I don’t disagree with you. Secure the border first, then crack down on employers so that it’s harder and harder to find work as an illegal (and, of course, deport criminal aliens first). Only after years of such activity MIGHT we talk about some sort of amnesty for the most “useful,” least blameworthy of illegals. But Linda Chavez wants amnesty yesterday, today or tomorrow, never mind the absence of any of these things to prevent another 20M from flooding in once the economy here improves.
No amnesty ever again. We had a one time amnesty in 1986. It didn't work. When you reward something, you get more of it.
Any legislation that legalizes the status of those who broke our laws by entering our country illegally and allows them to stay is amnesty. We must not only prevent the Democrats and some moderate Republicans from hijacking the meaning of the word amnesty, but the public must be made aware about the true impact of an amnesty.
The Heritage Foundation concluded that the cost of amnesty alone would be $2.6 trillion. And the number of additional LEGAL immigrants who would join those who were the recipients of amnesty through chain migration, i.e., family reunification, would approach 70 million over a 20-year period, assuming there are only 12 million illegal aliens. We cannot assimilate such numbers. An amnesty would destroy the United States of America with the stroke of a pen.