Both parties are ready to sell us out...again. Sean Hannity: "We've gotta get rid of the immigration issue altogether."
The day after President Obama was re-elected, key figures in both the Democrat and Republican Parties began talking about the need for so-called 'comprehensive immigration reform, otherwise known as amnesty for illegal aliens.
Even conservative talk show host Sean Hannity, was spewing the new talking points, saying:
"We've gotta get rid of the immigration issue altogether. It's simple for me to fix it. I think you control the border first, you create a pathway for those people that are here, you don't say you gotta home. And that is a position that I've evolved on. Because you know what--it just--it's gotta be resolved. The majority of people here--if some people have criminal records you can send' em home--but if people are here, law-abiding, participating, four years, their kids are born here... first secure the border, pathway to citizenship... then it's done. But you can't let the problem continue. It's gotta stop."
November 11, 2012
Dave Gibson
examiner.com
Of course, as is usually the case, people often fail to learn from the lessons of history...
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), the bill which was co-sponsored by Congressman Romano Mazola (D-KY), and Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) granted amnesty to about 3 million illegal aliens, mostly from Mexico.
Though the American people were told that the Simpson-Mazzoli bill would correct our "broken immigration system" and "bring people out of the shadows," while ensuring that our borders would be defended, it quickly became obvious that we had been fed a lie.
Sound familiar?
The 1986 legislation introduced for the first time, criminal as well as financial penalties for those who knowingly hire illegal aliens. However, actual prosecutions against employers, particularly large companies discovered to be harboring illegal aliens, have been few and far between.
One result of the law was the widespread use of subcontractors. Large companies began using subcontractors who knowingly hired illegal aliens, so that if and when they were caught, they could simply claim ignorance and place all of the blame upon the subcontractor.
Perhaps, the most glaring example of how this policy takes jobs from low-income Americans can be found inside the doors of the nation's biggest retailer.
In 2005, Wal-Mart escaped criminal prosecution when they paid the federal government an $11 million settlement, after it was discovered that cleaning contractors that Wal-Mart hired were employing illegal aliens, almost exclusively.
In 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 245 illegal aliens at Wal-Marts in Pennsylvania.
Government prosecutors claimed they had wiretaps to prove that Wal-Mart executives knew illegal aliens were working in their stores.
However, as per the terms of the settlement, Wal-Mart never admitted to any wrongdoing.
Another consequence of the 1986 amnesty, was that the families of all those allowed to stay in this country soon followed. This chain migration, very quickly resulted in a huge influx of mostly non-English speaking, uneducated illegal aliens, and undoubtedly further strained government entitlement programs.
Many believe this event was the beginning of the financial disaster which eventually bankrupted, and in many cases, closed dozens of hospitals in the American southwest.
At the time, many Americans supported the Simpson-Mazzoli bill, either because they were not familiar with it, as illegal immigration was not on the minds of most Americans at that time, or they trusted that their government still had their best interests at heart.
Even President Reagan fell for the same rhetoric which we hear today from the open-borders crowd.
In his diary entry for October 16, 1986, Reagan wrote:
"Al Simpson came by to see if he had my support. After 5 years of trying (during which I’ve been on his side) the House finally passed his immigration bill. They have one or two amendments we could do without but even if the Senate in conference cannot get them out, I’ll sign it. It’s high time we regained control of our borders and his bill will do this."
Does anyone believe that we "regained control of our borders?"
One of those Republicans who was against amnesty before he was for it, is Sen. Marco Rubio.
At a campaign stop in 2009, Rubio explained the lessons learned from the first amnesty...
"In 1986 Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million people. You know what happened, in addition to becoming 11 million a decade later? There were people trying to enter the country legally, who had done the paperwork, who were here legally, who were going through the process, who claimed, all of a sudden, 'No, no no no , I’m illegal.' Because it was easier to do the amnesty program than it was to do the legal process.
If you grant amnesty, the message that you’re sending is that if you come in this country and stay here long enough, we will let you stay. And no one will ever come through the legal process if you do that."
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