The Border Security Ruse
A WSJ Editorial
The immigration debate has turned once again to "securing the border," and Republicans are once again demanding more enforcement as the price of their support. Here's the real story: For some Republicans, border security has become a ruse to kill reform. The border could be defended by the 10th Mountain Division and Claymore antipersonnel mines and it wouldn't be secure enough.
(snip)
Amendments by John Thune of South Dakota and Chuck Grassley of Iowa tried to delay the eventual permanent legalization of some 11 million currently illegal residents until "tangible" additional border security benchmarks are met. The amendments failed, but let's be honest. The border will never be secure enough for this crowd, so the "trigger" for the rest of the reforms will never be activated.
(snip)
If reducing illegal immigration is the real objective, Republicans should try to improve this reform. Not by tightening border security, but by making it easier for immigrants to enter and work in the U.S. legally. The bill includes more green cards for high-skilled workers and new guest-worker programs for low-skilled and farm workers, but the visa quotas are inadequate. If Republicans really want to reduce the future flow of illegals, they would use their leverage to expand these guest-worker programs, rather than trying to militarize the border even further.
(snip)
The real game here is to kill a bill that would create a more pro-growth and humane immigration system for America and the millions already here or in line to come. If the right succeeds in blowing all this up, one wonders what comes next? Perhaps Republicans can campaign in 2014 on self-deporting the 11 million illegals who are here now. That worked so well for Mitt Romney.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323393804578555351816118168.html
(If clicking does not open the article, copy and paste the title onto google)
= new reply since forum marked as read
