Posted by
davecatbone on Friday, May 18, 2007 10:34:34 AM
There's a multitude of opinion on the net about the new bill. Some Conservatives are saying it's the best we will get. And McCain is gleeful to have been able once again to "reach across the aisle" and kiss Ted Kennedy's posterior. but the proof is in the pudding.
And what would really happen if the bill is enacted is still a mystery.
The
simple turning of a phrase can make all the difference.
Big Lizards pointed out that although the bill says:
Border security. The following provisions must be "implemented" before either regularization of illegal aliens or enactment of the temporary-worker program can occur:
- 370 miles of additional border fence (unknown
whether that means actual wall the whole way, wall plus fence, or wall
plus fence plus virtual fence);
- 18,000 additional Border Patrol agents;
- "Effective, electronic employee-verification system for the workplace;"
- Crackdown on employers who hire illegals;
I don't know if "implemented" means completed, begun, funded, or what;
presumably, this will be hashed out during the actual Senate debate
[all from WaPo -- the Washington Post article];
And notes that people are:
skeptical that the federal government can actually enforce the
border-security provisions and actually make the guest workers go home
after two years... but they have no doubt of the government's ability
to regularize current illegals.
The main point about the bill for me, is the border enforcement. This Democratic congress has no credibility when it comes to National Security or Law Enforcement. So my guess is they'll find a way to neutralize the enforcement portiions.
Big Lizards points out that:
critical to national security is securing the border with some combination of wall, fence, and virtual fence, in order to keep out the next 12 million potential illegal aliens.
Duncan Hunter tells anyone who'll listen that a fence in San Diego stopped more than 90% of the illegals.
That's my line in the sand. If we can spend billions on entitlements,
we can fund a fence from the Gulf to the Pacific.
UPDATE: RICH LOWREY'S PIECE ON TH CONTAINS:
Rep. Duncan
Hunter, R-Calif., noted at the second Republican presidential debate
that the Department of Homeland Security has $1 billion for the fence,
but "they want to drag their feet and hook this up with amnesty." Give
him points for clairvoyance. The sweetener luring some conservative
Republicans into the Senate deal is that it would have enforcement
benchmarks that would have to be met in theory before other provisions
kick in.
The benchmarks include 370 miles of fencing on the border
(half what was in the Secure Fence Act) and the hiring of thousands
more border agents. If these things happen, however, it still might be
that more illegals come here, pulled by the allure of amnesty. The only
meaningful benchmarks would be reductions in the number of border
crossings and the size of the illegal population already here.