Kabar,
Nice cut and paste. However, it doesn’t change the fact that the 2004 GOP platform called for a means to allow those here already illegally have a means to convert to legal immigrants, which is what the President’s plan did. The plan was for registration, penalties, and “back of the line” status in terms of citizenship. Not an amnesty like in 1986 by President Reagan.
And you are on record as voting for that same platform and its candidates. Yet now you have a problem with it...
So I have to conclude one of three things:
1. You have flip-flopped on your position on the GOP
2. You were ignorant of what you were voting to support in 2004
3. You are simply throwing a tantrum because your favored candidate didn’t win
So which is it? Because the facts appear to be pretty solid. Immigration reform - “amnesty” as you call it - was part of the 2000 and 2004 GOP platforms AND was spearheaded not by John McCain but by the GOP standard-bearer, President George W. Bush.
You are also on record as stating that you supported those platforms by voting for the Republican ticket, including the Presidential candidate who was pledged to upholding the platform.
So logically, it’s one of the 3 above. Protestations notwithstanding.
First, thge GOP platform did not call for amnesty or offering illegal alliens a path to citizenship. I suggest you read it again.
I have read both the 2006 Senate amnesty bill and the the 2007 McCain-Kennedy bill. They are actually more generous than the Reagan amnesty. If you read the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, you will see that amnesty was not automatic. Unlike McCain-Kennedy, which issued Z visas to everyone who was in the country since prior to January 1, 2007, the 1986 bill required that those applying for amnesty had to be here prior to Jan 1, 1982, i.e., five years. The bill also had plenty of employer sanctions, required the applicants to learn English, etc. In fact, there is some language that is identical to the wording in the McCain-Kennedy bill.
The cut and paste comes from documents I have written and distributed on the Hill and elsewhere. I am an immigration activist. From what you have written, you don't know what you are talking about. You need to become better informed about the issue.
Amnesty was never part of the GOP platform. Again, I suggest you read them again, the source documents, and show me specifically where amnesty was recommended as a policy.