Gang of Eight pushes for immigration reform

[okie52]

Gang of Eight Wastes No Time in Making Case for Immigration Bill
Thursday, 18 Apr 2013 10:56 AM
By Lisa Barron

The bipartisan group of eight senators who unveiled their new immigration bill early Wednesday has launched a major campaign, both publicly and in private, aimed at winning over conservatives in the Republican Party.

“Defining the bill quickly is good,” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Politico. “We’re going to be open-minded about making it better. But this is an all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Graham and others have been taking to the airwaves and meeting with colleagues behind closed doors in an effort to sell the legislation.

The bill calls for billions of dollars to be spent on tightened border security with the goal of apprehending 90 percent of those attempting to cross into the U.S. in so-called high risk areas, according to Politico. And the 11 million illegal immigrants who are already in the country would have to pay $2,000 in fines, pass a background check, get a job, and then wait 10 years before applying for a green card. Three years later, they could apply for U.S. citizenship. The whole process would be linked to the government meeting a series of border security requirements.

Republican senators are trying to limit the opposition from conservatives over what many call “amnesty” for illegal immigrants and broaden the party’s appeal to Hispanic and moderate voters.

Although a solid portion of conservative voters are against the bill, the GOP senators who introduced it “know that the way the Republican Party can get well nationally is by getting something done,” Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, a member of the so-called "Gang of Eight" that wrote the bill, told Politico.

He continued, “If the House members, which are more conservative, see only five or six [Senate] Republicans voting for this, it’s a whale of a difference than if we see 20.”
But that could be easier said than done. Republicans, including Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, have already expressed concerns.

“It’s worse than we thought. It’s amnesty on a massive scale, greater than we anticipated,” Smith told Politico, adding, “We took their word that the border was going to be secured before the other reforms were implemented and that’s not the case.”

Still, several Senate Republicans are taking a wait and see approach before stating their position on the bill.

“I’m very open-minded,” Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah told Politico, adding, “People want to do what’s right here, but there are a lot of concerns on what is the best way to handle this problem and not create more.”
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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[okie52]

Immigration Reform Could Help Determine GOP's Future
Thursday, 18 Apr 2013 11:42 AM
By Lisa Barron

The immigration debate is becoming a critical issue for the Republican Party as several GOP leaders try to overcome conservative opposition to the new bill unveiled by a bipartisan group of eight senators.

After Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2012, the party vowed to do better, and many now believe its future depends on reaching out to the country’s biggest minority group, according to the Huffington Post. How the party positions itself on the bill now before the Senate is considered crucial by some to how Republicans will fare in future elections.

“There’s no question it’s a huge concern,” one GOP consultant told the Post, adding “If people would rather be right than win, this may go down. But I think you’re seeing a pretty concerted effort to try to put this issue behind us.”

Henry Barbour, a member of the Republican national Committee from Mississippi agreed, telling the Post, “There is thinking in the party that we’re tired of this group think and we’re not just going to be shouted down by the loudest voices and it’s okay to have a debate.”

But conservative objections to several parts of the new proposals will have to be addressed. Last week, the Heritage Foundation came out against the Senate legislation, which paves the way to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants already in the country illegally.

And Ben Domenech, a fellow at the Heartland Institute, wrote Wednesday in his daily newsletter, The Transom, that the bill “is rife with problems, the chief being that it does not solve the real problems with the immigration system, it creates entirely new problems, and it will not, as currently formed, pass the House,” noted the Post.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, however, may succeed in winning over some conservative skeptics. Rubio, a member of the gang of eight and a potential presidential contender in 2016, is using every opportunity to make his case for the bill, explaining the arduous process that undocumented immigrants will have to go through to gain citizenship.

On Wednesday, after interviewing Rubio on his radio talk show, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee reportedly said, “You know, listening to the various stages that a person has to go through, I’m not that surprised the Republicans would be for it.”
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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[okie52]

ICE union claims immigration bill 'does nothing' to resolve enforcement concerns

Published April 18, 2013
FoxNews.com

While the authors of the newly released Senate immigration bill touted its multibillion dollar investment in border security, critics are seizing on what they describe as a major loophole -- giving the government "discretion" to choose when to enforce immigration laws.

The union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has long complained that the Obama administration has made their job harder by preventing agents from detaining and deporting select illegal immigrants. They had petitioned members of the so-called "Gang of Eight" -- the lawmakers writing the immigration bill -- to address those concerns in the package.
But, in a letter obtained by FoxNews.com, National ICE Council President Chris Crane said "this legislation again does nothing to resolve that."

The letter was sent Tuesday to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a key member of the Gang of Eight, shortly before the legislation was formally released. Crane thanked Rubio for meeting with him, a meeting he had long sought, but complained that the bill did not address his concerns.

"In fact, it appears that the security components it does contain focus mostly on the exterior, and rely on the discretion of DHS, even though DHS is in federal court right now for undermining the constitutional rule of law," Crane wrote, referring to a lawsuit brought by ICE agents.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2QplS4IiR.

[okie52]

Obamacare Could Mean $3K Incentive to Hire Immigrants
Thursday, 18 Apr 2013 11:58 AM
By Sandy Fitzgerald

Passage of the new bipartisan immigration reform bill could mean a $3,000 per year incentive for employers who choose a newly legal immigrant over a U.S. citizen.

The bill unveiled Wednesday says people who are granted provisional legal status will be treated the same as people “not lawfully present” under Obamacare guidelines, Investor's Business Daily reports.

This means that provisionally legal immigrants will not be eligible for Obamacare tax credits or required to pay a tax penalty for failing to get health insurance – and employers won't be fined for not providing them with affordable health coverage.

