No Amnesty

Dear Editor,
The U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. needs a big dose of good ole common horse sense. The Senate Immigration / Amnesty Bill is purely and simply a BAD bill.

Accepting amnesty in this bill as a trade off for bringing FUTURE illegal immigration under control is a major fallacy. The bill makes NO promises of lower illegal immigration and sets no numerical reduction goals at all. We’ve seen in the past that giving amnesty has not stemmed the tide of illegal immigration, and amnesty now will not reduce illegal immigration in the future.

The "touch back" provisions that require the illegal aliens to leave the country briefly are meaningless. These touch-back provisions have nothing to do with slowing down illegal immigration in the future. In fact the touch-back provisions try to fool voters into thinking that the illegal aliens would be allowed to live here permanently in a process no different from anybody else. But it won’t work that way. The permanent residence they would be given would be possible only because they BROKE THE LAW IN THE FIRST PLACE. Giving amnesty to people who have broken American laws increases the likelihood of further illegal conduct.

Amnesty was a bad idea in 1986.
Amnesty was a bad idea last year.
Amnesty is still a bad idea.

We need to remember that Ted Kennedy has already pushed SEVEN amnesties into law. Not a single one was followed by a reduction in illegal immigration. Why should anybody believe this one will be?

1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy's blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirements for actual reductions in illegal immigration. The illegal flow continued.

2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy's Section 245(I) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens. It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, would come on into the country illegally. The illegal flow continued.

3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy's extension of the Section 245(I) rolling amnesty was followed by an Increasing Flow of Illegal Immigration.

4. In 1997, Ted Kennedy also won an amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America. Illegal immigration sped up some more.

5. In 1998, Ted Kennedy won an amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti. The illegal flow continued.

6. In 2000, Ted Kennedy got the so-called Late Amnesty, legalizing another 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed that they missed out on Kennedy's 1986 amnesty. Illegal immigration continued unimpeded.

7. In 2000, Ted Kennedy also won the LIFE Act Amnesty for an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. It was another reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(I) amnesty., an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. Illegal Immigration Accelerated.

Now, Ted Kennedy is saying that this amnesty is necessary if we are ever to stop the flow of illegal aliens. Considering the above track record, there is just no way we can believe him when he says this amnesty bill will end illegal immigration.

The Senate Immigration bill should be broken up into pieces with each piece given a fair hearing.

We Need to Secure Our Borders First, with a separate, tough bill that produces results. (After all these months, why is it that only two miles of the promised 700-mile border fence have been built?)

We can follow border security with visa reform.

A separate bill can address employer enforcement.

We need to ENFORCE our current immigration laws before we grant blanket amnesty.

It just makes good ole common horse sense to hold off on legalizing 12-20 million illegal immigrants until funding and enforcement efforts HAVE ACTUALLY RESULTED IN substantial reductions of the illegal population.