Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

Back in 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (also called the Simpson-Mazzoli Act) was passed into law and signed by President Reagan.  It granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants while also enacting measures to prevent future illegal immigrants.  Voila!  The immigration issue was solved!

Today, we are talking about a new plan to resolve the vastly worse (11 million illegal immigrants) problem with a 'Path to Citizenship' combined with stronger border enforcement.  Hmm, this is sounding familiar.  In 1986, we got the Amnesty but didn't get the enforcement to prevent a huge flood of new immigrants.  Now Congress is assuring us that this time it will work.  Trust us just one more time.  Oh, and ignore that report from the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) that says the bill will only cut illegal immigration by 25%.

I've had a lot of good will toward Marco Rubio, the putative architect of this current immigration reform but he's lost me on this.  When he first started pushing for this, he was adamant that border security would happen before any path to citizenship could kick in.  That is no longer the case.  Border security is secondary while amnesty (euphemistically call 'legal status') is instantaneous.  Sounds like a replay of 1986.

 

Why is this so urgent now?  Republicans seem to think that Hispanics hate them and that passing Amnesty will perhaps win some to the cause.  Really?  Why didn't the last Amnesty - signed into law by a Republican - give the Republicans a larger share of their vote?  The history is not favorable but they're going to try it again.  I see why Pat Caddell calls Republicans the Stupid Party.  Hispanics vote Democrat and the Republicans are trying to get millions of more voters for the other party.  Stupid.

 

But the new law will stop the flow, right?  No.  Congress passed a law to build a border fence.  The law of the land says there is to be 700 miles of fence.  Law!  Passed by Congress and signed by the president in 2006.  Only 37 miles were built and the project abandoned.  If that law can be so readily ignored, what makes anyone think that a new law promising border enforcement will be obeyed?  Recall Simpson-Mazzoli?  We already have laws on the books that aren't enforced.  The Federal Government sued the state of Arizona for attempting to enforce some of those laws!

 

Actions speak louder than words.  Every action shows that the Feds don't want the border secure.  The only purpose of this bill is Amnesty.  Everything else will be ignored after the fact, just like Simpson-Mazzoli, just like the border fence.  And 30 years hence, we'll do it again.