Free Republic

The Senate isn’t serious about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. It is bad enough that the bill that 39 Democrats and 23 Republicans just voted to pass provides an amnesty to illegal immigrants already here. There might be an argument for doing that if there were any evidence of a commitment to enforce the immigration laws in the future. But the bill actually prohibits local police from enforcing civil violations of immigration laws—which in practice, given the byzantine rules distinguishing between civil and criminal violations of those laws, will get local police out of the enforcement business altogether. No serious...

... a speech spreading like wildfire online. Its purported author was ex-Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm, and it is titled "I Have a Plan to Destroy America." Lamm began his remarks by saying to a Washington crowd: "I have a secret plan to destroy America. ... "We must first make America a bilingual-bicultural country. History shows, in my opinion, that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. "I would then invent 'multiculturalism' and...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, folks, as I say, I've got all this figured out, and when I told you this wasn't about immigration, I was right; and when I told you that what this is really all about is the Democrats wanting and needing some new victims, I was right; and when I said this was all about politicians, particularly Democrats wanting new voters, I was right. But I was not a hundred percent right. I was close. To sum this up -- very simply -- what this bill is, this is not an immigration bill. What is being done...

WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday said a Senate bill that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants is analogous to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a fine and continue driving. "If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you're not forever a speeder, are you?" White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in response to questions from The Examiner. "So the fact is, you have paid your debt to society," he added. "And we have come up with a way to make sure that the debt to society gets paid. Then you...

For a sense of why President Bush has been unable to sway conservatives on his immigration policies, look no further than Stephen Dinan's front-page report in yesterday's editions: "The U.S. Border Patrol increased at a faster rate and apprehended more illegal aliens per year under President Clinton than under President Bush." Mr. Dinan goes on to report that the Clinton administration increased Border Patrol agents and pilots by 126 percent during his eight-year administration, which came to an average of 642 per year. In contrast, the six-year Bush administration has averaged 411 agents per year for a total increase of...

CIRA=Corruption, Ignorance, Recklessness, Arrogance [John Derbyshire] The sheer staggering awfulness of CIRA (the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed by the U.S. Senate yesterday) is just beginning to dawn on me. Heritage's Robert Rector, who knows what he's talking about, called it "the worst bill I have seen in 25 years." The only thing to question there is the 25. This might easily be the worst bill ever. I've been following immigration issues, in a not-very-attentive way, for 30-something years. I've held five different residence statuses myself (B-2, illegal, H-1B, Green Card, citizen). There are people like Mark Krikorian who have...

BESET by low ratings and an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, US President George W. Bush concluded today that perhaps all his trash talk in the war on terror was not such a good idea. At a news conference with his British ally Tony Blair, Mr Bush expressed regret for calling for terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to be brought in "dead or alive" and taunting Iraqi insurgents by saying "bring 'em on". The blunt-speaking Texan said it was "kind of tough talk that sent the wrong signal to people. I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe a little...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Legislation to secure U.S. borders and offer millions of illegal immigrants access to the American dream cleared the Senate on Thursday, a rare election-year reach across party lines and a triumph for President Bush. The 62-36 vote cleared the way for arduous summertime compromise talks with the House on its version that focuses on border enforcement - with no guarantee of success. "Why not say to those undocumented workers who are working the jobs that the rest of us refuse, come out from the shadows," said Arizona Republican John McCain, a key architect of the bill. The...

Does anyone else see this site as typical of our government's inaction towards stopping illegal immigration?

WASHINGTON - Legislation offering millions of illegal immigrants a chance at U.S. citizenship moved to the brink of Senate passage Thursday, a rare reach across party lines and a triumph for President Bush. Majority Leader Bill Frist called for swift talks with the House, which has passed its own version, in what loomed as an arduous search for compromise. Underscoring bipartisan support in the Senate, Frist, R-Tenn., and Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced in advance they would support the measure. It was months in the drafting and narrowly survived several brushes with disaster across more than a week...

The Senate passed a provision to consult with Mexico before building a fence on the border . Provision was introduced by Arlen Spector .

Some people are worried that amnesty will give illegal aliens the same rights that American citizens have. In reality, it will give the illegals more rights than the average American citizen. Since most of the illegals are Mexican, that makes them a minority. Under affirmative action, combined with amnesty, they would have preferences in jobs and other benefits. Those who set up their own businesses would be entitled to preferences in getting government contracts. Their children would be able to get into college ahead of the children of American citizens with better academic qualifications. Illegals who graduate from a high...