My disposition is not as pleasant as I would want. Fortunately, Bluey at RedState sorts through the myths that the WH casually called facts and blows holes in the basic issues behind the Immigration Reform Bill heading to the Senate tomorrow.
The White House released a "Myth/Fact" document about the immigration bill
last week. But instead of setting the record straight, it perpetuated more
myths. What follows are 10 myths the White House is telling us about the amnesty
agreement.
1. MYTH: This is not amnesty.
• FACT: This is amnesty. Title VI of this bill is amnesty, plain and simple. According to an op-ed by former Attorney General Ed Meese that appeared in the New York Times last year discussing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, “the difference is that President
Reagan called this what it was: amnesty. Indeed, look up the term ‘amnesty’ in
Black’s Law Dictionary, and you’ll find it says, ‘the 1986 Immigration Reform
and Control Act provided amnesty for undocumented aliens already in the
country.’” It was amnesty then, and it’s amnesty now.
• FACT: The proposal
forces illegal aliens to acknowledge that they broke the law, pay a $1,000 fee,
and undergo a criminal background check to obtain a Z visa granting temporary
worker status. The acknowledgment, fee and background check does not mitigate
the fact that this is forgiveness for illegal aliens breaking numerous
immigration laws. The bill waives numerous provisions of current law that would
require deportation.
Read the other nine myths ...
2. MYTH: This proposal does not repeat the mistakes of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.
• FACT: This proposal is substantially similar to the 1986 Immigration
Reform and Control Act and does repeat the mistakes of the 1986 law. The 1986
law failed, despite the fact that, according to Meese’s op-ed, it provided
amnesty for 3 million immigrants for the price of “border security and
enforcement of immigration laws” being “greatly strengthened.”
• FACT: The 1986 law also allowed “most illegal immigrants who could establish that they had
resided in America continuously for five years would be granted temporary
resident status, which could be upgraded to permanent residency after 18 moths
and, after another five years, to citizenship.” The current compromise allows a
Z-visa holder to adjust to Lawful Permanent Resident status after satisfying a
points system, files the application for adjustment in the applicant’s home
country and pays a fee of $4,000. A Z-visa holder has the discretion to choose
to stay indefinitely in the United States if the Z-visa holder chooses not
pursue a “pathway to citizenship.” Meese stated in his op-ed about the 1986 law
that “this pathway to citizenship was not automatic. Indeed, the legislation
stipulated several conditions: immigrants had to pay application fees, learn to
speak English, understand American civics, pass a medical exam and register for
military selective service. Those with convictions for a felony or three
misdemeanors were ineligible. Sound familiar?” Yes, it does.
3. MYTH: The government will crack down on the hiring of illegal workers.
• FACT: The government will not crack down on the hiring of illegal workers. The government
will be granting amnesty to illegal workers under the new Z-visa category. Thus,
it will have fewer illegal workers to punish. There will be a handful of illegal
workers that will not qualify for the new program that allows amnesty for
illegal aliens in the country by Jan. 1, 2007. Therefore, by granting amnesty,
there will be no pool of illegal workers to punish and/or deport.
• FACT: A Z-visa holder merely has to provide two documents to prove eligibility. First,
“sworn affidavits from nonrelatives” that the illegal alien qualifies, plus one
other non-secure document. (Source: page 271 of the draft bill.) This is a huge
loophole in the verification provision of who is present in the country
illegally after Jan. 1, 2007.
• FACT: Another loophole contains a waiver for
humanitarian reasons. The deportation requirements of current law can be waived
for “humanitarian circumstances.” (Source: page 1 of the draft bill.) This is
yet another loophole that will prevent a crackdown on the hiring of illegal
workers.
4. MYTH: This proposal would not cut in half the amount of fence
built by the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
• FACT: This proposal cuts in half the
amount of fencing to be built as mandated by the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Only
one half of the additional fencing authorize by the Secure Fence Act of 2006
must be built before the temporary worker program and Z visa could go into
effect.
• FACT: The Secure Fence Act authorized the building of 700 miles of
new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. This bill provides that a trigger that
the federal government has to have “installed at least 200 miles of vehicle
barriers, 370 miles of fencing, and 70 ground-based radar and camera towers
along the southern land border of the United States, and have deployed Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles and supporting systems.” (Source: page 1 of the draft bill.)
This bill allows for less than half the amount of fencing mandated by the Secure
Fence Act before the Z and Y visas are issued.
5. MYTH: The trigger period will not cause a rush to the border.
• FACT: Although to be eligible for a Z
visa illegal aliens must prove they were in the country prior to Jan. 1, 2007,
it is expected that it will not be difficult to produce fraudulent documentation
to prove illegal continuous presence in the United States and employment offers
or employment. This legislation creates the perverse incentive for illegal
aliens to prove that they were illegally present and working in the United
States as of Jan. 1, 2007. As previously stated, a Z-visa holder merely has to
provide two documents. First, “sworn affidavits from nonrelatives” that the
illegal alien qualifies, plus one other non-secure document. (Source: page 271
of the draft bill.) This is a huge loophole in the verification provision of who
is present in the country illegally after Jan. 1, 2007.
• FACT: An exception of the “Grounds of Ineligibility” for Z-visa applicants states “nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary to commence removal proceedings against an
alien.” Therefore, even if a Z-visa holder is deemed ineligible for Z-visa
status, nothing requires the federal government to deport the ineligible illegal
alien. (Source: page 261 of the draft bill.) This is yet another loophole in the
bill.
6. MYTH: By providing an opportunity for citizenship to illegal
immigrants already here, the bill will not exponentially increase
extended-family chain migration.
