Welcome to “Estados Unidos del Oaxaca Norte” – the former “United States of America” Part 2 – How Not to Fix the Problem by
Welcome to “Estados Unidos del Oaxaca Norte” – the former “United States of America” Part 2 – How Not to Fix the Problem by Larry Stout
Politicians love low-hanging fruit. If there is an issue that seventy plus percent of the voting population favor, you can be sure the powers-that-be would fall over each other to sponsor legislation to support it. Before voting, they would declare how important this issue is and how firm their commitment is to it. It would take true political incompetence to screw up something that almost everyone wants done. This, of course, is exactly what happened in the recent immigration bill fiasco in the United States Senate.
The issue itself is two-sided: first, the need to stop the virtually unrestrained illegal immigration flowing in from Mexico (enforcement) and second, determine the status of millions of illegal aliens currently residing in the United States (legalization). Many polls, particularly by Rasmussen, demonstrated clearly that the enforcement side of the debate is where the public passion lies on the issue. Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters say it is Very Important for “the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration.” The Rasmussen poll further showed that this view was held by 89 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats, and 63 percent of unaffiliated voters.
I defy anyone to name another issue that would have such cross-over appeal. In sports metaphor, this should have been a slam-dunk. The legislative geniuses in the US Senate had two ways they could have gone. They could have plucked the fruit and wrote a good piece of enforcement regulation that would widely be heralded by all. On the winds of those sails, they then could have tackled the tougher issue of legalization of those illegal immigrants already here. Knowing the American people, their sympathies would probably have been with the disenfranchised and some workable compromise would have been reached.
Instead, the Senators decided on a “comprehensive” package linking the two issues. Republican senator Jon Kyl and Democratic senator Ted Kennedy designed a legislative compromise that seemed to give everyone what they wanted. Or so it seemed… But right away conservative groups spotted a huge flaw in that security issues were being given a back seat to the legalization issues. Seeking to remedy this, Republican senator Judd Gredd added an amendment that required “demonstrated” operational control of the entire border with Mexico, and Republic senator Johnny Isakson added a “trigger” that would delay any legalization reforms until all the steps to tighten border security have been taken.
There were some other good measures in the Kyl-Kennedy bill. One of them was the discontinuation of chain migration, whereby extended families of immigrants are given preference in entering America. Sixty percent or more of legal immigrants in recent years have arrived through this policy, which unfortunately suffocates those who should be allowed to enter on the basic of merit, i.e. education, skills, job experience, etc. Best of all, this legislation would eliminate the ridiculous “visa lottery” that allows 50,000 immigrants annually selected at random. A 2002 terrorist attack at the El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport, which resulted in the death of two people. was the result of Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, an Egyptian with the Muslim Brotherhood. His wife had ‘won’ a green card in the lottery and he was allowed to immigrate on the basis of chain migration. The new legislation was designed to plug these holes.
In short, the enforcement side of the package was not just good – it was very good. In fact, coming from someone who studies politics rather actively, I would even go so far as to say it was one of the best pieces of legislation put together by the Senate in quite some time. That is, of course, until they came to the flip side of the coin – legalization. The elephant in the room was 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. The truth of the matter is that no one was going to kick them out of the country. But the Senate had a tightrope to walk, as there was very small support for legalization. Polls showed that less than thirty percent felt it was important for the government to legalize the status of illegal aliens already in the United States.
As brilliant as the legislation for enforcement, this was how brain-dead the proposals were for legalization. Instead of some incremental process that would emphasize English language acquisition and a limitation on entitlements, the bill proposed a Z-1 “probationary” visa which was a blanket amnesty in all but name.
The legalization portion was so unpopular that it would have had to fly under the radar if it had any chance of success at all. Unfortunately, someone forgot to give the memo to the United States Senate that we no longer live in the 1960s, which was the last time Congress passed immigration legislation. With the Internet, cable news and talk radio abounding, nothing on an issue that concerned so many Americans was going to slip quietly by. Actually, the Z-1 concept had some possibilities and with a little more legislative skill it could have been worked into a fair and just program. As it was proposed, however, it provided far too many benefits to the illegals and also seemed to give a fast track to citizenship to those breaking the law above those who were already falling the legal process.
Proverbs 11:1 states that “the Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are His delight.” The Kyl-Kennedy immigration bill was not balanced and its defeat should not be lamented. However, as noted last week, there is no cause for rejoicing. There is still a huge problem with this issue and every passing day under the present system weakens the United States. Christians should pressure their elected officials in Washington DC to try again – this time with an eye on righteousness and justice instead of how many new voters they can put into the next election.
