Flake Gutierrez Bill, amnesty in sheeps clothing

Our government is at it again. We now have been introduced to the Flake-Gutierrez Bill for immigration reform, otherwise known as HR 1645, The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy, (STRIVE) Act, introduced on the floor March 22, 2007.

In 1986 we were presented with the Immigration Reform and Control Act, (IRCA), which was signed into law by President Reagan. It was supposed to put an end to our problems with illegal aliens.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy made the following comments regarding all his previous attempts at passing immigration reform bills.

"Out of deference to the critics, I want to comment on...what the bill will not do. First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same..."

He went on to say,

"Contrary to the charges in some quarters, S.500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and economically deprived."
Finally, he stated,
"As I noted a moment ago, no immigrant visa will be issued to a person who is likely to become a public charge..."

How short are our memories? Senator Kennedy says that we will not be flooded with a million new illegal aliens a year. What does Senator Kennedy think 20 million illegal aliens is, a drip in the faucet?

Representatives Flake and Gutierrez are now promising us the same kinds of things with their STRIVE Act. Are we that stupid and our memories so short that we are going to believe them?
How many amnesties must we give before the people of this country say enough is enough? How many facts must the people of this country be presented with before they realize they are being lied to about immigration?

Did you know that the United States grants 2 million immigrant visas per year? Did you know, in addition to the immigrant visas we also issue 400,000 H1B work visas per year, 900,000 additional employment visas, 660,000 student visas, and 455,000 temporary employment transfers?

How many guest workers do we need in this country before our elected officials are satisfied that not enough Americans have lost their jobs to lower paid immigrants? Congressman Flake, on the Lou Dobbs show, made the comment that 5 percent of our workforce is made up of illegal aliens, and that we can't just deport 5 percent of the workers in this country.

Isn't it a coincidence that according to the U.S. Department of Labor, in California, a state with a large percentage of illegal aliens, the unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost

So, what exactly does the STRIVE Act do for immigrants? First off it is an amnesty, no matter what they tell you. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

The STRIVE Act grants an almost guaranteed path to citizenship to most of the illegal aliens already here. First they become non-immigrants, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean, then if they can prove they have worked here for six years they, and their spouses and children, can become lawful residents. (Section 601) So instead of getting just the illegal aliens, we get the whole family, what a bargain!

It also makes them sit through English classes, just to show it is not in all actuality an amnesty. Yet the same was true in 1986 with IRCA, and everyone agreed that was an amnesty. (Section 601 & 602)

It also has a touch back clause in which they must return to Mexico for 24 hours before re-entering at an authorized port of entry. Current immigration law states that they must wait 10 years before attempting to re-enter the U.S. (Section 602)

Illegal aliens do not have to pay back taxes, they only have to enter into an agreement with the IRS to eventually pay the taxes. (Section 602)

The bill also requires taxpayers, you and I, to fund grants to private organizations to help illegal aliens apply for amnesty. (Section 662)

If an illegal alien applies for this amnesty and is denied for using fraudulent documents, the U.S. government cannot use that information to have that alien removed. Any government employee who divulges that information will be fined $10,000. (Section 604)

If you are currently in the U.S. on a legal visa, for whatever purpose, you do not qualify for this amnesty. However if you are in this country on an overstayed visa you do qualify. (Section 601)

The bill does not send illegal immigrants to the "back of the line". There are over 3 million aliens who have been approved for green cards as relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who have been waiting patiently for visas to become available. They will continue to have to wait overseas for years, even decades, for their visas to become available. Under the Flake-Gutierrez bill, millions of illegal immigrants who will claim to have been here illegally since 2006 can work in the U.S. and be eligible for permanent residence eight years after enactment (Section 602)

Employers who hired illegal aliens are absolved from all civil and criminal liability for having hired illegal aliens prior to this bill. (Section 607)

Illegal immigrants have other options to apply for amnesty under the Flake-Gutierrez bill - including the DREAM Act (title VI, subtitle B) and the AgJobs Act. (title VI, subtitle C)
Legal immigration would also be increased with the passage of this bill. A conservative estimate puts the numbers at an additional 700,00 green cards issued per year. Remember, we already grant 2 million of them a year, so now we will be giving out close to 3 million green cards a year. (Section 511)

