Looks like Republicans in the Senate got the message on immigration: No amnesty, dramatically tighten border control, and get serious about illegal immigrants already here. By voting en bloc to open up the bill to the amendment process, Senate Republicans have probably scuttled the process entirely:
The Senate sidetracked sweeping immigration legislation Friday, leaving in doubt prospects for passing a bill offering the hope of citizenship to millions of men, women and children living in the United States illegally.A carefully crafted compromise that supporters had claimed could win an overwhelming majority received only 38 of the 60 votes necessary to protect it from weakening amendments by opponents.
Republicans were united in the 38-60 parliamentary vote but Democrats, who have insisted on no amendments, lost six votes from their members.
Earlier Friday, President Bush prodded lawmakers to keeping trying to reach an agreement, but both sides said the odds were increasing that a breakthrough would not occur until Congress returns from a two-week recess.
We can add a charge of incompetence to the growing list of sins committed by the Republican Senate. To even offer a bill that contained “guest worker” provisions smacks of stupidity given the backlash by their conservative base on the issue over the last few weeks. Frist and Co. should have also known the Democrats were not going to let them off the hook by allowing this “compromise” to pass with amendments (such as removing or severely modifying the amnesty program). Once again, Frist has bungled.
And this guy wants to be President?
Brietbart seemed to be asking the same question:
Frist, R-Tenn., a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sought to establish more conservative credentials when he initially backed a bill limited to border security. At the same time, he has repeatedly called for a comprehensive bill adopting Bush’s rhetoric and involved himself in the fitful negotiations over the past several days.
Some leadership.
The bill itself is an incoherent mish-mash that little resembles what the House of Representatives passed. The “guest worker” program is ludicrous:
Illegal immigrants here more than five years could work for six years and apply for legal permanent residency without having to leave the country. Those here two years to five years would have to go to border entry points sometime in next three years, but could immediately return as temporary workers. Those here less than two years would have to leave and wait in line for visas to return.
Simply handing illegals a permanent resident card who’ve managed to evade capture for more than 5 years by hiding in enclaves where they remain undocumented and unassimilated will only encourage others to try and emulate them. After all, the immigration issue comes up in Congress every decade or so. Might was well amble across the border and wait for the next opportunity for politicians and businessmen to come up with one more plan that they won’t call amnesty but will for all intents and purposes be exactly that.
It gets loonier. All we ask of immigration scofflaws who’ve been here between 2-5 years is to show up at a border crossing and get a “temporary” workers’ permit.
That permit will be about as “temporary” as the insanity that seems to infect our lawmakers when they try and deal with immigration issues.
Let’s hope that Senate Republicans come to their senses and deal with illegal immigration as it should be dealt with; as a matter of national security and as an issue of fairness to the tens of thousands of legal immigrants who play by the rules only to see their honesty rewarded by being slapped in the face by their elected representatives.
UPDATE
In “The Definition of Amnesty” Michelle Malkin nails it:
Guess what? None –not one—of those amnesties was associated with a decline in illegal immigration. On the contrary, the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. has tripled since President Reagan signed the first amnesty in 1986. The total effect of the amnesties was even larger because relatives later joined amnesty recipients, and this number was multiplied by an unknown number of children born to amnesty recipients who then acquired automatic US citizenship.
And as I’ve noted before, there is no such thing as a “temporary” amnesty.
This entire debate is eerily reminiscent of campaign finance reform. Every time we muck with federal election laws governing political contributions, bigger and better loopholes are discovered by the army of lawyers who cater to the campaign contribution industry. It’s ridiculous.
UPDATE II: VINDICATION!
Slightly off topic, here’s Mickey Kaus on Mexican irridentism quoting a prominent Mexican-American author who is seeking to mainstream the idea of reconquista.
I got a chuckle out of both Taylor Marsh and C-Span host Steve Scully during my appearance last Sunday when I brought up the resistance to assimilation by some Mexican illegals and how that has led to a growing movement to “give back” portions of US territory to Mexico. I said at the time this was nothing to laugh at. The quotes from this author prove me correct.
