Author Topic: Boehner to GOP caucus: I’m not committed to moving forward on immigration  (Read 575 times)

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http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/31/boehner-to-gop-caucus-im-not-committed-to-moving-forward-on-immigration/

Boehner to GOP caucus: I’m not committed to moving forward on immigration
posted at 11:21 am on January 31, 2014 by Allahpundit

A scoop from Jonathan Strong about the mood inside yesterday’s big immigration-reform rollout.

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    But if the public rollout of the document seemed like an announcement, the feeling inside the room was much more tentative. Speaker John Boehner, in particular, surprised many in the audience with his tepid words on behalf of moving forward.

    “He seemed timid or reluctant to suggest that this was anything but a discusssion,” Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) told Breitbart News. “He even said, he made the statement—which I found surprising — that he is not commited to moving forward on any legislation. He wasn’t trying to sell us on this, I don’t think. He was saying the words but it didn’t seem to be coming from his heart.”

Baffling. He waffled last year on immigration reform, then finally mustered the courage to push it front and center this month — in an election year, no less — and now he’s waffling again. The fight to pass something will be wrenching, no matter when it happens and how solicitous Boehner’s language is. Essentially, he’s rolled a grenade into the Republican tent but left the pin in, leaving it up to the caucus to decide whether to pull it. If you’re going to use a grenade, full commitment is part of the deal, no?

Now, question: Would passing reform next year become impossible if the Republicans pick up seats in the midterms, as everyone expects? I argued yesterday that it’ll be harder because grassroots righties will expect a GOP-controlled Congress to produce a much tougher bill than they could reasonably expect to produce now. Matt Lewis counters that I’m missing the point — if the GOP takes back the Senate, grassroots righties will expect them to stay away from immigration entirely, reasoning that if inaction on the matter was no obstacle to a big win in the midterms, it’ll be no obstacle to a big win in 2016 either. True enough, some tea partiers would react that way. My sense, though, is that the rest of the GOP simply Will – Not – Tolerate another presidential election where the Republican nominee has nothing conciliatory to show Latino voters. It may be a myth that Romney lost in 2012 because he got walloped by Obama among that group, but it’s no myth that as the Latino population grows and turnout rates improve, a 72/27 Democratic advantage would be ruinous for the GOP long-term. The core question here has always been whether amnesty is the key to winning back some of those voters, either as a “magic bullet” (even McCain admits it won’t win any votes by itself) or as a sort of threshold issue on which the GOP needs to show compromise so that Latinos will give the rest of their agenda a fair look. Wherever you land on that subject, I think large numbers of centrist/establishment Republicans believe immigration reform is an absolute prerequisite to rebuilding goodwill with Latinos. And I think they’re secretly optimistic that passing amnesty would be a bit of a magic bullet with Latinos as soon as 2016, not enough to cut deeply into the Democratic advantage but maybe enough to trim five points, which could be crucial in a tight election.

So no, I don’t agree with Lewis that a redder Congress would mean doom for reform in 2015 as border hawks shift to an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the GOP’s chances in 2016. We already have painful experience with the reality that midterm results and presidential results are very different creatures. No matter how well Republicans do this year, it won’t be as well as they did in 2010, and 2010 ended up being no impediment to an Obama landslide in 2012. Many, many more Democrats, especially minority Democrats, will be at the polls two and a half years from now to decide who wins the White House than will be at the polls this fall to decide who holds Congress. Even tea partiers who prefer the status quo on immigration should realize that. (Some do. Rand Paul, who’ll position himself as Mr. Tea Party in the election if Cruz doesn’t run, is himself open to forms of legalization if the border is secured.) And speaking of which, why would anyone want the status quo? At the very least, Boehner and McConnell should be expected to pass a serious border security measure next year, if only to dare Obama to veto it. If border security passes, though, Democrats’ new message will be that Republicans are actually becoming more hardline against illegal immigration at a time when polls show the public is willing to allow citizenship eventually for illegals who are already here. What do Boehner and McConnell do then? A limited DREAM-type amnesty? Full legalization contingent upon measurable improvements in border security? Tea partiers may howl, but tea partiers aren’t the whole party; other Republicans will be howling for different reasons. So this brings us back to yesterday’s question: If you’re going to tackle immigration and you know that you’ll have to include some type of legalization for at least some subgroup of illegals, when is/was the best time to do it? Early last year, when House GOPers who voted yes might face a primary this year because of it? Later this year, after the primaries have passed but before the all-important midterm election? Early next year, when they’ll have a redder Congress but might figure that Republican voters will forgive them by the time the 2016 election rolls around?

