Attention Washington: Immigration Enforcement Will Not Go Away
MM : “I heard from a Senate source a few days ago about two very promising initiatives from conservative Senate Republicans committed to comprehensive immigration enforcement.
Not shamnesty.
I repeat: Comprehensive immigration enforcement reform.
This is good policy. Smart politics. And it’s about damned time.
The first initiative involves one of my favorite GOP Senate members, Jeff Sessions of Alabama. He is rolling out nearly a dozen different bills addressing specific border security and enforcement issues. ”
Details of the plan:
Senate Republicans are set to announce Wednesday the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet ” one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.
Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but the move by some of the Senate’s leading Republicans underscores how potent the issue of immigration remains, particularly during a presidential election year.
The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to take a tougher stance on immigration. They also reflect a shift toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul in 2007.
The package, an enforcement smorgasbord assembled by at least eight lawmakers, consists of 11 bills, but could expand to include as many as 14. Some elements echo House bills, but others go beyond House proposals.
One would discourage states from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants by docking 10 percent of highway funding from states that continue to do so. Another would extend the presence of National Guard on the border and a third would end language assistance at federal agencies and the voting booth for people with limited English ability.
A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year jail sentence on someone caught crossing the border for a second time.
ther bills in the package would:
• Block federal funding from cities that bar their police from asking about immigration status.
Give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to use information from the Social Security Administration to target illegal immigrants.
• Require construction of 700 miles of fencing along the Southern border, not including vehicle barriers.
• Impose sanctions on countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens.
• Deport any immigrant, legal or illegal, for one drunken-driving conviction.
• Enable local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws
You will be happy to know that the Democrats conducted a secret study to find out just what words they should use while debating, but just don’t get it:
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Republican proposal “falls far short of what is needed.” Democrats want to combine enforcement with a guest-worker program and a way to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Reid “continues to support legislation that is tough on people who break the law, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement,” Manley said.
But Democrats also have begun embracing a tougher stance on immigration as well. A confidential study assembled for the Democratic leadership earlier this year urged them to start using tougher language. Democrats have focused on offering opportunity to immigrants, but the study by two think tanks urged them to begin speaking in terms of “requiring” illegal immigrants to become legal and about what’s best for the United States.
Many House Democrats have gone a step further, endorsing an enforcement-only bill by freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina that would bolster border security and require employers to verify their workers’ legal status with an electronic verification system.
The SAVE Act has drawn 140 co-sponsors, 48 of whom are Democrats, many of them vulnerable freshman who won seats from Republicans.
The Democratic leadership dislikes Shuler’s bill and has refused to schedule a debate.
Don’t feel bad Rep. Shuler, the Democratic base dislikes the Democratic leadership, so it’s all good.
What better time to do this than during the election? All three will be forced to take a stance.
Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, A Blog For All, Shadowscope, Big Dog’s Weblog, Cao’s Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Pursuing Holiness, Adeline and Hazel, third world county, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Celebrity Smack, CORSARI D’ITALIA, A Newt One, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
March 5, 2008 - 10:57 AM on March 5th, 2008
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March 5, 2008 - 12:32 PM on March 5th, 2008
Jewish teen tortured in SamE French town Ilan Halimi was killed
Sept 11th attacks on us by stinkin IzlamoNazis and Muzlims kill Jews in France for that?!
You do the Math.
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Weather Channel made a wrong turn
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March 5, 2008 - 07:30 PM on March 5th, 2008
Senator DeMint Introduces the “Complete the Fence Act”
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March 5, 2008 - 10:03 PM on March 5th, 2008
MEXICANS BELONG IN MEXICO
March 6, 2008 - 12:03 AM on March 6th, 2008
I was at the post office today and they were advertising an upcoming Passport fair event. They had one sign in English and another one in SPANISH. Exactly why do we have signs in SPANISH telling people about an upcoming passport processing event? Naturalized US citizens have to be fluent in English to become citizens. Native born US citizens would probably have to have gone through at least a few years of school before needing a passport and therefore should be able to read ENGLISH anyway. Therefore, why are we spending money to print signs about getting a US passport in SPANISH? I can see printing signs about getting green cards or visas in a foreign language, but not passports.
March 6, 2008 - 12:45 AM on March 6th, 2008
The Unintended Consequences of Immigration Reform & Suicide for the GOP
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Clinton wants the Michigan and Florida Delegates: Time for a re-vote?
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March 6, 2008 - 03:54 AM on March 6th, 2008
The Obama-NAFTA Leak: Canada wants blood
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March 6, 2008 - 05:23 AM on March 6th, 2008
BREAKING: Explosion at Military Recruiting Station
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March 6, 2008 - 12:37 PM on March 6th, 2008
Iraqi Government Honors America’s Iraq Fallen
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March 6, 2008 - 02:26 PM on March 6th, 2008
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Looking at the NYC Times Square bombing
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March 7, 2008 - 12:04 PM on March 7th, 2008
Speaking of illegal immigration, millions of Americans will celebrate Cinco de Mayo (May 5) without really knowing what they’re celebrating. If, however, they knew the background of the holiday, I think many Americans might opt out of celebrating it.
March 12, 2008 - 02:22 PM on March 12th, 2008
FrmrArtyOffcr
Did you serve alongside any Puerto Ricans? Is the native language of Hawaiians the English language, or for that matter, the native language of the sons and daughters of Spaniards from Florida, Texas and California, of the French from Louisiana, or the Amish of Pennsylvania? I have to wonder what makes you think that SPANISH means “FOREIGN”. Sadly to this day we live in a country were people such as yourself still think that “American” equals “English”, “White”, and “Apple Pie”.
March 12, 2008 - 02:47 PM on March 12th, 2008
19- Pete, why aren’t all those languages represented on signs and on recordings? Why is it just Spanish?