Don't Be Fooled (on this immigration bill) by Heather MacDonald

The Corner National Review ^ | 05/17 06:40 PM | Heather Mac Donald

[dennisw]

Don't Be Fooled [Heather Mac Donald]

Republican supporters of the Senate’s latest amnesty bill are trying to distract voters by dangling before them the requirements for an illegal alien to become a citizen or purchase a green card. These requirements make this bill a tough, no-cave-in reform, proponents say, that responds to the public’s outrage over immigration law-breaking. Don’t be fooled. Prerequisites to citizenship or permanent residency status are irrelevant to whether this bill rewards law-breaking or will encourage more in the future. Its key feature is rather that illegal aliens, according to press reports, can immediately have their illegal status wiped away with a temporary-residency permit, available virtually upon demand. That’s it. The rest is noise. Whether or not one has to show English proficiency and a knowledge of civics to become a citizen is irrelevant from an illegal alien’s perspective; a minute proportion of illegal or even legal Mexican and Central American immigrants come here with the desire to become citizens. The naturalization rate among qualified Hispanics has traditionally been negligible compared to other national groups; it started rising only when Congress required citizenship to receive welfare benefits.

There is no ambiguity about the effects of amnesty. Everywhere they have been introduced—including in Europe—they have brought in their train a new flood of illegals. This latest bill will do the same.

05/17 06:40 PM

[Hemingway's Ghost]

With identity theft, most of them already are receiving Social Security and/or Unemployment and/or Welfare payments, so the American taxpayer will pay the $5K one way or another. The honest ones will no doubt cry poverty and their debt will probably be forgiven.

That was my thought exactly---there's no way an illegal's going to pony up $5K for something he or she is already getting for free, or just for the sake of making things "right."

[prognostigaator]

bump

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

>>The Senate “vote” is a mere formality, as yesterday’s recorded for/against tally shows.<<

Care to post a link to this “tally?”

The senators have not even read the bill.

[snowrip]

I don’t have a link; the tally was from the Senate floor and was broadcast live on C-Span.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

What were they voting on exactly? Strange it’s not on numbersusa. Do you even have a number for the bill?

[dennisw]

bttt