Politicians love low-hanging fruit. If there is an issue that seventy plus percent of the voting population favor, you can be sure the powers-that-be would fall over each other to sponsor legislation to support it. Before voting, they would declare how important this issue is and how firm their commitment is to it. It would take true political incompetence to screw up something that almost everyone wants done. This, of course, is exactly what happened in the recent immigration bill fiasco in the United States Senate.
The issue itself is two-sided: first, the need to stop the virtually unrestrained illegal immigration flowing in from Mexico (enforcement) and second, determine the status of millions of illegal aliens currently residing in the United States (legalization). Many polls, particularly by Rasmussen, demonstrated clearly that the enforcement side of the debate is where the public passion lies on the issue. Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters say it is Very Important for “the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration.” The Rasmussen poll further showed that this view was held by 89 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats, and 63 percent of unaffiliated voters.
I defy anyone to name another issue that would have such cross-over appeal. In sports metaphor, this should have been a slam-dunk. The legislative geniuses in the US Senate had two ways they could have gone. They could have plucked the fruit and wrote a good piece of enforcement regulation that would widely be heralded by all. On the winds of those sails, they then could have tackled the tougher issue of legalization of those illegal immigrants already here. Knowing the American people, their sympathies would probably have been with the disenfranchised and some workable compromise would have been reached.
Instead, the Senators decided on a “comprehensive” package linking the two issues. Republican senator Jon Kyl and Democratic senator Ted Kennedy designed a legislative compromise that seemed to give everyone what they wanted. Or so it seemed… But right away conservative groups spotted a huge flaw in that security issues were being given a back seat to the legalization issues. Seeking to remedy this, Republican senator Judd Gredd added an amendment that required “demonstrated” operational control of the entire border with Mexico, and Republic senator Johnny Isakson added a “trigger” that would delay any legalization reforms until all the steps to tighten border security have been taken.
There were some other good measures in the Kyl-Kennedy bill. One of them was the discontinuation of chain migration, whereby extended families of immigrants are given preference in entering America. Sixty percent or more of legal immigrants in recent years have arrived through this policy, which unfortunately suffocates those who should be allowed to enter on the basic of merit, i.e. education, skills, job experience, etc. Best of all, this legislation would eliminate the ridiculous “visa lottery” that allows 50,000 immigrants annually selected at random. A 2002 terrorist attack at the El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport, which resulted in the death of two people. was the result of Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, an Egyptian with the Muslim Brotherhood. His wife had ‘won’ a green card in the lottery and he was allowed to immigrate on the basis of chain migration. The new legislation was designed to plug these holes.
In short, the enforcement side of the package was not just good – it was very good. In fact, coming from someone who studies politics rather actively, I would even go so far as to say it was one of the best pieces of legislation put together by the Senate in quite some time. That is, of course, until they came to the flip side of the coin – legalization. The elephant in the room was 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. The truth of the matter is that no one was going to kick them out of the country. But the Senate had a tightrope to walk, as there was very small support for legalization. Polls showed that less than thirty percent felt it was important for the government to legalize the status of illegal aliens already in the United States.
As brilliant as the legislation for enforcement, this was how brain-dead the proposals were for legalization. Instead of some incremental process that would emphasize English language acquisition and a limitation on entitlements, the bill proposed a Z-1 “probationary” visa which was a blanket amnesty in all but name.
The legalization portion was so unpopular that it would have had to fly under the radar if it had any chance of success at all. Unfortunately, someone forgot to give the memo to the United States Senate that we no longer live in the 1960s, which was the last time Congress passed immigration legislation. With the Internet, cable news and talk radio abounding, nothing on an issue that concerned so many Americans was going to slip quietly by. Actually, the Z-1 concept had some possibilities and with a little more legislative skill it could have been worked into a fair and just program. As it was proposed, however, it provided far too many benefits to the illegals and also seemed to give a fast track to citizenship to those breaking the law above those who were already falling the legal process.
Proverbs 11:1 states that “the Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are His delight.” The Kyl-Kennedy immigration bill was not balanced and its defeat should not be lamented. However, as noted last week, there is no cause for rejoicing. There is still a huge problem with this issue and every passing day under the present system weakens the United States. Christians should pressure their elected officials in Washington DC to try again – this time with an eye on righteousness and justice instead of how many new voters they can put into the next election.
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