Thread: No Difference Between Leaked White House Plan and Gang of Eight Plan

No Difference Between Leaked White House Plan and Gang of Eight Plan

NumbersUSA
Tuesday, February 19, 2013, 8:57 AM EST



Sen. McCain & Pres. Obama

While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the White House's leaked immigration plan was an attempt to politicize the immigration debate and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said it would be "dead on arrival", the actual details of the two plans are essentially the same - they both grant instant amnesty to the nation's 11 million illegal aliens and neither bill does anything to stop future illegal immigration or protect America's unemployed.

The biggest magnet for illegal immigration is the ability to work in the United States, but both the White House plan and the Gang of Eight grant the 11 million illegal aliens already in the U.S. work permits before addressing workplace verification, repeating a mistake of the failed 1986 amnesty. The White House says it would mandate E-Verify within four years, but it also includes a study to determine its effectiveness, offering the Administration an easy way to scuttle the program in the future. The Gang of Eight proposal offers support for workplace verification, but no specifics are given, and like the White House plan, it wouldn't kick in until after the amnesty is given.

Both plans fail to substantively address the root cause of 40% of all illegal immigration - visa overstays. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that, "[T]he Senate legislation under discussion wouldn't create any additional enforcement program to track down people who overstayed visas, Senate aides in both parties said." The White House plan also doesn't include any plan to complete the entry/exit system, and the Senate plan would exclude all land crossings from the system. Both plans would continue to allow any temporary, non-immigrant visa holders, including student visas, tourist visas, or work-related visas, to overstay their visit to the United States without detection.

Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has said that an amnesty for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens would cost at least $2.5 trillion in Social Security and medicare costs alone. That doesn't take into account the new healthcare law or welfare costs. Most illegal aliens currently hold low-skilled, low-paying jobs in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and service. Amnestied illegal aliens are more likely to be a net cost to American taxpayers. Neither plan address the huge fiscal costs an amnesty would have on our current entitlement system.

Sen. Rubio has made border security the focal point of the Gang of Eight's proposal, however, any border security measures put forth in either proposal, again, come after 11 million illegal aliens receive legal status and work permits. The White House plan calls for increases in border patrol agents, immigration judges, and resources, but there are no details or timetable. The Gang of Eight's plan simply states that the border must be declared "secure" before a "path to citizenship" can begin for amnestied illegal aliens, but there's no definition of what a secured border looks like, and DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano testified last week before a Senate Committee that the border is already secure.

Finally, there are still 20 million Americans who can't find full-time work. Offering immediate work permits to 11 million illegal aliens adds more competition into the labor market for America's unemployed who tend to be lower-skilled and lesser-educated and would therefore suffer the most from an amnesty.

While Gang of Eight Members Sen. Rubio and Sen. McCain try to distance themselves from the White House plan, the fact is, in principle, both plans are the same. They instantly offer 11 million illegal aliens amnesty in the form of legal status and work permits, and, like the failed 1986 amnesty, neither plan does anything to stop the next wave of illegal immigration or show compassion for America's unemployed before handing out an amnesty.

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/n...ight-plan.html

Congress feels constituent pressure during recess week as more cracks appear in the amnesty bandwagon

Congress may have been out of session all week, but it didn't keep immigration out of the headlines. That's partly because the White House decided to leak parts of its immigration plan last weekend while Members of Congress were on their way back home. But it's also because of the outrage many Members faced in their districts - thanks, of course, to many of our NumbersUSA activists.

Gang of Eight member, Senator John McCain, reportedly faced the most heat earlier this week. He thought his scheduled town halls would be an opportunity for him to explain his party's position on the upcoming sequester deadline, but instead, he faced angry constituents who confronted him for his role in pushing an amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens.

McCain's town halls were covered by nearly every major news network, but he wasn't the only one to get an earful from constituents. Our Local Activism Coordinator Melanie Oubre has sent more than two dozen alerts in the past week, notifying activists of town hall meetings in their area. She's compiled a list of comments from many of those town hall meetings in her blog.

Also in the last two weeks, you've sent nearly 150,000 faxes to Congress! Please keep up the great work! We've seen the impact your actions have had in the statements made by Members of Congress and the writings of columnists and analysts.

WHITE HOUSE RELEASES ITS IMMIGRATION PLAN

As I mentioned earlier, the White House leaked portions of its amnesty bill last weekend. You can learn more about the details in this news story and in Roy's blog.

While Senators McCain and Marco Rubio tried to distance themselves from the White House release, this comment from conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer sums it up best:

"...there is no real difference between the proposals."

Krauthammer is like several Republican-oriented voices that spoke out in favor of some kind of amnesty after the November election. This week he made clear that none of the amnesties being considered is worth supporting because they don't require hard triggers for mandatory E-Verify, border security, and a fully functioning entry/exit system to halt visa overstays.

White House Domestic Policy Advisor Cecilia Munoz is the point person on immigration for President Obama, but a new document uncovered by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals that, when serving as the Senior Immigration Policy Analyst for the National Council of La Raza, Munoz urged Congress to repeal workplace verification and opposed a biometric national ID card. (See the story here.)

Workplace verification is a key ingredient to any "comprehensive immigration reform" bill and a crucial part to stopping future illegal immigration. While NumbersUSA supports E-Verify, the Gang of Eight have been talking about a biometric national ID card. With Munoz's apparent opposition to any serious workforce enforcement, there shouldn't be much room for negotiation.
We'll continue to monitor how Munoz's past positions influence the immigration debate in the coming months.

CHRIS CHMIELENSKI

Fri, Feb 22nd