Free Republic

May I please apply for illegal-immigrant status for my sister? This is an audacious request, I know, given that she is not ideal immigrant material by America's exacting standards. My sibling is a South-African Caucasian, who speaks no Spanish. Alas, she speaks the language of the American founders (in her defense, her facility with the English language is not nearly as good as theirs was.) Her other shortfall is that she manages to operate a profitable business in one of the most dangerous places on earth, subject to the world's most extreme race-based wealth distribution laws ("Black Economic Empowerment"). If...

Congress should coalesce behind sweeping new compromise immigration legislation despite steep political obstacles because opportunities to confront the problem head-on are rare, Sen. Edward Kennedy said Friday. Kennedy, the lead Democratic negotiator with Republicans and the White House, acknowledged widespread criticism but called it "our last-gasp stand." The bill, which conservatives immediately attacked as an "amnesty" program, would provide a pathway to citizenship for some 12 million immigrants now in the United States illegally. It also would mandate tougher border security and workplace enforcement and provide for a guest worker program. Critics complained that it would reward the nation's estimated...

Senators and the White House clinched a deal Thursday on bringing 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows and securing US borders, which could enhance President George W. Bush's legacy. The pact would provide a path to permanent residency and citizenship for illegal workers, establish a merit-based points system for future immigrants and also establish a temporary worker program. The bill, which emerged from exhaustive round-the-clock talks, and will be debated in the Senate next week, will provide 18,000 more border patrol agents, and scores of radar and camera towers on the US border with Mexico. It is aimed...