Compromise Immigration Bill will Replace All Current Immigration Judges with Probable Leftists

New York Post Postopinion ^ | 4/7/06 | Kris W. Kobach

[Jacksonville Patriot]

HIDDEN BOMBS By KRIS W. KOBACH April 7, 2006 -- IMMIGRATION-BILL SURPRISES HOW do you slip legislative poison past a U.S. senator? Bury it on page 302 of a bill. The Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders yesterday announced a compromise on an immigration bill - with some details still to be worked out. But details that may continue from the bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee should definitely be deal-breakers. Like that surprise hidden on page 302 - which would replace the country's entire bench of experienced immigration judges with pro-immigration advocates. With a few exceptions, today's immigration judges (who serve for life) are dedicated to enforcing the law, and they do a difficult job well. This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after serving 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.

[Jacksonville Patriot]

many thanks to Overlawyered blog, via Lucianne blog

[Texas_Jarhead]

WHOA! Didn't know this. Thanks for posting.

[Shermy]

Well, the bill was written by immigration lawyers paid by the Chamber of Commerce and other lobbies. You think our Senators could be so clever? ;)

[nj26]

Another example of how McCain, Specter, and Kennedy were trying to quickly slip a bad amnesty bill past the American people.

This bill will be DOA when Congress gets back from recess.

[Sam Cree]

I'm certainly glad we keep electing Republicans.

[peyton randolph]

I'm certainly glad we keep electing Republicans.

---

Other than my congressman, Sam Johnson (99 lifetime ACU rating), I've washed my hands of the Stupid Party...and I vote for him despite party affiliation, not because of it.

[Bahbah]

Senator Sessions listed a number of loopholes in the bill that his assistant was able to locate between 10:00 pm on Thursday and Friday morning. There are no doubt many more, but he was short on time. They are:

Loophole No. 1: Absconders and some individuals with felonies or 3 misdemeanors are not barred from getting amnesty.

Loophole No. 2: Aliens specifically barred from receiving immigration benefits for life because they filed a frivolous asylum application will also be able to receive amnesty.

Loophole No. 3: All aliens who are subject to a final order of removal--or who are subject to the reinstatement of a final order of removal because they illegally reentered after being ordered removed from the United States are also eligible for amnesty.

Loophole No. 4: Aliens who illegally entered the country multiple times are also eligible for amnesty.

Loophole No. 5: This bill allows aliens who have persecuted anyone on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion get amnesty. It fails to make persecutors ineligible for amnesty.

Loophole No. 6: There is no continuous presence or continuous work requirement for amnesty. To be eligible to adjust from illegal to legal statutes under the bill, the alien must simply have been ``physically present in the United States on April 5, 2001,'' and have been ``employed continuously in the United States'' for 3 of the 5 years ``since that date.''

Loophole No. 7: The bill tells the Department of Homeland Security to accept ``just and reasonable inferences'' from day labor centers as evidence of an alien meeting the bill's work requirements.

The bill then states:
..... it is the intent of Congress that the [work] requirement ..... be interpreted and implemented in a manner that recognizes and takes into account the difficulties encountered by aliens in obtaining evidence of employment due to the undocumented status of the alien.

Loophole 8: The bill benefits only those who broke the law, not those who followed it and got work visas to come to the United States.

Loophole 9: The essential worker permanent immigration program for nonagriculture low-skilled workers leaves no illegal alien out. It is not limited to people outside the United States who want to come here to work in the future but includes illegal aliens currently present in the United States who do not qualify for the amnesty program in title VI, including aliens here for less than 2 years. Under the bill language, you can qualify for this new program to work as a low-skilled permanent immigrant even if you are unlawfully present in the United States.

Loophole No. 10: The annual numerical cap on this program is a completely artificial cap. If the 400,000 cap per year is reached, what happens then? The cap immediately adjusts itself to make more room under the cap.

[mewzilla]

Jeez louise, did the nation dodge a bullet.

[Paul C. Jesup]

This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after serving 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

This is insane. But I seem to remember hear a few years ago that the Supreme Court ruled term limits unconstitutions for judge. And in another case they threw out term limit pass by states for this congress members and senators that represent those states.

[Paul C. Jesup]

This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after serving 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

This is insane. But I seem to remember hear a few years ago that the Supreme Court ruled term limits unconstitutions for judge. And in another case they threw out term limit pass by states for this congress members and senators that represent those states.

[Bahbah]

did the nation dodge a bullet.

Yes, indeed we did. I listened to pretty much the entire debate and I was watching Senator Sessions (God bless him) with my mouth hanging open, so I just had to go and get his remarks from the Congressional Record. I condensed them down here to his "bullet point" list, but if you read the entire thing, it is harrowing. Among other things, an illegal wouldn't really have to be in this country when the law becomes effective. He just needs to get some day labor center to dummy up papers saying he was. The immigration judges are then ordered to give weight to very suspicious documentation. The current crop of lifetime appointed judges might take their responsibilities too seriously, so they would be weeded out over time and replaced with pro-immigration activists. How nuts is that. And the Senate was perfectly prepared to shove that down our throats. Don't even get me started with the stinking Dream Act.

[Bahbah]

Oops, sorry. I had paragraphs in there but forgot about HTML.

[mewzilla]

Thanks for posting this. We'll be loaded for bear when they come back from recess and try this bleep again.

[M. Thatcher]

Jeez louise, did the nation dodge a bullet.

Just temporarily.

[mewzilla]

Just temporarily.

We'll be ready :)

[mewzilla]

Like that surprise hidden on page 302 - which would replace the country's entire bench of experienced immigration judges with pro-immigration advocates.

Anyone know who specifically was responsible for THAT?

[j35jazz]

With a few exceptions, today's immigration judges (who serve for life) are dedicated to enforcing the law, and they do a difficult job well. This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after serving seven years - and restricts replacements to attorneys with at least five years' experience practicing immigration law.

Maybe it's just me, but how does one go about replacing a judge who is appointed for life? Don't the current judges have to voluntarily retire first?

[Shuttle Shucker]

The more pressure we keep on Mexico, immigration-wise, the more reformers inside of Mexico can be emboldened and empowered to scale back monopolists' abuses down there which keep our own country flooded with economic refugees. Here's an interesting new thread on new legal progress that finally emerged in Mexico I think as a result of immigration reform's failure:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1611677/posts

We can make a difference for our sake, and their's as well. Isn't it the neighborly thing to do?

[SAJ]

Immigration judges are not deemed at law to be Federal judges in the Constitutional sense, but rather specialised ''referees'' dealing in administrative law, much the same as bankruptcy judges (who used to be called, guess what?, ''referees'').

Given this view, the Regress unfortunately but most certainly have the power to change the immigration judges' terms and conditions of service.

[upchuck]

This bill had the potential to do enormous damage to our country.

Let us all say a prayer of thanks to God that it didn't make it.

The item about the immigration judges is particularly distressing. Maybe it's just me, but this is the first I've heard about this. I'm very disappointed the pubbies on the Judiciary Committee weren't raising holy hell about this. Unless, of course, they didn't read the bill closely enough to pick up on this. In which case they clearly aren't doing the job we expect.