Calling Their Bluff on Immigration Reform

Well, here we go again! Four perennial Republican supporters of amnesty for illegal aliens, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, and new kid Marco Rubio, are teaming up with the Democrats to grant amnesty to 11 million people who made a criminal entry into the United States their first act on American soil.

If you sense a little déjà vu in this story line, you are correct. The same cast of characters, save the rookie Rubio, were there in 2005-2007 when they along with the help of George ("see you at the signing") Bush and Karl ("you hate brown people") Rove tried to ram the McCain-Kennedy Bill giving amnesty to illegals and a path to citizenship.

That bill died a deserving death because the American people in massive numbers melted the Capitol Hill switchboards and servers with overwhelming opposition. For Republican politicians who supported that amnesty plan, it was a suicide note. Angry constituents stayed home and helped the Democrats cement control of the Senate and House in 2006 and 2008. That grassroots opposition was the true start of the Tea Party, whose first retribution was directed to Republicans in the 2008 and 2010 primaries.

But now, they're baaack! These Republicans are succumbing to false logic that says pandering again on this issue will win millions of Hispanic votes and that the vast majority of the American people will support them in rewarding those who brazenly broke American law and sucked up the taxpayer resources.

Okay, it's time to call their bluff. Here's the proposition. We grant immediate amnesty and full citizenship to 11 million illegal aliens. But only with the following conditions:

• The amnesty is limited to exactly 11 million current illegals. The 11,000,001st, et seq., gets arrested and charged with a felony, prison time, and subsequent deportation.

• No parent, sibling, or child of those amnestied can later be admitted to the United States for permanent residence. 11 million is 11 million.

• All persons currently illegally present in the United States will be eligible -- not only those who entered illegally (entry without inspection), but also those who entered legally but then violated the provisions of their visa (overstays). The latter's ethnicities may not be Hispano-centric, but they are equally deserving.

• In verifying their illegal presence in the United States before the effective date, illegals must identify all employers they have worked for, and all false identities and Social Security numbers that they have used.

• All such identified employers shall be audited for unpaid federal and state taxes.

There are a lot of fictions and falsehoods in the debate on illegal aliens in America that are ignored by a fawning media and punditry which is itself immune from the damages and dangers that illegal immigration inflicts. Let's consider the big one, that there are 11 million illegal aliens in the United States, since their plight is the focus of the debate.

That number first appeared around 2002-2003, in a variety of sources -- the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and a few others across the political spectrum. 2002 also represents the crest of the wave of illegal immigration that continued for years until slightly slowed by the faltering U.S. economy. No less a spokesman than John McCain wrote in 2004 that 4 million illegals entered the U.S. annually, with only one fourth being apprehended. Using McCain's own figures, that would be 3 million new illegals yearly across the southern border alone. Other sources and estimates abound, ranging from about 800,000 to 2.4 million (McCain again) yearly. Even accepting a low end estimate of one million a year since 2003, and not finding any return expatriation or high mortality rates, that would mean that in 2013 a minimum of 10 million additional illegals should be added to the 11 million baseline of 2003, or 21 million. Using McCain's high estimate, the number would be 41 million!

In truth, no one knows the exact number of illegals. After all, they don't sneak in and sign a register. But simple observation confirms that the numbers have increased dramatically as the geographic footprint for illegals has spread. The footprint of 2000 was mostly in six obvious states like California, Texas, and Florida. By 2010 illegals were found everywhere, even Alaska and Hawaii.

The partisan bean counters have a vested interest in fudging the numbers, the fulcrum favoring an artificially low estimate lest the populace be frightened away from amnesty and compassion. That calculated ignorance will mask the secondary effects of an amnesty for an underestimated cohort -- which include unacceptable cost increases in welfare, Obamacare, school budgets, job displacements, and Medicaid and Medicare.

So let's call their bluff. You want amnesty for those 11 million poor souls who want to come out of the shadows and join the great American melting pot. You got it. But that's it. It would be hard to see what countering logic the proponents of amnesty could evoke. Will their protestation confirm that there are many more than the 11 million they claim, itself equal to the population of Ohio? Or, using John McCain's numbers, will they demand that some 40 million be allowed out of the shadows into citizenship, creating a new California in numbers and voting strength?

Now if you are a Democrat, the thought of fifty-plus new Democrat Congressmen looks like a good deal. If you are one of the ruling-class Republicans, the cheap labor advocates at the Wall Street Journal and the Chamber of Commerce will bestow their blessing. You can dream of the millions of new Latino voters forever in your debt, forgetting that the amnesty Reagan granted in 1986 resulted in a 1988 drop of grateful Hispanic voters for George H. W. Bush from 37% to 30 %, and John McCain's proud authorship of the amnesty bill in 2007 saw his share drop from George W. Bush's 40% to 31%.

In the coming months we will hear all manner of false statistics and deceitful arguments as the amnesty advocates once more try to force an unpopular law on the American people who will have to face the consequences and costs of this folly. We will be given false assurances of secure borders and harsh penalties, none of which will ever be enforced. Nor will we be told that this amnesty will encourage a new flood of more illegals, setting the stage for another déjà vu battle.

Okay, you win. We'll accept the numbers of the presumed experts: Pew, CIS, DHS, McCain, Obama. Welcome to America you lucky yet lawbreaking 11 million. For the rest of you still around when the last ticket is given out, blame Obama, McCain, and their allies who say you don't exist. Vaya con Dios.

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