Immigration Bill: The Devil in the Details
May 25, 2007
As Congress debates the illegal alien amnesty bill, allow me to set the record straight on several misconceptions. First of all, this business of ‘they'll have to pay a $5,000 fine' is very misleading. You only have to pay the fine if you want to become a citizen. If they wanted to become citizens they would've come in the right way to start with. If you just want to stay here and work and/or sponge off the system, you get yourself a Z visa. The Z visa, according to Section 601(k)(2) of the legislation, allows you to work, attend school (at taxpayer expense), even leave the country and come back in. It can be renewed every four years for life. You never have to apply for citizenship. You just stay. Of course, that's not amnesty, is it?
According to a Heritage Foundation analysis of the bill, it “would effectively shut down the immigration court system. Under Section 601(h)(6), if an alien in the removal process is ‘prima facie eligible' for the Z visa, an immigration judge must close any proceedings against the alien and offer the alien an opportunity to apply for amnesty.”
One of the more troubling provisions of the bill is how it deals with gang members. This provision alone should tell us something about these folks who are pushing it. As you're probably aware, the Latino gang, MS-13, is in practically every state now. They've taken over entire sections of towns in places like Los Angeles. Their members are predominately illegal. Under the current legislation being debated, gang members need only sign a “renunciation of gang affiliation” and they're off the hook. I'm not kidding. These same people who broke into the country and are now raping, killing and dealing drugs will be trusted to sign their name to a piece of paper renouncing their gang affiliation and they're free to stay!
The bill also allows illegal aliens to instantly qualify for in-state tuition rates. While my son has little chance of getting into the University of North Carolina in our neighboring state, an illegal alien can come here and not only get in but have it paid for him.
How about this little nugget? Section 622(m) of the bill would allow millions of illegal aliens who work in agriculture to receive free legal services. That's right, free legal services. I don't get free legal services. Do you?
But, the biggest lie of all is that this bill requires us to secure our borders first, before anything else is allowed. They call it the trigger provision. Guess what? Section 1(a) allows provisional Z visas to be issued immediately after enactment. That's right. There is no waiting for the border security triggers. What's more, Section 601(f)(2) prohibits the federal government from waiting more than 180 days after enactment to begin issuing provisional Z visas. So, it's 1986 all over again. They pass an amnesty bill all the while assuring us that we'll secure the border. The amnesty is passed and the borders are never secured. It's the 1986 bill on steroids.
Here's what I don't understand. If they say the American people want us to secure the borders first then why don't we just secure the borders first? Pass a bill that only addresses building a fence and hiring border patrol agents then we'll talk about how we're going to get these illegals out of the country. Oh, yeah. They passed that last year. And guess what? We still haven't funded the fence or the new border patrol agents. What makes you think they'll actually do it now?