Bipartisan Plan Faces Resistance in G.O.P.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — At Tommy’s Country Ham House, a popular spot downtown for politics and comfort food, not much has changed since 2007, the last time conservatives here made it crystal clear to politicians how they felt about what they see as amnesty for people who entered the country illegally.

“What we need to do is put them on a bus,” said Ken Sowell, 63, a lawyer from Greenville, as he ate lunch recently at the diner. “We need to enforce the border. If they want to apply legally more power to them. I don’t think just because a bunch of people violate the law, we ought to change the law for them.”

Six years ago, the intensity of that kind of sentiment was enough to scuttle immigration overhaul efforts led by President George W. Bush and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both Republicans.

Now, as a new bipartisan group of eight senators, including Mr. Graham and Mr. McCain, try again — (snip) — members of Congress will have to overcome deep-seated resistance like that expressed in the restaurant if they are to push legislation forward.

Republicans are betting that opposition from Tea Party activists and the party’s most conservative supporters will have less impact because of the dire electoral consequences of continuing to take a hard line regarding immigrants.

(snip) There is some evidence that the politics of immigration may be changing. Sean Hannity, the conservative host at Fox News, said days after the 2012 presidential election that he has “evolved” on immigration and now supports a comprehensive approach that could “get rid of” the issue for Republicans.

“All I’d ever hear is, ‘Why don’t you enforce the laws that we already have?’ And then I’d hear, ‘Why don’t you just build the fence?’ ” Mr. Dawson said, describing the comments he expects to hear again during the immigration debate.

Let me see if I'm understanding these people. They can't enforce the laws we have now, that's why we have millions of illegals. They say we can't stop them at the border and we can't deport them. How do they intend to keep thirty million from being in the country 10 years after this amnesty? This is the same thing Reagan told us with his amnesty. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

These are some of the things I'd require in any immigration reform;
End to birthright citizenship. No ifs ands or buts.
A ten year moratorium on all immigration.
Because so many illegal immigrants are from Latin America and China, we will not allow any more immigrants from these countries for another fifty years after the moratorium expires. No family reunification. If they want to be with their family they can stay in their home country.
Immigration after the moratorium will be based on what they can do for America, not what America can do for them.
Because most illegal immigrants are doing jobs people on Welfare should be doing and it would be unfair for American taxpayers to be supporting them while allowing millions of poor people to become legal, for every illegal immigrant legalized one American has to be removed from government assistants. This means no food stamps, government housing, WIC...
English will be the official language. No government forms, including ballots, will be printed in any other language.
Illegals will have to return to their home country while a background check is run. Before they can return they must; be able to read and write English, pay back taxes, repay taxpayers for any expenditures pertaining to their children or themselves. This would include medical care for their American born children.
The border will be secured without an expensive fence. We will dig two trenches 6' wide x 3' deep. The first will be six feet on our side of the border, and will have no trespassing signs posted before you enter it. The 2nd trench will be one half mile away from the first with danger signs on our side. The land in between will be posted as "No Man's Land". Every country will be notified to warn their citizens that Americans will be patrolling the border and will have the authority to shoot anyone within the "No Man's Land" who is not an American Citizen.

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