Immigration Reform: Will We EVER Learn?
Illegal immigration has been a huge problem in the United States for decades, and it’s not going away. Even arguably the best conservative President in the modern age, Ronald Reagan, couldn’t get it right. Apparently, though, we never learn from our mistakes. The current bill being pushed through Congress, and its questionable Amendment, are the perfect example of this on two fronts. First, amnesty has been tried and failed miserably; and second, jamming huge bills through Congress without leaving time to actually read them before voting on them worked out so well with Obamacare that Harry Reid is trying it again. That last one should be your first clue that this amnesty bill is bad news for America.
First aside, I will not call those who come to this country by breaking our laws anything other than what they are: illegal. Oh, and criminals. By definition, if you break a federal law, you are a CRIMINAL!
In 1986 the American people were told that there were approximately 1.5 million illegal immigrants in the US, and the tide must be stopped. What we citizens, those born here and who came here legally, weren’t told was that the number was most likely more than 3 million. How did we find that out? There were 3 million illegals granted legal status under the 1986 law after its passage.
The Simpson-Mazzoli Act was proposed as a way to stop the tide of illegal immigration into the United States. In short, it restricted the hiring of illegal immigrants in the workplace and allowed illegal immigrants already in the country to stay here legally and avoid deportation. It was an amnesty bill. Opponents of the bill argued that granting amnesty and providing illegal immigrants a path to citizenship would encourage more illegal immigrants to come here (sound familiar?). They were right.
Current estimates of the number of illegals in the US are in the neighborhood of about 11-12 million. As in 1986, that number is probably much higher. Many US Border Patrol Agents estimate that for each illegal they catch, 7-10 successfully enter the US. By that kind of more realistic number, the estimate of illegals who have entered the US (and stayed here) since 1986 is 41.8 million. So much for amnesty stopping illegal immigration.
Now amnesty for the millions here has been again proposed. Why? Because the left sees a large block of new voters they can bribe with welfare, free education, healthcare and Obama phones, and enforcing the law and deporting them all makes them look bad. The bleeding hearts are having a field day while terrorists, violent criminals and yes, families looking for a better life, continue to stream across the huge holes in our security. Is there an easy answer? No. But let’s look at the drain on resources for citizens. Illegals are demanding and getting welfare, free education and free medical care. The taxpayer can’t keep footing the bill. Our own children are getting the short end of the stick.
The second things that we haven’t learned are shades of Pelosi and “pass the bill so we can find out what’s in it” because that worked out so well for Americans with Obamacare. Have you seen your health insurance premiums lately?
On Friday Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) tweeted: “New immigration bill, just released, is 1170 pages long. Harry Reid schedules Monday vote.” Um, ok, I read faster than most people, but 1170 pages in 2 days? The left learned its lesson with Obamacare and are pushing for fast passage. Those who wrote it said they included everything including border security, stricter workplace enforcement, a rewrite of the legal-immigration system and a program to legalize 11 million illegal immigrants all into the same bill. But that wasn’t enough, and an Amendment to it soon followed, the Corker-Hoeven-Rubio Amendment.
