The United States Senate is currently considering a massive amnesty for illegal aliens.
This would be a disaster for America.
The bill was negotiated in secret. It is hundreds of pages long. It will not be subjected to the usual committee hearings, where supporters and opponents have a chance to state their cases and bills can be subjected to analysis and criticism. It will not even be debated for any significant length of time. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to invoke cloture to end debate on Monday.
Why the rush? Because Americans will not support this bill when they find out what's in it.
Make no mistake. This is amnesty. Supporters use language like a "path to citizenship" or "earned legalization" to hide this fact. But any plan that fails to undo illegal entry is just that. It allows people to stay after violating our laws. But actually, this is even worse than amnesty. It not only forgives the crime, it rewards the lawbreaker with citizenship, and the many benefits that come with it.
This amnesty applies to almost all 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country. The bill also includes a massive increase in legal immigration. It also creates a "guest-worker" program that will allow millions more into the country. Thanks to birthright citizenship, the children of guest workers will become instant citizens.
Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation estimates the cost of this amnesty as and incredible 2.5 trillion dollars. Formerly illegal immigrants would become eligible for government payments from Social Security, Medicare, welfare, public schools, food stamps, and more. The requirement of a $5000 fine for citizenship is a joke given all the government benefits illegals will become eligible for. It also forgives illegals for not paying taxes while they were here illegally.
Millions of poor and middle-class Americans will be displaced from their jobs by immigrants willing to work for less. Democrats who advocate a minimum wage for the supposed benefit of the poor seem all too willing to import immigrants to undersell their labor. Democrats who complain about outsourcing of jobs seem all too willing to insource immigrant workers to take those same jobs. How could any Democrat who genuinely cares about American workers support this bill?
The disuniting of America will accelerate. It is all too clear from watching the illegal alien rallies that many of the millions of illegals remain loyal to their home countries and have no loyalty to America. Some come with hatred of America. Many wave the flags of their home countries and some even celebrate communist mass-murderer Che Guevara. They will not assimilate, as past immigrants have done. Why would they, if we do not demand it? How can we consider giving American citizenship to people who have no loyalty to America?
Since most of the illegals are "minorities", amnesty will result in a huge de facto increase in the use of racial preferences. This will lead to increased polarization and racial strife. America will Balkanize along racial and ethnic lines and the dream of a colorblind society will be ever more remote.
Since there are higher crime rates among many immigrant groups, more Americans will be robbed, raped, and murdered. Since the same is true of drunk driving rates, more Americans will be injured or killed that way. A handful of those alienated from society will commit dramatic crimes.
More American hospitals will be bankrupted and shut down by the increasing demand for free emergency health care. More diseases will be inadvertently spread by new immigrants.
Amnesty would massively undermine respect for the rule of law.
Since rewarding a behavior leads more of it, amnesty will create an even greater incentive for foreigners to enter America illegally. The millions who are legalized would be replaced by ten of millions more illegals. This is exactly what happened after the last "comprehensive" amnesty in 1986. If we pass amnesty now, why wouldn't we do so again in the future?
Supporters of this measure will point to provisions that supposedly secure the border and increase penalties for employers who hire illegals. Don't be fooled. This won't happen. The problem that we have now is not so much with the laws on the books as the government's failure to enforce them. This is no accident; the government refuses to enforce the law. This is because many politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, open-borders ideologues, and ethnic lobbies want it that way. The 1986 amnesty promised stepped-up enforcement; it didn't happen. In 2006, Congress passed a bill to build a fence along the Mexican border; it hasn't happened. What reason do we have to think that any security and enforcement provisions will actually be enforced?
Amnesty will make America more vulnerable to attacks by terrorists since illegal immigration will increase, deportation will be even more difficult, and hiding in ethnic enclaves will be even easier. America will also be more vulnerable to gangs and assorted criminals who are terrorizing poor and minority communities.
This bill is a betrayal of America. It would be a disaster for America's economy, security, unity, culture, budget, and more.
It's no exaggeration to say that passage of the Bush-Kennedy amnesty would mark the end of America as we know and love it. Not immediately, but inevitably. All patriotic American must oppose this bill.
