“Comprehensive” Sellout:
Illegal immigration, the Senate and the White House
By Tom DeWeese
There are moments in history when destiny is determined. President Bush and the U.S. Senate now face such a moment as they determine the course of U.S. immigration policy. For this is not simply a policy decision to be based on petty political maneuverings of the day. Ultimately they are deciding the future of the United States of America. Greatness divides the statesmen from the political hucksters.
Last December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an immigration reform bill that takes several steps to restore order from the chaos that now defines America’s southern border. The bill calls for construction of a security fence; it streamlines federal and local law enforcement cooperation on immigration matters, specifically allowing local police to arrest illegals. And the House bill mandates that employers verify the legal status of workers. The bill passed the House with strong bipartisan support.
The House took this action because the current system is broken. It doesn’t serve the national or economic security interests of our country. Our porous borders and lax interior enforcement create opportunities for criminal activity. The smuggling of illegal aliens has become big business for a criminal element. The influx of these illegals are causing economic breakdowns in our neighbors, our schools and our hospitals. Smuggling of illegal drugs plague our cities and our children. Huge holes in the border allow potential terrorists who seek to do us harm to come and go at will, undetected.
At risk is the very make up, traditions and culture of our nation as those who invade our borders express no interest in assimilating as has literally every other immigrant movement in the nation’s history. Truly we are at a crossroads for the future make up of this nation.
The House did a rare thing in today’s political atmosphere by passing its immigration reform act. It took action in response to massive outcries of more than 80% of the American people who are demanding that something be done to stem the invasion of illegals. Even rarer, it has stuck by its guns in support of the bill as hundreds of thousands of illegals and their supporters marched in the streets against it; as the White House derides it; and the Senate ignores it.
Statesmen look beyond their own political needs and consider those of the nation as a whole. The House took the action that was necessary, though many considered such strong action politically incorrect and even dangerous to political careers.
Not so in the United States Senate. On May 25th, the Senate passed its own “comprehensive reform” bill, which bore little resemblance to the House version. It bares even less relationship to anything the overwhelming majority of Americans demanded.
On the day the Senate bill was passed, California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher pointedly told the House “The bill that passed the United States Senate is a travesty, It is a cruel hoax on the American people, using the title “Immigration” to let people think that something is being done that will in some way curb this massive influx of millions of foreigners into our country. It will not. It will make the situation worse, and any rational analysis of this bill will lead to that conclusion.”
Anyone who knows anything about the cause of illegal immigration knows that the first order of business must be to cut off the flow of free benefits paid for by oppressed American tax payers. Stop welfare benefits; stop the free access to medical care; stop the free access to schools, etc.
The Senate bill, far from doing anything to curb illegal immigration, opens the doors to encourage more. As Rep. Rohrabacher said, “This ‘shamnesty’ bill spells out the level of contempt the Senate has for middle-class Americans.
The “comprehensive” Senate bill includes:
- In-state tuition for illegal aliens – while American kids have to pay full price if they cross state lines.
- All temporary “guest workers” have to be paid a prevailing wage.
- All agricultural “guest workers” cannot be fired – except for what the bill calls “just cause.”
- Illegal aliens are made eligible for Social Security benefits. Not only will they receive retirement benefits, but their children will receive survivor benefits should the parents pass away. This is all in a time when the massive influx of baby boomers reaching retirement age threaten to bankrupt the system.
- Increases the number of immigrants who may come here, even as our cities are overrun with foreigners.
- Employers of illegals are granted amnesty too. Employers would be exempt from civil and criminal tax and criminal liability under the Senate bill.
- Taxpayer dollars to radical immigration groups like La Raza (THE RACE) so they can help illegal aliens “adjust” their status. Millions of American tax dollars will go to the same groups who organized the massive demonstrations.
- Will not bar illegal aliens convicted of felonies from obtaining citizenship.
“This bill,” said Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA), “constitutes treachery against U.S. sovereignty. This allows every illegal alien in America to use the fraudulent document industry they have created in the criminal back alleys of our country to claim they have been here 5 years and can now stay forever. They (the Senate) have granted blanket amnesty for citizens of foreign nations against tax fraud, Social Security fraud, Medicare fraud, identity fraud, and bank fraud – all crimes for which there is no forgiveness or mercy for citizens of the United States.”
Meanwhile, President Bush is on an all out campaign to convince us that the Senate bill does not provide amnesty. And that the bill simply helps some good honest folks become American citizens in search of the American dream. The President speaks of a “solemn obligation of the federal government” to secure our borders. He makes a big show of sending National Guard troops to the border. Yet just a few months ago he said building a wall was “impractical.”
Obviously he is talking out of both sides of his mouth as he tries to quietly implement an immigration policy that complies with both international agreements he has signed on to and with personal assurances he has given Mexican President Vicente Fox that the border between the two countries will be eliminated.
While the illegals were marching in our streets, President Bush was in Cancun, Mexico meeting with Fox and cel-ebrating the one year anniversary of the creation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). This is a White House plan being perpetrated by the Bush Administration to construct a new super-regional structure completely by executive orders rather than through legislation. What the Administration has in mind is a NAFTA-Plus or a North American Union on the lines of the European Union to be fully implemented by 2010. Yet, President Bush has said not one word about it in a single speech.
As Jerome Corsi wrote in the May 30th addition of Human Events, “Anyone who has wondered why President Bush has not bothered to secure our borders is advised to spend some time examining the SPP working groups’ agenda. In every area of activity, the SPP agenda stresses free and open movement of people, trade, and capital within the North American Union. Once the SPP agenda is implemented with appropriate departmental regulations, there will be no area of immigration policy, trade rules, environmental regulations, capital flows, public health, plus dozens of other key policy areas that the U.S. Government will be able to decide alone or without first consulting with some appropriate North American Union regulatory body. At best our border with Mexico will become a speed bump, largely erased, with little remaining to restrict the essentially free movement of people trade and capital.” That explains a lot. Obviously the Senate bill is specifically designed to fit into the SPP plan.
Meanwhile, Vicente Fox talks, not of immigration, but of “migration.” He told the Utah state legislature, “Since the beginning of my administration, the government of Mexico has promoted the establishment of a new system that regulates the movement of people across our border in a manner which is legal, safe and orderly.” He also told Canada to accept more low-skilled Mexican workers in its temporary work force, making his push for guest workers a continent-wide affair. Now we know what he means. He was in a small way revealing the plans for the North American Union that he and President Bush have been secretly hatching.
American are angry. They will become angrier still as they are ignored in their demands for an end to the illegal alien invasion of our nation. We must stand behind the House efforts to pass its version of immigration reform. To do so would put a mighty road block in the secret plans of Bush and Fox.
Americans must come to grips with the fact that a sinister plan to destroy the sovereignty and independence of the once mighty United States of America is underway. The Senate bill is not pushed through in arrogance. President Bush is not acting out of ignorance or lack of understanding. What we are witnessing is the wholesale sell out of our freedom.
Tom DeWeese is president of the American Policy Center and editor of the DeWeese Report. Contact information: apcmail@americanpolicy.org