The H1B visas would go up to a maximum of 180,000 per year. Students with graduate degrees in math or science are exempt from those numbers, which will, in all actuality increase those numbers. (Section 507)

Section 517 gives organizations the right send however many women to the U.S. who have a “credible fear of harm related to her sex“, and we will have no choice but to accept them.
In this bill, the workers' employers can apply for green cards for them at any time, and the workers can apply on their own after having worked in the program for five years. Once the green card applications are filed, the workers can stay and work as long as it takes for a green card to become available. Thus, there could be many millions of these foreign workers and their families in the country at any one time in the future. (sections 401, 407)

Now this one ought to get your attention. Employers are specifically allowed to lay-off American workers and replace them with "new" foreign workers as long as they lay-off the Americans more than 90 days before or after they file the petitions for the foreign workers. (section 402)

You might also have heard rumors of the plan for a North American Union. Well the Flake Gutierrez bill mandates that the Department of Homeland Security identifies progress of developing and implementing an “immigration security strategy for North America that works toward the development of a common security perimeter” for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. (Section 113)

As for strengthening our border and enforcing immigration law, the bill requires that when additional vehicle barriers are built along the border, we have to consult with Mexican officials to solicit the views of Mexican communities, lessen tensions, and foster greater understanding! (sections 103, 123)

The taxpayer must provide immigration-law violators who are being detained with "individual and group counseling", "daily access to indoor and outdoor recreational programs and activities", services that recognize their "special religious, cultural [and] spiritual" needs, and must fund new detention facilities with "meaningful . . . recreational activities", "private toilet and shower facilities" and clothes that are not "prison-style uniforms or jumpsuits". (section 175, 178)

Currently, state and local law enforcement are able to voluntarily assist DHS with the enforcement of all our immigration laws - criminal and civil. The Flake-Gutierrez bill only allows them to assist in the enforcement of criminal immigration laws. This severely limits the ability of local law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants until they can be picked up by DHS. (Section 215)

The bill claims to have tough criminal penalties to crack down on gang violence. However, the bill does not take the single most effective step to combat immigrant gang violence - it does not make make members of criminal street gangs deportable (as the House-passed Sensenbrenner-King bill did last Congress). (section 234)

The Flake-Gutierrez bill prohibits state and local governments from punishing employer who hire illegal immigrants, from requiring employers to use the employment eligibility verification system, or from requiring that the system be used to verify the legal status of renters, public benefits applicants and people undergoing background checks. (section 301)

Employers nationwide cannot favor U.S. citizens for jobs over certain foreign workers, including illegal immigrants granted Temporary Protected Status. (section 304)

Employers can avoid using the verification system simply by calling new hires "independent contractors". (section 301)

Those are some of the provisions of the Flake Gutierrez bill. Does it sound like things are going to get any better if this bill makes it to President Bush for his signature, which he will gladly sign.

Finally a few thoughts on what this means to you if this bill does pass into law. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for most kinds of welfare. Once they are granted amnesty and then become citizens, they become eligible for billions of dollars in public assistance. The Heritage Foundation estimates the eventual fiscal cost to the taxpayers of amnesty will be $30 billion per year.

Amnesty recipients will receive Social Security benefits based on their illegal work. Since most illegal immigrants worked under fake Social Security Numbers or Numbers stolen from U.S. citizens, it will create unknown costs for the Social Security Administration. (Section 211 of the Social Security Protection Act, Pub L. No. 108-203)

In conclusion, when we passed IRCA back in 1986, we granted 2.7 million amnesties. This time it is 12-20 million amnesties. Since this bill does little to stop the flow of illegal aliens into our country, think about the next amnesty bill. Is it going to be for 30, 40, or even 50 million more illegal aliens? It doesn’t matter though, by then the American people will have forgotten the 20 million we granted amnesty to in 2007 just like they forgot about the 2.7 million we already granted amnesty to in 1986. My only suggestion for those of you who can’t seem to remember things like this, is that you learn to speak Spanish, because it will soon be our national language.