Malkin ping!
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Posted on 03/05/2008 5:46:15 AM PST by radar101
I heard from a Senate source a few days ago about two very promising initiatives from conservative Senate Republicans committed to comprehensive immigration enforcement.
Not shamnesty.
I repeat: Comprehensive immigration enforcement reform.
This is good policy. Smart politics. And it’s about damned time.
The first initiative involves one of my favorite GOP Senate members, Jeff Sessions of Alabama. He is rolling out nearly a dozen different bills addressing specific border security and enforcement issues. The plan is to announce the campaign tomorrow.
Some details of the get-tough measures on the table:
Senate Republicans are set to announce Wednesday the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet — one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.
Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but the move by some of the Senate’s leading Republicans underscores how potent the issue of immigration remains, particularly during a presidential election year.
The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to take a tougher stance on immigration. They also reflect a shift toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul in 2007.
The package, an enforcement smorgasbord assembled by at least eight lawmakers, consists of 11 bills, but could expand to include as many as 14. Some elements echo House bills, but others go beyond House proposals.
One would discourage states from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants by docking 10 percent of highway funding from states that continue to do so. Another would extend the presence of National Guard on the border and a third would end language assistance at federal agencies and the voting booth for people with limited English ability.
A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year jail sentence on someone caught crossing the border for a second time.
…Other bills in the package would:
• Block federal funding from cities that bar their police from asking about immigration status. Give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to use information from the Social Security Administration to target illegal immigrants. • Require construction of 700 miles of fencing along the Southern border, not including vehicle barriers. • Impose sanctions on countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens. • Deport any immigrant, legal or illegal, for one drunken-driving conviction. • Enable local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws Ready for a snort? Here’s the Dems’ lame response:
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Republican proposal “falls far short of what is needed.” Democrats want to combine enforcement with a guest-worker program and a way to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Reid “continues to support legislation that is tough on people who break the law, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement,” Manley said.
But Democrats also have begun embracing a tougher stance on immigration as well. A confidential study assembled for the Democratic leadership earlier this year urged them to start using tougher language. Democrats have focused on offering opportunity to immigrants, but the study by two think tanks urged them to begin speaking in terms of “requiring” illegal immigrants to become legal and about what’s best for the United States.
Many House Democrats have gone a step further, endorsing an enforcement-only bill by freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina that would bolster border security and require employers to verify their workers’ legal status with an electronic verification system.
The SAVE Act has drawn 140 co-sponsors, 48 of whom are Democrats, many of them vulnerable freshman who won seats from Republicans.
The Democratic leadership dislikes Shuler’s bill and has refused to schedule a debate. The other major initiative is led by GOP Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who is forming a Border Security & Enforcement First Immigration Caucus–sort of an analog of the House Immigration Caucus led by Tom Tancredo.
Conservatives in the Senate have played defense for too long. These measures will push the presidential candidates in both parties to go on record and will ensure that mass, uncontrolled immigration chaos remains on the Beltway radar screen. Stay tuned and be sure to keep tabs on where your Senators stand. I will, too.
And don’t forget to pressure them on the Fence to Nowhere and the $1.4 billion Mexican border security plan.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Michelle Malkin ping list...
fence?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
OK, so we need to get these bills written and submitted and they need to get into the campaign discussions, so the American people know where their candidates stand on each bill’s specifics and whether they support them and woudl sign them into law if placed on their desk.
THIS is one issue that the Republicans and McCain can win on, if McCain will do the right thing and this become the master plank in the fall effort.
It is a start, maybe a little late. If our congresspeople start acting like conservatives and protecting America’s interest rather than their own, maybe they can retake the majority. I hold more hope with congress than I do any of the presidential candidates.
“Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Republican proposal “falls far short of what is needed.” Democrats want to combine enforcement with a guest-worker program and a way to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Reid “continues to support legislation that is tough on people who break the law, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement,” Manley said.” with talk like this from liberals maybe something can be done. I see that Corzine is making cuts to programs in NJ, Reid is talking tough on immigration. Is this an alternative universe or reality? feels like the twighlight zone. :-)
Okay, time to pinch myself and wake up ;-(
It’s embarassing that a Rat, Heath Shuler (D-NC-11), is outflanking the Republican standardbearers like McQueeg on this issue. Then again, considering the massive and growing illegal problem we have here in North Carolina, maybe even the worst quarterback the Redskins ever had can throw a completion on this one.
}:-)4
A party that nominates McCain is not going to do anything about securing the nation’s borders.
“Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democrat-controlled Congress,”
Says it all.
Just in time for the election to try to stir the base. They wouldn’t be doing so poorly if they’d already listened to the base.
They stand little chance of Bush signing them, too—the few bills that won’t die in committee.
I adore Michelle Malkin—conservative, tough as heck on the Border and interior enforcement, but to say these Senate bills are “tough” is a stretch. And besides, even if passed as is, do illegals in the past or currently respect and follow the laws of the land? No! They keep breaking them. Passing more laws won’t get the job done...ENFORCEMENT is the code word, and for years now, Chertoff and other “leaders” refuse to enforce Fed. Immigration law, except on a small scale.
Considering there are some 40 million-plus illegals in the U.S., I would say that the situation is urgent.
All for the sake of the “Community.”
If only McCain shared that view. Alas, he thinks the best way to deal with the illegal invaders is to close his eyes, loudly chant "la-la-la!!!" and reward the illegals with citizenship and "free" social services for which they never paid so much as one thin dime.
And then he has the audacity to tell us conservatives to "calm down." Feh! With "friends" like McCain, we'll never want for enemies.
So true, Digital Sniper!
But I wouldn’t assume that it’s gonna be “President McLame”...In any case, conservatives need to win the House back. That needs to be our primary focus.
‘Tis the season of the meaningless quadrenial senatorial strutting as they play their part in the presidential campaign.
After four long years of trashing party principles, insulting voters, and breaking every promise they now remember why they and the president were elected.
So now they make grandstand proposals of bills they know will not get passed, then strut, preen and crow like the political bantam capons they relly are.
It is easy to be bold when you know the President will never sign this kind of legislation...Lord Lame Duck will provide all the cover they need to boldly propose where no pol has proposed before...
Excellent!!!!
This is exactly what needs to be done by the GOP to win congress back.
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