise, Tamar Jacoby, who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Tamar, good to talk to you again. TJ: Good to be here. HH: Good to have you, it’s always a pleasure. I heard you on Laura’s show earlier last week talking about the deal. And so before I start asking questions, why don’t you give the...

Watching the action in the House of Representatives last week, it was easy to imagine that immigration was a strictly partisan issue. The bill under discussion, mostly the brainchild of Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, was about as tough as it gets: not just 700 miles of border fence and stiffer penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants but also a provision that turns illegal presence in this country from a civil violation into a federal crime -- subject to an entirely different kind of policing and punishable by much stiffer penalties. Over two days of emotional debate on the floor,...