Thread: Burke: GOP can't ignore illegal immigration

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/opinion/x2027569812

In all their caviling about the comprehensive immigration reform legislation that was stalled in the Senate this last week, the Republican presidential candidates, including our former governor, overlooked a very salient reality: this is the best bill that could have been passed right now.

And as demonstrated by the recent horrific threats from terrorists who unlawfully slipped into this country, we need to start securing our borders and monitoring those already here without delay.

Given the current Senate makeup, the only realistic possibility for immediate reform that will effectively secure our national borders would be through negotiations in which neither side - Democrat or Republican - is completely satisfied with the result.

While many of the particulars of the legislative package that was under consideration by the Senate made it easy debate target, one thing the bill was not was a blanket amnesty for the estimated 12 million aliens currently living in this country illegally. On the contrary, the bill put those who now live outside legitimate American social and economic life on a long, hard road to naturalization.

The Senate package created a new category of documented residency: Z-visa status. To qualify for a permanent Z-visa, migrants or their close family member must be holding a job, entered this country before the start of the current calendar year, have no criminal record or terrorist links, and must pay $5,000 per family fine. Furthermore, Z-visa holders would have had to pay back income taxes they owed while receiving no credit for Social Security taxes previously paid. None of these requisites were imposed by the last immigration reform act signed into law by President Reagan in 1986, a true amnesty bill.

But so long as Congress fecklessly dickers about the problem of illegal immigration, the 12 million now in this country illegally will continue to enjoy de facto amnesty. Doing nothing allows undocumented migrants continued access to our schools, hospitals, and many welfare benefits, without tracking their whereabouts or guarding against the terrible dangers a very few of them pose.

And in the meantime, the number of migrants continues to grow daily because Congress missed the opportunity to pass any effective measures to control the flow across our border or discourage unauthorized in-migration.

Under the derailed Senate package, Z-Visa holders would have been issued tamper proof, biometric identity cards: a national identify card system. Immigrants who refused or were unable to legitimize their status would have been deported, finding it much more difficult to get back into this country than it remains.

The bill authorized the hiring of 18,000 new border guards and conferred these law enforcement agents with the capacity to detain more than 27,000 illegals per day annually - no more catch and release. The bill also provided for building 370 miles of fence along the United States/Mexico border and 200 miles of vehicular barriers, all before the first regular Z-Visa was to be granted.

These security measures were in addition to rules and procedures that would have made it far more difficult for employers to claim they hired illegal immigrants unknowingly or exploit legitimized immigrants. Finally, the bill declared something than most true conservatives have wanted in the federal code for years: a statutory declaration that English is the United States' common language. Is it any wonder, then, that liberals had just as may difficulties with this bill as conservatives did?

The Senate package was not fair or perfect far, from it. But neither is the world in which we live. If it were, we could magically transport all 12 million illegals to border checkpoints and process them into the United States one by one. But those who continue to refuse to allow the nation to secure its boundaries and implement meaningful immigration reform unless they can first deport every last illegal alien residing in this country are not living in the real world, but in a fool's paradise.

Rants about "amnesty" provisions from GOP presidential candidates helped to derail immigration reform for the present, but Republicans yet need to come together to enact border security measures or our citizens will continue to face an unacceptable level of danger. In the sausage-making process that is legislating, there remains no escaping the need to work with the opposition to achieve practical compromises, especially when the need is both immense and immediate. Perhaps the reason why this reality escaped so many critics of the Senate bill who are running for President is that so very few have authentic experience in passing major and meritorious legislation of their own.

Brian P. Burke of Stow is a Republican and an attorney.

This fellow needs to focus on the fact that it has been 6 years since 9/11 and we still have wide open borders. Close the borders FIRST and then we can worry about other matters.

But so long as Congress fecklessly dickers about the problem of illegal immigration, the 12 million now in this country illegally will continue to enjoy de facto amnesty. Doing nothing allows undocumented migrants continued access to our schools, hospitals, and many welfare benefits, without tracking their whereabouts or guarding against the terrible dangers a very few of them pose.

Who said anything about doing nothing? How's this for a novel idea - BUILD THE 800-MILE FENCE, PROSECUTE EMPLOYERS WHO HIRE ILLEGALS, AND ENFORCE OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS AS WRITTEN!

I agree build the fence and enforce our laws which our government is not doing. Our government is responsible for not doing anything

And as demonstrated by the recent horrific threats from terrorists who unlawfully slipped into this country, we need to start securing our borders and monitoring those already here without delay.

We don't need a new bill to do those things.

We will not be black mailed, give amnesty and we will protect you from terrorists on the southern border.
You better hope there is not attack because you will see a backlash in this country for not securing our borders with our military long before the attack!