What are they thinking

Sometimes I wish I was a Vulcan. I would love to be able to do the Vulcan mind meld and see what is going on in the minds of our elected representatives. I would be particularly interested in seeing into the minds of the twelve Senators who, behind closed doors, came up with S. 1348, the Grand Compromise immigration legislation that is now being debated on the Senate floor.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made the following comment the other day, "...the American people are very wise on this, and their wisdom will be reflected in the actions of Congress." Obviously certain Senators, including Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jon Kyl, Dianne Feinstein, and Arlen Specter among them, decided that they would hold closed door meetings to formulate what they considered was an immigration reform bill they felt was in the best interests of our country, or did they?

When an overwhelming 80% of the American people are against this proposed legislation it would appear that Speaker Pelosi's words don't quite ring true, the actions of the Senate do not reflect the will of the people.

If that is the case, just who are our senators representing with this immigration reform plan? How about Carlos Gutierrez, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce for one. Secretary Gutierrez was born in Cuba and studied business administration in Mexico. He played a key role in pushing through CAFTA, which has done nothing to improve the economy or the job markets in the United States.

Then there is the Catholic Church, in particular the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony. Cardinal Mahony is a strong proponent of amnesty for illegal aliens and has been very vocal about the church being a sanctuary for those who face deportation. The Cardinal, with his meddling in policy making, obviously does not understand the concept of the separation of church and state.

Then there is the National Council of La Raza. The National Council of La Raza, or "The Race," was condemned last year by Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., as a radical "pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland." In a Washington Post article it was said that, "... La Raza, MALDEF, the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, and the National Immigration Forum are part of a broad network of immigrant rights groups that have been speaking daily with top aides in the offices of Democratic Sens. Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader."

So now we have big business pushing for an endless supply of cheap laborers, the church looking to feed and grant sanctuary of the world, and Hispanic rights groups who want their land back, being represented by our Senate. What about the people who elected these Senators in to office, where is our representation?

Cecilia Munoz, Vice President of the National Council of La Raza stated that, "It is important that we get a good bill over the finish line." Good for whom I ask, certainly not the citizens of the United States.

Senator Spector, one of the authors of this bill says it is not amnesty, it will restore the rule of law to this land. Restore the rule of law? Since 1952, when Congress passed the McCarran-Walter Act, we have had the laws in place to control illegal immigration. They can be found in Title 8 of the United States Code. The laws are there, the will to enforce them are not. To prove my point I refer to something said by Senator Kennedy. The esteemed Senator stated that his bill would "say no more worker abuse", and employers would have to ensure they only hired legal workers. Shortly thereafter the Senator complained about an immigration raid at a New Bedford, Massachusetts company that, “disrupted the lives of scores of families who had laid down roots...” How strong is the Senators will to enforce any immigration law when he won’t enforce the ones we already have?

The Senator also stated, at the press conference that was held when they announced a compromise had been reached, that this bill would bring these workers out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America. Were these illegal aliens in the shadows two years ago in May when they took to the streets and demanded rights they are not entitled to?

If you look at this legislation that was formulated by these masters of the universe, as Senator Jeff Sessions calls them, you will see that it is a disaster waiting to happen. Let's take a look at what kind of compromise our elected officials decided was in our best interests. You may want to sit down for this.

According to current immigration procedures, a prospective immigrant to this country must undergo a physical exam prior to being issued a visa. For the approximately 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country already, that requirement would be waived if this bill passes.
All background checks on those applying for amnesty must be completed within 24 hours, although there is no justification why and plenty of reason to suggest that complete background checks can't be done so quickly.

Gang members would be given amnesty if they renounce their gang membership. If an illegal alien is arrested in an enforcement raid and might be eligible for amnesty, the government must provide help in applying for the Z visa and release the illegal alien.

Illegal aliens would be required to pay a $5000 fine, Illegal aliens are already faced with a $5,000 fine (19 USC 1459 and 19 USC 1433), but this fine is not enforced.

"If passed, this bill will make taxpayers pay the legal bills for illegal aliens seeking amnesty...." - Ken Boehm, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), May 22, 2007.

Section 413 promises U.S. help in getting financial services to Mexico's poor and under-served populations, expanding effort to reduce the transaction costs of remittance flows, helping the Mexican government to strengthen education and job training, and increasing health care access for the poor in Mexico.

Over the next 13 years alone, it would increase the current number of legal foreign-born green card holders from about 25 million (who arrived over 75 years) to around 50 million.

"...The White House misleads with its claims that the amnesty recipients won't get welfare benefits. For the first decade or so they are in the United States, the adults can't get means-tested welfare benefits but their children could. And after that first decade, the adults get to partake of the welfare state as well. For the next 40 years, notes Mr. Rector, they are eligible "for every single type" of these welfare benefits." "So the bottom line is that each of these households receives about $30,000 in government benefits, pays about $10,000 in taxes, at a net cost of around $19,000 per year [after rounding]. That's the equivalent of buying each of these households an automobile and every year of their lives as long as they're in the United States." (The immigration time-bomb Washington Times editorial, May 23, 2007)

The bill would also call for a biometric, tamper proof, identification card that could be used to verify their identity and immigration status for employers. There already is such a system in place at U.S./Mexico border at San Diego. It is so time consuming that it is only used about 2% of the time. Plus, without a thorough background check, which cannot be done in 24 hours as stated in the bill, there is no way to verify exactly who is applying for this new Z visa. With all the false documents these illegal aliens have been using to live and work in the United States for all these years, who knows who we will be allowing to live and stay here legally?

Those are just a few of the provisions in this monstrous bill that is far worse than the amnesty granted in 1986. At least President Reagan had the decency to call and amnesty an amnesty. Under the leadership of these 12 Senators and our president we have been lied to and betrayed.
In closing, I want to remind you of something said by Senator Kennedy back in 1986, when we granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal aliens. The Senator said, “This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forth an amnesty bill like this.” He said it once and he lied. Now he, along with 11 other traitors, are offering up another amnesty. Are you going to sit idly by and allow this to become law? Even more important, are you going to sit back and allow these, so called, elected representatives remain in office?