Tuesday, January 29, 2013

We Did It Once, We Can Do It Again!




The topic of immigration reform is on the table yet again, and I use the term "reform" as loosely as I can considering there is not much talk of real reform going on in Washington today. There are two plans being floated around, one in the Senate with the "Gang of Eight" and another plan the President will be speaking about in Las Vegas later today. The Senate plan would call for a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally, force them to pay some back taxes in some cases, give them green card status after a predetermined amount of time, and base all other actions that would allow these individuals to become citizens on the chance that the border will be secured. While this plan may sound like a decent plan, it seems to me that the Administration would have the final say as to when they felt the border was secure and a few days after passing the legislation the President could, in theory, say the border is secure and the beginning of allowing these illegal citizens to become American citizens will begin.

This is something we have to read into a little more and since there is no real legislation yet on this and only talk from both sides, there is a lot being talked about that will not be in there and a lot not being talked about that WILL be in there. One thing is for sure: In 2007 we all stood up against legislation we did not agree with and we won, and we can do the same thing this time if we choose not to back down!

The President's plan is a little more "give away everything because I want to be King" type mentality. His plan would start people off on a path to citizenship from day one and it would not be hard for even the criminal element to get their piece of the pie. His plan will also not do anything about border security, and we all know we will be told that the border IS secure, and more secure than ever before, so we do not need to do anything about stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into this nation because it is already stopped! The President is wrong, I know this and you know this, heck, even he knows this! That is not the point, though. he does not care if he is right or wrong, he just wants his agenda implemented and that agenda includes amnesty for illegals here right now and then another round when they keep coming in because the Congress and the President were too stupid to take care of our problems when they had a chance. Close the borders, and THEN we talk, which is what the Senate plan would ALMOST do and I would be able to get on board if the proper mechanisms were in place to actually secure the border. I am not sold that it would do that.

In 2007, we all clogged the phone lines in D.C. and elsewhere telling our representatives that we were not happy with the legislation and that they need to stop debate immediately and go on to something else. We can do the same thing here, because we now know what the Obama machine is like. We took it for granted during the ObamaCare debate and we lost because of it. We will not take it for granted this time and we will win, because Congressmen and women only fear one thing more than the President...and that is losing their jobs! If we make it clear that there will be strong opposition the next time they run for office, especially the Republicans, then we might just be able to stop a bad deal from going down. The President's plan is foolish and I doubt the House would ever go for it, although you never know with the crier up there. The Senate's plan is closer to what we actually need, but as of yet I have yet to be shown anything that would actually put safeguards in place to make sure the border was actually secured like it is supposed to be in the plan. No border security for the long term and no stopping the tide of illegals into America, then there must be no deal.

I am not someone who is going to say that there is no way we can deal on this because there is a way, but it has to be done fairly. If they want their Amnesty, then we must have STRONG border enforcement that would include but not be limited to troops on the border, drones, stronger penalties for the people who employ those here illegally, and stronger penalties for being caught here illegally. We need to do something about this but I, like many other Americans, will not be for a plan unless we first control what we have refused to control for many, many decades now!

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