I’ll leave you with Sean Trende’s theory for why Boehner thinks now is the moment:

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    If a fight is inevitable, have it now rather than a much messier one in 2015. Maybe the Senate Democrats won’t be able to swallow a bill with tougher enforcement provisions and without a path to citizenship, and they will own part of the death of immigration reform. Or maybe they’ll pass it, and the issue will be partly cleared off the table for an election year. For an establishment Republican, that’s win-win…

    What I am saying is that they [the GOP leadership] are closer to neutral about big [midterm] gains than we might think, given the problems that the surge in base enthusiasm caused for them after the 2010 elections. So if they check agenda items like this off the list now and still get a landslide, great. But if they end up cooling off the base’s enthusiasm and get a narrow, establishment-based Senate majority and keep the House, well, that’s not the end of the world either. In fact, it would mean a more docile caucus in both Houses, which is good for those who run those Houses.

If they pass amnesty this summer and Republican voters protest by staying home in November, fine. That means fewer tea partiers end up in Congress next year, which Boehner can live with. If they don’t pass it and Republican voters turn out in force, painting Congress red, that’s fine too. A bigger majority also has certain advantages. There are upsides and downsides to either outcome for Boehner so, he probably figures, why not make his move now?
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The only imigration reform we need is to DEMAND enforcement of current law!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

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I read elsewhere that just putting out the official plan yesterday lit up the phones on Capital Hill - and not in a good way for leadership in the GOP.
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The only imigration reform we need is to DEMAND enforcement of current law!

Yeah, like that's going to happen!   :#@$%:
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Due to it's relevance to our discussion I am posting a letter to the editor which appeared in my local rag this morning. It is from someone who obviously knows what he is talking about!

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YOUR LETTERS

Take away jobs in U.S. and illegal immigration will end



Dear Editor, Our immigration system is not broken. The only thing broken is our federal government’s refusal to enforce immigration law.

Please allow me a second of your time to explain why any immigration reform legislation put forth by Congress will fail absolutely.

No legislation that Congress can pass will change illegal immigration. It is naïve to believe that Congress can legislate the action of people in another country. I am a recently retired border patrol agent with years of personal knowledge, experience and insight into illegal immigration and I can tell you that I have yet to hear anything that comes remotely close to doing anything to end illegal immigration and secure our borders.

Here is what Congress fails to understand: As long as there is opportunity for employment, illegal immigrants will continue to come and no legislation, border fence, increase of border patrol agents in the field or electronic surveillance will stop them.

The only way to end illegal immigration is to take away the reason for illegal immigration — jobs. No jobs, little to no illegal immigration.

Also, current law provides relief for legal immigrants to bring immediate family members legally to the United States, therefore, any legislation that grants any form of amnesty to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants also immediately legalizes immediate family members.

When taken into consideration, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, spouse and children; this adds upwards of 60 to 100 million additional immigrants.

Now, what actually needs to be done is simple modifications to existing laws that will end illegal immigration and allow for the securing of our borders with little to no cost increase.

Laws and methods to be enforced/modified are as follows: 1. Increase the employer sanction penalties to such a level that no employer will risk hiring an illegal immigrant.

(a) Mandatory e-verify without exception.

(b) $250,000 fine for every illegal immigrant found to be employed (up from $10,000).

(c) Asset forfeiture; seizure of the business engaged in unlawful labor practices. (RICO Act applies as set out in 18 U.S.C. § 1961. As currently amended it includes: Any act of fraud, obstruction of justice, slavery and several other offenses covered under the Federal criminal code (Title 18) and Bringing in, aiding or assisting aliens in illegally entering the country (if the action was for financial gain).

(d) Asset forfeiture; seizure of personal assets of the business owner, owners, management and partners that profited from illegal labor. (RICO Act applies as set out in 18 U.S.C. § 1961. As currently amended it includes: Any act of fraud, obstruction of justice, slavery and several other offenses covered under the federal criminal code (Title 18) and bringing in, aiding or assisting aliens in illegally entering the country (if the action was for financial gain).

(e) Apply any number of tax fraud violations on the employer as appropriate (all employers must “cook the books” and commit tax fraud when paying illegal immigrants “under the table” and failure to properly withhold payroll taxes).

(f) Minimum mandatory prison sentences in accordance with current law or enhanced prison sentences.

Additionally, ending illegal immigration will allow current levels of border patrol agents to effectively patrol and secure the border.

