Free Republic

As the migrant and refugee crisis unfolds at our border, I want to share a personal story about a formerly undocumented person: my dad. In the 1980s, my dad took a perilous 10-month journey to cross into the United States. He was arrested, detained and released multiple times and witnessed horrific incidents, including the tragic loss of human life. His successful means of entry was to jump over a fence into muddy waters. A member of his caravan had to toss a tire around him to drag him out. After crossing into the U.S., he remained undocumented and took on...

History is threatening to re peat itself. Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act (better known among conservatives as the 1986 illegal-alien amnesty), which gave a path to citizenship to illegal aliens already here in exchange for prohibiting the hiring of illegal workers -- a provision that has been enforced only sporadically. It was a raw deal for conservatives. On Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced a bill (HR 2164) to require nationwide use of the E-Verify system, which checks a job applicant's citizenship and immigration status, via the Internet, to see if he or she...

A New York Times editorial of September 9th commenting on the recent battle on immigration legislation exhibited a naiveté that was, for me, beyond belief. The Times has led the battle for the McCain-Kennedy bill to provide a path to U.S. citizenship for 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. While attacking President Bush on nearly every front nearly every day, on this issue it allied itself with the President, a supporter of the legislation. In a dramatic ending to the legislative struggle, the American people rose up in their wrath in opposition to offering an amnesty to the millions of...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- During a rare meeting on Capitol Hill, President Bush pushed lawmakers Tuesday to move forward on immigration legislation that he said enforces U.S. borders and workplaces. "This is a highly emotional issue," Bush said after a luncheon with Senate Republicans. "Now's the time to get it done. It's going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of effort." "I believe without the bill, it's going to be harder to enforce the border," Bush said. "The status quo is unacceptable." Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said passing the bill is up to the...

“. . . [Y]ou take a look at what did and didn’t work, and frankly, when it came to enforcement, again, when you say that there’s no punishment, it’s one of those things that doesn’t create disincentive for somebody to cross the border.” That was the post-mortem on the last major immigration legislation from one of the most visible salesman for what the Bush Administration hopes will be the next major immigration package. In response to a question from me at the early morning briefing for White House reporters May 31, Press Secretary Tony Snow pronounced the Simpson-Mazzoli Bill of...