• FACT: The bill will dramatically accelerate family chain migration. The bill will dramatically accelerate family chain migration over the next six years. After that time, family chain migration by low-skill immigrants will allegedly be replaced by skill-based immigration.
The promised change to skill-based immigration in the distant future is unlikely to ever occur.
• FACT: The bill contains a brand-new category of visas for
family members. The bill contains a waiver for “family members in hardship
cases.” Although this category is capped at the number of 5,000 per year, this
is an exception that will allow limited chain migration. (Source: page 251 of
draft bill.)
• FACT: Allows visitor visas for family members of the Y visa,
temporary workers that would allow the spouses of Y-visa holders to come to the
country and have children who will be U.S citizens entitled to welfare benefits,
also known as “anchor babies.” (Source: page 254 of draft bill.)
• FACT:
This bill does nothing to preclude illegal aliens coming across the border and
having children that will be granted citizenship. The “anchor baby” problem is
not addressed by this legislation. The Heritage Foundation has provided as study
that asserts that a statutory change in law would be a constitutional means to
disallow the common practice of automatically granting citizenship to the
children of illegal aliens.
7. MYTH: The temporary worker program is good for
American workers.
• FACT: Under the guest-worker program, guest workers will
be able to bring spouses and children into the United States. Children of guest
workers will be entitled to free education in public schools, with an average
cost of $9,600 per child imposed on U.S. taxpayers. If the spouse of a guest
worker has a child in the U.S. that child will become a U.S. citizen with a
guaranteed lifetime entitlement to more than 60 different federal welfare
programs.
• FACT: There will be two new programs for workers. The Z visa will
be for illegal workers to adjust their status to legal workers and the Y visa
for future temporary workers. A Y-visa program without the Z-visa program may
help the U.S. economy, but taken together, the American worker may be harmed by
a flood of new workers coming from illegal status and new future flow workers
from foreign nations flooding the economy and depressing American wages.
8. MYTH: Illegal immigrants will not come onto the welfare rolls.
• FACT: Illegal immigrants will come onto the welfare rolls. Amnesty will give illegal
immigrants entitlement to welfare benefits for most of their lives. Illegal
aliens will become Z-visa holders. While they are in Z-visa status, amnesty
recipients will have access the free medical care under the Medicaid program,
but would not be eligible for other welfare programs. After five years in Lawful
Permanent Resident status, the amnesty recipients will be eligible for nearly
all 60 federal welfare programs including food stamps, public housing, and
Temporary Assistance to Needy families, and will remain eligible for the rest of
their lives.
• FACT: After a Z-visa holder completes the “pathway to
citizenship” they will be availed of the same access to welfare benefits as all
American citizens. Children born to Z-card holders will be immediately eligible
for welfare. After a few years, Z-card holders will be given Lawful Permanent
Resident status. Given that 50% to 60% of amnesty recipients will be high school
dropouts, welfare use will be quite high; the average amnesty recipient will
probably receive about $4,000 per year in welfare benefits every year for the
rest of his life.
9. MYTH: Government agencies will be able to share
information to pursue immigration violators.
• FACT: This is both true and
false. The government will have far fewer immigration violators, because the
Z-visa grants amnesty to an estimated 12 million pool of illegal aliens who, a
large percentage of which, are working in the United States. The government will
not be allowed to pursue some visa holders, because once a Z applicant applies,
there is a one-year time period that precludes deportation pursuant to the draft
bill. The process starts when the Z-visa holder applies for a visa, then fills
out paperwork. If a background check is not done by the end of the next day, the
Z visa is automatically issued. Even if background check is not completed the
applicant has a statutory right to get a Z visa.
• FACT: This bill grants
the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to issue a national ID card to
citizens. This immigration bill states that the “Secretary in consultation with
the Commissioner of Social Security may modify by Notice published in the
Federal Register the documents that must be presented to the employer, the
information that must be provided to EEVS (Employee Eligibility Verification
System) by the employer, and the procedures that must be followed by employers
with respect to any aspect of the EEVS if the Secretary in his discretion
concludes that the modification is necessary to ensure that EEVS accurately and
reliably determines the work authorization of employees while providing
protection against fraud and identity theft.” (Source: page 105 of draft bill.)
This grants the authority to the federal government the authority to force
national ID cards on all American citizens.
10. MYTH: Senators are asked to vote Monday on a lengthy bill that they will have time to read.
• FACT:
Senators will not have time to read and understand this bill before Monday's
cloture vote. Working behind closed doors for months, a handful of Democrat and
Republican staffers, along with a few senators and principals from the
Administration, have been drafting a “comprehensive immigration reform package.”
Until Saturday morning, May 19, 2007, the legislation was unavailable to any
other senators or staff, let alone the media, policy analysts, or the general
public. This legislation would be the most significant reform of immigration
policy in 40 years, affecting not only our national security and homeland
defense but the fiscal, economic, and social future of the United States for
several generations. A document marked “DRAFT – FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY,”
is being relied upon by senators and staff as the final language to be debated
beginning on Monday, May 21, with the expectation of a vote on final passage --
without congressional hearings, committee mark-up, fiscal analysis, expert
testimony, or public comment -- before the Memorial Day recess. This is not a
good way to deliberate over such an important piece of legislation and tosses
aside years of the U.S. Senate tradition as being the most deliberative body in
the world.
And if that's not enough, drop by Perish the Thought and let Gull give you a few other suggestions on reforming immigration. New Over-the-Hill blogger Humbug has a perspective to share on "triggers" and cradle to grave welfare.
