The stars appear to be aligning for another opportunity for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Apparently, Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR) connects the dots and reads the writing on the wall. Here’s what they report:
- A “placeholder bill” S-9 has been reserved by the Democratic Senate leadership. The lower the number, the higher the priority. Known as “A bill to strengthen the United States economy, provide for more effective border and employment enforcement, and for other purposes” it is, in fact, the legislative reservation where illegal alien amnesty will ultimately be debated.
- Amnesty advocacy groups, purporting to represent Hispanic voters, are seeking to leverage those votes to gain amnesty for illegal aliens.
- President Obama has appointed a disturbing volume of administration officials who are on record as opposing enforcement and/or supporting amnesty. Among them include Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano whose immigration enforcement record as Governor of Arizona is mixed, at best. Others include Cecilia Munoz as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, formerly a Vice President of La Raza, Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor who has supported in-state tuition for illegals and opposed REAL ID, and Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL) who continues his 16-city National Amnesty Tour condemning immigration enforcement and encouraging grassroots organizing to pressure lawmakers.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is “un-American.” The speaker, condemning worksite enforcement efforts by ICE agents, referred to the immigrants she was addressing as “very, very patriotic.”
- In response to an ICE worksite enforcement effort at a Bellingham, WA plant employing illegal aliens, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano revealed her true opinion of worksite enforcement by saying she had “grave concerns” about the enforcement, and promised to “get to the bottom” of it.
- Widespread efforts are underway to roll back or entirely dismantle ICE worksite enforcement and the 287g program. This administration appears to be pushing for immigration enforcement only against convicted violent criminal felons and terrorists. While these individuals must be identified, detained, and/or deported, only targeting this population constitutes a hands-off policy for the vast majority of the illegal alien population.
- E-Verify is still waiting for its permanent reauthorization. It is being held hostage to be used as leverage in a broad amnesty battle. Keeping E-Verify’s existence sputtering along six months at a time with the help of Senator Reid and others maximizes the advantage for the amnesty advocates and their agenda. The expiration of each six-month term represents a new opportunity to use their ace in the hole. “We’ll think about approving E-Verify; you give us amnesty” is the game strategy.
- Groups like America’s Voice, Center for American Progress, MALDEF, LaRaza, and scores of others have shifted their arguments for amnesty to conveniently fit the current economic turmoil and are now claiming that providing a “path to citizenship” for 12 million illegal aliens will actually improve the economy and increase wages. In a more subtle shift, the opposition is now using three tactics in their efforts and arguments to push for legalization: Ignoring the Facts, Appealing to Emotion, and Intimidating and Attacking their Opposition.
- Last, but not least, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) was quoted in the Hispanic press as saying, “I expect to achieve it (amnesty) before September, and I feel extremely confident that we can pass it. We are 59 Democrats and we need 60 votes, then we are going to need a little help and we are going to need them (the Republicans).” [Ponen fecha para reforma migratoria, El Informador, January 28, 2009]
Yep….title fight, round three!
And the democrats with their “we won” will lose big time in future elections. Enjoy while you can.
The interesting thing in response to that Dem dig, APWCR, is that Alanna, who posted that information considers herself a Republican. I consider myself an Independent.
I expect that the Democrats will have a good chance to piss everyone off just like the Republicans did. Then everything will eventually flip flop…for a while, and then it will be time for the other side to have the most marbles for a while.
Oh no, not a “Code Orange”! What does a “Code Orange” mean? Is that like the Dept of Homeland Security’s danger codes or something? Should I break out the duct tape, bwa ha ha!
They will not lose “big time” in future elections because of action on this issue. The only votes they lose will be of the wingnuts, and thankfully, there are not enough of them, plus, they wouldn’t vote Democrat anyway.
Obama said he would go line by line through the budget and cut programs that are not working. Clearly, the immigration system as it is now is not working and is wasting a huge amount of tax payer dollars. They have poured money into “solving” the problem and there has been no improvement. Better to convert these people to be truly contributing members of our society than to keep the status quo.
Recent election history in Virginia and elsewhere has shown that the illegal immigration issue has had only marginal impacts on election outcomes. Most congressmen and Senators who support immigration reform would not suffer any significant adverse political ramifications. There are far, far more important issues for the average voter than illegal immigration.
Slowpoke,
For CIR, I believe it’s round two. For the DreamAct, it’s round three.
Simply put, this is politics. Eventually the pendulum will swing to the other side. However, in consideration of the current state of the Republican Party, I am afraid we might have one party rule for quite some time.
Anyways, I hope there’s true bi-partisan support and that it is a reasonable, balanced approach to fixing the problems.
Republicans better put their stamp on this and make it what they can because there’s no guarantee that the Congress/Senate won’t be more Democratic in two years which would give them free reign to make this legislation into whatever they choose.
M-H, sorry it took so long to say something. I am not a republican and I certainly was not speaking of the one that started the thread. I was just speaking in general about the attitude that some of the more visible democrats, like Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Reid, and Mr. Shummer, who acted like they are gloading to the country that “they won”. There are poor winners in this world, and thank goodness it sometimes comes back to bite. My apologies for not being more precise in my post. I will do better.
And, for the most part, I frankly don’t look to see who started the thread in the first place, nor do I care about their political membership, just the content of their thoughts 🙂
A PW County Resident and everybody,
Please do look at the author of the threads. Each of us are individuals and probably you won’t find three people that agree on all issues. So, checking who the writer is, is paramount to understanding their position.
@Alanna
Your comment makes me chuckle a bit. You can’t feel the backlash building? Do you really think this kind of damage can go on forever?
I think I said I didn’t? did I miss something?
We need to look no further than Prince William County to see how FAIR’s policy agenda damages every aspect of an economy, from the housing market and property values to the size and the output of the small business economy. Forget the fact that FAIR is founded and staffed by white supremacists. Their policy aim is to reverse the demographic shifts being caused by immigration, both legal and illegal. Check their website.
I think America has learned it’s lesson. People who use fear and hatred to further their cause are stampeding some of us in the wrong direction. But if we all go that way, we all suffer.
FAIR is a business with financiers, and people who’s jobs depend on generating opposition to sensible immigration reform. For that reason, they will keep at it, but they will lose.