Currently, border patrol agents spend a very large portion if not their entire shift in the office doing the administrative paperwork of deportation officers (warrant of arrest/notice to appear, expedited removal and reinstatement of deportation orders) and ICE criminal investigators (G-166 Report of Investigation) and not actually out patrolling the border.

In years passed, border patrol agents in the field would execute an I-44 Record of Apprehension or Seizure, which is the summary record of investigation for border patrol agents for both narcotics and alien smuggling arrests, as well as an I-213 Record of Inadmissible/Deportable Alien for immigrants and forward that report with the arrested and evidence to the proper prosecutorial agency for prosecution (ICE, DEA, Deportations Office).

Over the years, the criminal investigators of ICE and deportation officers found all of that pesky paperwork to be bothersome and successfully lobbied to have that work passed down to the border patrol agent in the field thus reducing the time border patrol agents actually spend patrolling and securing the border.

Now that illegal immigration is ended with the above methods and the borders are secured with the above mentioned methods, let us address legal immigration. Having taken away the jobs that cause illegal immigration will also cause the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States to self deport because their reason for being here is no longer viable.

However, the United States wants and needs immigrants and immigrant labor so we offer something like a 90-day window to report to the nearest Immigration Office or Border Patrol Station without fear of apprehension or deportation for the purpose of registering to return to the United States with a work visa provided that they meet the criteria and are not deportable for another offense committed while illegally residing in the United States.

Work visas will be employer sponsored and allocated by the number of positions to be filled and at what locations the job is to be filled (employers can request visas by name if known, allowing employers to legally rehire former illegal immigrant employees).

The employer will submit the request to the State Department who will then fill those visas from the U.S. Consular Offices abroad from the lists of immigrants that registered prior to self deportation.

Tax identification numbers can also be issued at that time with the work visas for tax purposes. Spouses and children of the guest worker will receive dependent visas and tax identification numbers allowing them to accompany the guest worker and to allow the children to attend school. The spouse of a guest worker can apply for a work visa through any business once settled in the United States.

Registered illegal immigrants with United States citizen children will receive first priority on the work visa lists. Then, registered illegal immigrants. All immigrants not registered during the grace period in the United States must apply in their home country.

Work visas will be issued for a period of five years. Within six months of the expiration of the work visa, the guest worker and family members can apply to adjust status to legal resident.

If the guest worker has not committed any offenses that would cause him/her to become deportable, the adjustment of status to legal resident is applied for a period of five years. After the five-year guest worker and five-year legal resident period, the immigrant can apply for U.S. citizenship.

At no time will a guest worker or legal resident qualify for or receive social welfare benefits. Receiving such benefits automatically revokes legal status and makes the alien deportable as set forth in: (Public Charge: Under Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an individual seeking admission to the United States or seeking to adjust status to that of an individual lawfully admitted for permanent residence is inadmissible if the individual, “at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge.”

Public charge does not apply in naturalization proceedings. If an individual is inadmissible, admission to the United States or adjustment of status is not granted.

“Public charge” means an individual who is likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, as demonstrated by either the receipt of public cash assistance for income maintenance or institutionalization for long-term care at government expense.).

The above mentioned methods will also resolve any student visa overstays and any other class of legally admitted alien that has violated the terms of their visa and as such became illegally present.

Make no mistake, any form of amnesty or other legalization for the millions who have had and still have contempt for the immigration laws of the United States deserve nothing.

Illegal immigration is a tremendous burden on the country that all citizens and legal immigrants have to bear. Here are just a few examples: Their children go to our public schools yet, their parents pay no school taxes, and we wonder why our schools do not have sufficient money for educational programs. They drive motor vehicles in this country without a license or insurance yet, we are required to carry “uninsured motorist” coverage in order to cover “them”.

In addition, they use the local emergency room as their family doctor and claim indigence and unable to pay for their services and we sit and wonder why our health insurance premiums rise, here's a clue, we are paying for their health care when the hospitals charge our insurance companies more to cover their losses from indigent services.

Furthermore, I have personally spoken with thousands of illegal immigrants during my time as a border patrol agent and guess what, they don’t want to be legalized. That means paying taxes.

They don’t want to pay taxes. They just want to make their money to send back to their home country to support family back home and thus support their hometown economies, not ours. The only ones that “benefit” from illegal immigrant amnesty are the politicians pandering for yet another vote.

Jeffrey A. Clark, United States Border Patrol (Ret.)
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien