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Immigration Reform With Amnesty Is Still Very Much Alive

October 13, 2013
By Nancy Thorner

It's been quite some time since the issue of immigration reform has been a topic that has reached the attention of the public through media reports.

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It's been quite some time since the issue of immigration reform has been a topic that has reached the attention of the public through media reports.  In the meantime there have been numerous immigration rallies held, the most recent one on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., when because of the government shutdown the World War II Memorial was barricaded and not officially open to veterans (as it was for illegal immigrants) who had come to pay tribute as representatives of the "The Greatest Generation." 

The issue of immigration reform, however, is still very much alive and is being crafted below the radar by pro-amnesty members of the House, even in the midst of the government shutdown when House members are attempting to negotiate over Obamacare, the debt-ceiling, and the budget as a means to reopening the present partial government shutdown.  And this at a time when Britain is moving to limit immigration -- as reported in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, October 11 -- with an Immigration Bill designed to make it easier to remove illegal immigrants and to prevent them from using state-funded services such as health care!

Much has been said and written about the Senate's controversial immigration reform bill S.744 (Gang of Eight) passed in late June. Claims made by the White House about S.744 don't stack up against the facts.  As recounted in a Heritage Foundation Morning Bell post on September 6th.

1.  CLAIM:  The Senate-passed bill would reduce the deficit, but the amnesty part of it would be extremely costly for American taxpayers, particularly in the long run.

2.  CLAIM:  The Senate-passed bill would increase wages, when instead many legally present workers would find their wages lower.   

3.  CLAIM:  The Senate-passed bill would eliminate visa backlogs and reduce waiting times, when it would overwhelm the current immigration system. 

4.  CLAIM:  The Senate-passed bill would provide a "lengthy but fair" path to earned citizenship, but amnesty is inherently unfair to those who waded through the complex and convoluted immigration system to come and remain here legally.  Approximately 4.4 million individuals at this moment are waiting in the line to be granted entry to this nation.

5.  CLAIM:  The Senate-passed bill would improve employment-based visa programs, when it would make the process worse.  The list of new restrictions on employers of H-1B visa recipients include requiring employers to pay higher wages to most H-1B workers than current U.S workers and other requirements that would create a bureaucratic nightmare for employers and put them in legal jeopardy.  

According to U.S. Border Patrol agents who work along the Mexican border and also patrol many of the roads that lead from the border to US cities, their beefs include:   In making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions, such as ordinary traffic stops, Federal law enforcement officers may not use race or ethnicity to any degree, except that officers may rely on race and ethnicity if a specific description exists.  Meaning, if an overflowing van is spotted with Hispanics heading north from the Mexican border, all the Border Patrol agents can do is sit and watch them drive by as the agents didn't actually see them crossing the border.

Within the immigration reform bill is a provision that will allow the Department of Homeland Security to collect data on all immigration law enforcement activities to see if anyone is guilty of racial or ethnic profiling.  This will result in millions more illegals flooding over the border hoping to be rewarded a promised path to citizenship for their illegal acts.  Likewise, drug traffickers will have open roads to truck illegal drugs into the U.S.

As reported by Breitbart News in July, a mandate similar to the one found in Obamacare is likewise contained in the Senate's immigration reform bill that, according to the CBO scoring of the legislation, would impose a $20 billion Medicaid expansion on States over a decade-long period should President Obama should sign a version of the Senate's immigration reform bill into law.  How come?  Because of the increased number of individuals who would become eligible for either full Medicaid or more limited emergency benefits. 

What would be the consequences of a mandate expanding Medicaid here in Illinois?   In April of this year Tribune reporter Bruce Japsen reported:

Illinois doctors, hospitals and pharmacists are turning away poor patients and cutting services because the state owes them more than $1 billion in overdue Medicaid payments.

The state budget crisis has forced the Illinois Department of Public Aid to be more than six months behind in some payments to providers of care to the 1.6 million Illinoisans insured by the Medicaid program.

And let's not forget, even thought immigration legislation is now stalled in Congress, that it hasn't prevented President Obama from issuing policy directives that grant amnesty by default.  An Obama directive in August of this year compelled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants such as in cases where an illegal alien is the primary provided for any minor child -- regardless of the child's immigration status -- or the parent or guardian of a child who is a U.S citizen or legal permanent resident.

Also consider how In June of 2012, by executive fiat, a memorandum was issued informing US. immigration officials how  this nation's immigration laws should be enforced against certain young people who were brought to this country as children and know only this country as home.  Despite the same proposal failing in Congress more than 30 times, the fiat allowed major portions of the DREAM Act to be implemented. 

Perhaps the most disturbing but least discussed feature of the Gang of Eight's immigration plan is the detrimental effects S. 744 would have on this nation's labor force.  Certain business groups will be provided with multiple avenues to avoid hiring U.S workers with the ability to bring in record numbers of workers from abroad.  In addition to the issuing of 30 million green cards, S.74 also doubles the number of non-immigrant guest workers admitted each year from approximately 600,000 today to an average of 2.1 million annually over the next decade.

Part 2 two will detail how the House's immigration bill is progressing even now as Speaker Boehner and Republican House members deal with the government shutdown; which House members are pushing immigration reform; and why it's essential that immigration reform be stopped in the House.

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