Oh, I believe you'd want this particular amnesty bill, considering the provision least mentioned by its supporters: the so-called "temporary Z visa." From the moment the bill is signed, there will be no deportations, since all illegals will be assumed to be eligible. DHS has six months to set up a system for registering these people (with that exhaustive 24-hour background check). I doubt they will meet that deadline, and even if they do, the registration period can be extended or renewed (a given, considering the sheer numbers, the historic inefficiency of any government bureaucracy and the fact that extensions have been granted in every previous immigration bill), and that presumption of eligibility will continue.
There's no specific deportation rules or deadline set down for non-registrants; and no way of even estimating what percentage of illegals have registered at any given point, considering the 12 million figure is very likely a gross underestimation. So you wind up with an amorphous mess of a population of non-registered illegals mixed with Z-visa holders, and an indefinite period of business as usual, compounded by the fact that employers are actually forbidden, according to this bill, to use the government status-checking system as a prerequisite of employment. They must hire first, then check, wait for results from the same slow bureaucracy, then allow an appeal by the employee, yada, yada, yada.
Regarding the rush to amnesty, this has been Bush's holy grail from the moment of his inauguration. 9/11 threw a huge monkey-wrench into his plans, or he would have pushed something through in his first term (he tried, then dropped it). As it stands now, it's his last chance, with the only constraint being getting it "out of the way" before the primaries; because, of course, we dumb, xenophobic Americans have short memories and all will be forgotten soon.
I also don't believe the congress critters believe their future is doomed; rather I think they've convinced themselves that 2006 proved conservatism is dying, and that centrism, as exemplified by both Clinton and GW Bush, is the bright new promised land to which these privileged few have been ordained to lead us all.
Hillary? She's more likely to push for en-masse naturalization of the new Democrat base of temporary (and indefinitely renewable) Z-visa holders than raid businesses.
-—I also don’t believe the congress critters believe their future is doomed; rather I think they’ve convinced themselves that 2006 proved conservatism is dying, and that centrism, as exemplified by both Clinton and GW Bush, is the bright new promised land to which these privileged few have been ordained to lead us all.-—
Exactly! A future where the parties are tweedledum and tweedledee. Where there is little political division or rancor and even less political interest on the part of the public.