The U.S. Senate bill that Washington County Commissioner Bob Terry is pushing is a fraud and a fake. It does not secure the border now or in the future. It only promises to do so, or have a commission look into the matter and make recommendations to be forgotten immediately.
S.744 would grant 33 million new green cards in the first 10 years, while 20 million Americans can't find a full-time job. It repeats the mistakes of the 1986 amnesty -- legalization before enforcement.
The bill gives immediate legalization to an unknown number of illegal immigrants (the 11 million official figure has been cited for years while illegal immigration continues daily) and increases legal immigration exponentially. The bill contains some 400 exemptions, exceptions, waivers, determinations and grants of discretion. Thus implementation is largely dependent on decisions of political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security.
If proponents of S.744 were to acknowledge the commission of certain job-related felonies (counterfeit Social Security cards, forged drivers licenses, fake green cards and phony birth certificates) by 75 percent of illegal immigrants, it would be clear to all that illegal immigrants are being given amnesty from serious felonies while their victims are left in distress and citizens and legal residents are prosecuted for these exact same crimes.
OneOldVet(,)com
August 13, 2013
Elizabeth Van Staaveren
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said it best: "(S.744) guarantees three things: immediate amnesty before security, permanent future illegal immigration, and a record surge in legal immigration that will reduce wages and increase unemployment."
Terry and his business allies should either raise wages and hire citizens only, or get engineers to design machinery to do their work. Most citizens would rather pay more for their food and other goods than have employers constantly bringing more immigrants into the country, depressing wages and working conditions for all, inflating the population in this already overcrowded country.
Citizenship and the rule of law are meaningless if illegal immigrants are allowed to enter and remain in this country, encouraged and unchallenged. There have been seven amnesties already in recent years, each one only resulting in ever-increasing levels of illegal immigration. We don't need another amnesty; we need mandatory use of E-Verify for current work forces and new hires.
There are already visa programs to help agriculture and tourist resorts get seasonal workers. Some employers will never stop crying for more and more cheap labor.
Elizabeth Van Staaveren lives in McMinnville and writes on immigration issues. She is a member of Oregonians for Immigration Reform and can be reached at ofir@oregonir.org.
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