Recent big news is that the Amnesty Bill of 2007 suffered a major setback when it was shelved after the Senate could not agree to expedite the debate to a vote. This doesn’t mean the bill is dead, but it’s certainly ailing. In my mind, that’s a good thing.
I’m sure many of you know the main components of the proposed legislation. My big problem with it is that it doesn’t secure the border, and the program is entirely voluntary for illegal immigrants, and there is no penalty for not participating. Basically, the bill has no teeth. It amounts to more government bureaucracy with little chance for good results. If the bill called for fully securing the border with deadlines, and mandated that any illegal immigrant not participating faced deportation, then it would be more apt to get my support. But it doesn’t, and is therefore bad legislation.
The illegal immigrant problem is just another example of Washington turning a simple problem into an extremely complicated one. We already have immigration laws, but they’re not being enforced. And Congress has already passed a bill mandating border security, but they have done nothing to act on it. So this whole argument over what law should be passed is completely unnecessary. The laws have already been passed, why not simply enforce them?
Of course, we have no laws dealing with the estimated 12 million illegals in our country now, which again I think could be dealt with in a simple manner. Now, we can’t seek out, round up and deport these people. It would be costly and foolish. But we can deport those that are discovered through the course of everyday activity. Namely, we can deport those that commit crimes and misdemeanors, or anything else that brings them to the attention of authorities. If an illegal immigrant gets stopped for speeding, and can’t show proof of citizenship, then he/she is deported.
We can require proof of citizenship for government entitlements. Anything from school lunches to WIC to Medicaid should require citizenship status before eligibility can be granted. We can repeal the law that anyone born on American soil is automatically a citizen. We can impose penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and give employers the power to demand proof of citizenship prior to hiring anyone. We can withhold federal money from any city, county or state that acts as a “safe haven” for illegal immigrants, and even impose certain taxes on these same communities that don’t comply with policy. We can require citizenship status for public school education. We can implement a mandatory guest worker program, allowing illegal immigrants a short time period to work and get affairs in order before they return to their country of origin to legitimately apply for immigration to America.
As for health care, obviously we can’t refuse emergency care to illegals, but we can limit that care to lifesaving measures only, and then bill the nation of origin for the expenses, taking the money out of foreign aid to that nation if necessary. Anyone requiring inpatient hospital care should be deported for that care as soon as it’s safe to do so.
But before any of this is done, the border must be secured. That should be top priority in the immigration debate, and for some reason it is not. That alone shows that Washington is playing politics with this whole issue, which means that likely nothing will be done to solve the problem and illegal immigration we be put next to social security reform on the list of priorities for our elected “leaders”. Every day it becomes more evident that our politicians lack the spine to address the tough issues and do anything to make this country a better place. It's obscene to me that with these problems facing us, their concern is a vote of no confidence in the Attorney General. What???

Until we replace them with the right people, this will never change.