11:55 am
Senate Vote Shelves Immigration Bill
Via brietbart
The Senate sidetracked sweeping immigration legislation Friday, leaving in doubt prospects for passing a bill offering the hope of citizenship to millions of men, women and children living in the United States illegally.
A carefully cra…
1:32 pm
Senate Vote Shelves Immigration Bill
The Senate sidetracked sweeping immigration legislation Friday, leaving in doubt prospects for passi
1:36 pm
Sorry, but it seems to me that you are the one that is pretty incoherent here. How about dealing with the real issue?
There has been a continuing influx of illegals because the ECONOMY NEEDS THE WORKERS. The Reagen-era amnesty was a great success, because it integrated workers into the mainstream of American life. The fact that it failed to stem the tide is not a problem with the amnesty but a function of the underlying problem of how we regulate immigration. Malkin is her typically idiotic self when she pretends that the amnesty should have somehow stopped illegals coming – failing to deal with the obvious fact that the illegals come because there is work that needs doing.
We need immigrants as a function of the growth of the economy. We regulate immigrants in a POLITICAL context – we have congresscritters vote on how many people to allow into the country. This combination is extremely inefficient. Wise political leaders would establish quotas that match the needs of the economy. If they let too many in, there would be widespread unemployment amongst immigrants, and hopefully that would then lead to restriction. If they let in too few, then either the economy suffers from lack of workers, or you get a lot of illegals. Clearly that is the situation that we have today.
Any commentary on the immigration situation that fails to take, as a point of departure, the fact that the problem is caused by absurd quota-levels, is simply avoiding the obvious point.
The GOP plans to criminalize needed workers, or to continue to leave them in legal limbo is a triumph of ideological stupidity over a common-sense concern for the ongoing health of the economy.
The illegals that are here now are needed for our continued prosperity. Yes, they have broken the law. But the law as written is totally out of touch with the needs of the nation. Its like putting a 40mph speed limit on the interstates. You can rant and rave all you want about punishing the speeders, but a serious approach would be to accept that the underlying problem is with the idiots who wrote the law.
The McCain-Kennedy approach is a sensible way to deal with reality, in a manner that doesnt endanger our economy. It allows / forces NEEDED workers to be integrated into the mainstream where they can function as normal human beings, and we can know who they are and what they are doing.
2:43 pm
They want to be president?
Sen. Frist has shown he flip-flops like Kerry and McCain can’t even help his home state.
10:48 pm
Senator Frist is the Davy Crockett of our time, you’ll see. He only seems wishy-washy because his splendor requires a “blender.” It is not for naught that he is known to his compatriots as “El Tigre.” My goodness, that is catchy. Really, really, no kidding, Senator Frist is the Davy Crockett of our time. “Remember the Alamo!” That last was not authorized by Senator Frist.
6:25 am
In the meantime, while we play Hamlet, nothing stands still. The problem gets worse every day.
11:21 pm
I guess it really is hard to get anything done in the congress. All i’ve heard for months is how bad the Republicans are on ethics and corruption. First we find that 40 of the 44 (corrupt) democrats in the senate were in ‘Jack’s’ pocket and now the dim-wits leader on the ethic’s committee has a bushel of ethic charges dumped on his desk. Something about how he did away with what? $150 + million of the taxpayers dollars by feeding it to his political contributors. By now they probably wish they had kept their mouth shut, but then again most of them really aren’t that smart. Jabbing themselves in the eye with a sharp stick is their normal. Most of them probably have a illlegal criminals or two working for them, Hanoi John’s driver for instance.
2:48 am
One thing that the House and the Senate fail to address is the various cities that order the Police to ignore illegal immigrant status, and many that cater to the illegals.
I have to laugh when I hear those who say conservatives want to “criminalize” illegals.
By definition ILLEGAL immigrants are criminals.
Frist has caved on virtually everything the Dems want. I will never vote for him if he runs for President.
If we actually do need more workers, then what is wrong with increasing the number of LEGAL immigrants?