Immigration Shenanigans

Will Congress Grant Amnesty Without Calling It That?
Gary Benoit JBSFriday June 1, 2007
Do our political elites think that the American people are stupid? Do they think they can get an amnesty bill through Congress simply by claiming with a straight face that their amnesty bill is not amnesty?
"This bill is not an amnesty bill," President Bush claimed on May 29 in reference to S. 1348, the Senate bill on comprehensive immigration reform. "It's not an amnesty bill," he reiterated. "That's empty political rhetoric, trying to frighten our fellow citizens."
Do President Bush, and other pro-amnesty political leaders both Democrat and Republican, think that the American people are stupid? Do they really believe that by claiming that their amnesty legislation is not amnesty they can get it through Congress? Can they accomplish this despite the fact that amnesty for illegal aliens if overwhelmingly opposed by the American people?
Those Americans who are frightened about the possibility of S. 1348 being enacted have every right to be. One indicator that this so-called compromise legislation on immigration reform is dangerous is that fact that the "compromise" was announced by Senator Ted Kennedy, the dean of leftism in the U.S. Senate. But that is simply an indicator that the bill may not be all that the supposedly conservative Republican President claims it to be — and not to be. The real proof is in the bill's actual provisions. And the simple fact is that legalizing millions of currently illegal aliens through a so-called temporary guest-worker program and other means is amnesty no matter what the political elites choose to call it.
In truth, Americans should be worried not only about S. 1348 but about lying politicians trying to pull the wool over our eyes. In his cover story article in the current issue of The New American, Cort Kirkwood recalls that back in 1986, when Congress enacted an earlier amnesty of illegal aliens, Ted Kennedy pontificated, "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."
Kirkwood's article, warning us of the dangers of both S. 1348 in the Senate and the STRIVE Act (H.R. 1645) in the House, is titled, appropriately enough, "Will Congress Turn Its Back on You?" In his article, Kirkwood explicitly states that "the president lied" when he claimed that the S. 1348 amnesty bill is not amnesty. But in light of the bill's amnesty provisions, who can blame Kirkwood for not mincing words?
When Kennedy made his now-broken promise that he would not bring forward another amnesty bill, he at least exhibited enough honesty that he accurately identified the 1986 amnesty legislation as amnesty. There is less honesty today, with pro-amnesty politicians claiming that legislation similar to the 1986 legislation is not amnesty. Never mind that the number of illegal aliens S. 1348 would provide amnesty to would be many times greater than the number granted amnesty under the 1986 legislation.
Again, do politicians from Kennedy to Bush think that the American people are so stupid that they can get an amnesty bill enacted by claiming it's not amnesty? And will "We the people" confirm their presumably low estimation of us by allowing that to happen with relatively little protest? If ever there were a time for everyday citizens to shake the Washington establishment and tell their elected representatives to abide by their wishes or seek other employment after the next election, now is the time.