Comprehensive plan needed on immigration
March 23, 2008

Note: The libidiots appear quite scared about the SAVE Act. Newspaper editorial boards, IA activist groups and the treason lobby politicians (i.e., Hispanic Caucus) are all putting out whining and worried press releases.

In place of meaningful immigration reform, both conservative and liberal politicians have hatched piecemeal plans. This won't work.

Conservative Democrats, including Rep. Melissa Bean of Illinois and Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, are joining Republicans to sponsor the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement Act, which calls for beefing up the border with Mexico and requiring employers to do more to not hire -- and to fire -- undocumented workers.

The problem with the SAVE Act is that it is an enforcement-only piece of legislation and does not include a plan to legalize any of the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. It amounts to "deport them all."

The SAVE Act calls for posting 8,000 more agents along the border, and for employers to use federal databases to verify the status of all workers within four years. Those databases, however, are fundamentally flawed. Immigrants eligible to work in the U.S. legally -- and even U.S. citizens -- could be mistakenly flagged for something as simple as a typo. They would be reported to their employers, putting them in the position of having to prove they can work here legally. Struggling with government bureaucracy can be hard enough without being swept up in the web of an error-filled computer database.

The SAVE Act also would broaden the definition of alien smuggling to include Americans who aid undocumented immigrants. This could implicate social workers, teachers, priests or even family members. Watch out, Rev. Walter "Slim" Coleman, the Chicago pastor who offered Elvira Arellano sanctuary in his church for a year.

This isn't the only bad idea floating around Congress.

Hispanic Democrats are blocking visas for seasonal workers who come to work here legally. They work winters in ski lodges and summers in resorts and carnivals. Blocking their visas hurts businesses from Massachusetts to Illinois that count on these legal immigrants from Jamaica, Eastern Europe and Mexico. But members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which includes Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, don't want to renew visas for legal seasonal workers until they get support in Congress for a legalization program for undocumented workers.

Yes, they have a point. But to punish workers who come here legally to create leverage in a larger cause is unfair.

Democrats and Republicans are failing us all. Sooner or later, they will have no choice but to develop a comprehensive plan that secures our borders and creates a humanitarian pathway to legalization for 12 million undocumented immigrants.
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