In every speech President Bush has given on the issue he sepeates the problem into three parts.
1. Secure the border
2. Deal with the illegals all ready here.
3. Guest worker.
Why they cannot seem to grasp that you do NOT need to do all three in one bill I will never understand.
IF they would do 1, then in a few years they could maybe move on to 2 and three. But as long as 1 remains undone, NO one is going to trust DC on 2 and 3.
Each of those positions is being pushed by a different group of constituents. DC pols were trying to make everybody happy. Ended up being a sausage fest where nobody knew what was in the bill and most didn’t want to.
That's an easy one. The Open border types are holding secure borders [including a process to track and deport visa overstays] hostage to comprehensive immigration reform. They don't want secure borders, which is why they [WH and Dems] have dragged their feet in eforcing our existing laws [Secure Fence Act of 2006 and the 1996 US Visit act] and just pay lip service to real border enforcement. If you hold a separate debate on how to handle the 12 to 20 million illegals already here, the first thing you need are reliable data. How can you make good public policy without knowing the scope of the problem and its impact? In 1986, the USG estimated that 1 million would apply for amnesty. The number turned out to be three million.