Employers who don't offer insurance face fines based on full-time staffing levels, regardless of whether the workers are immigrants or U.S. citizens. However, employers who offer insurance can face fines if the coverage costs workers more than 9.5 percent of their pay. If the insurance is too costly, the worker will become eligible for Obamacare.

The employer then would be charged by the government, up to $3,000 per full-time worker who receives Obamacare subsidies. But since legalized immigrants wouldn't be eligible for Obamacare, their employers would not fined for hiring them and not subsidizing their insurance coverage.

"A playing field tilted toward legalized immigrants is surely not what the bipartisan group of Senators intended, and it may be possible to craft a legislative fix. But it may not be simple, either politically or administratively," Investor's Business Daily reported.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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[okie52]

Goodlatte: Senate Immigration 'Repeats Mistakes From Past'
Friday, 19 Apr 2013 09:28 AM
By Courtney Coren

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte is not happy with the bipartisan Senate version of immigration reform unveiled this week, saying it "repeats some of the same mistakes from the past."

The Virginia Republican described the proposed measure Thursday as "a good faith effort to overhaul our broken immigration system," but he warned of "some flaws which could lead to the same problems we have today," The Hill reported.

“The bill’s enforcement components need to be strengthened and the new temporary agricultural guest worker program needs to be improved to make sure it meets the needs of farmers,” said Goodlatte, whose committee will oversee the House version once it's ready to be announced.

The chairman said he was also concerned about the bill's cost "since it doesn't comply" with ‘pay-as-you-go’ budgeting requirements and contains what he called "budget gimmicks to avoid a high score" from the Congressional Budget Office.

He said his panel plans to meet Friday to begin going through the 844-page Senate bill that aims to provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. He added that the committee would likely break the bill down to examine it section by section since "the issue so complex.”

© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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[okie52]

Immigration Bill Riddled With Exemptions, Complex Terminology
Friday, 19 Apr 2013 01:10 PM
By Melanie Batley


The Senate’s immigration reform bill apparently includes hundreds of exemptions and other exceptions that are giving supporters and opponents pause as Congress begins consideration of the 844-page document.

According to the Daily Caller, the comprehensive and complicated bill has about 400 "exemptions, exceptions, waivers, determinations and grants of discretion" included throughout, adding to its complexity and, perhaps, supporting claims from conservatives that they need more than just a few weeks to consider the measure.

The language alone, the Daily Caller notes, is bound to add to the confusion. For example it mentions “discretion” or “discretionary” 41 times, “judge” or “judges” 73 times, and “secretary” 1018 times, a reference to who will be responsible for approving a waiver, exemption, or exception to the requirements laid out in the law.

“Exempt” or “exemptions” are mentioned 18 times, while the word “except” appears 156 times. There are also 94 uses of the term “waiver.”

The Daily Caller noted that one example of a complex passage appears on page 71. It reads: “WAIVER. — The Secretary, in the Secretary’s sole and unreviewable discretion, may waive the application of subparagraph (A) on behalf of an alien. The prospective beneficiary of that discretion by a political appointee, according to the bill, is ‘an alien who departed from the United States while subject to an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal’.”

Senate Democratic leaders have previously said they want to begin consideration of the bill in the Judiciary Committee immediately with the aim of moving it to the floor for a vote by early June.

However, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a senior Republican on the panel, is leading the effort among GOP conservatives to slow the process down. He's already called on Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to add more hearings on the measure to the committee's schedule.

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[Soonerjeepman]

that is the problem with all this $hit...just like aca...all this bumbo-jumbo and not a thing will change~

like these folks are going to pay a $2k fine and back taxes...riigghhhttt....

[okie52]

Immigration Bill Off to a Shaky Start
Friday, 19 Apr 2013 11:05 AM
By James Walsh

Eight U.S. senators have joined forces to propose an immigration bill that signals the start of immigration reform, but only the start.

The bill contains provisions that are unacceptable to liberals, conservatives, independents, small and large businesses, unions, and a cross-section of U.S. citizens.

The 844-page bill was released in the wee hours of Wednesday, April 17, hardly an auspicious unveiling of a major piece of legislation.

Making up this Gang of Eight are Chuck Schumer, D-NY; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; Lindsay Graham, R-S.C.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Four of the members are liberal Democrats, and four are conservative Republicans — three of the latter from states with large Hispanic populations.

Although these senators have coalesced behind an outline on immigration reform that promises to be more acceptable to U.S. citizen-voters than were earlier legislative attempts, some of their proposals are causing angst:
Registered Provisional Immigration Status. The proposed path to citizenship for those illegal aliens presently in the country would begin with each illegal-alien applicant receiving a “registered provisional immigration status” designation.
Financial and Personal Assistance. Proposed assistance to illegal-alien applicants is estimated to cost $50 million. In line with congressional estimates, actual costs would run much higher. The legislation would fund immigrant advocates and Community Organizer groups, such as La Raza and Casa de Maryland, for five years to help illegal-alien applicants obtain green cards and welfare benefits.
Border Security. The proposed bill would require the federal government to first secure the South and West borders. The bill states that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would have five years to secure the borders. Should the DHS fail to do so, then the bill would trigger the creation of a “commission” to take over the task of securing the border. Again, as with other congressional legislation, the details on implementing the bill would be left to federal bureaucrats and political appointees. If past is prologue, then a review of the Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986 (IRCA) is in order. Although IRCA failed to secure the borders, as required, amnesty was granted to 2.7 million illegal aliens. IRCA triggered a tidal wave of illegal immigration.
STEM LPRs. The proposed bill contains a provision for “green cards” that offer legal permanent residency (LPR) to immigrants with advanced degrees in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The STEM proposal appears to be viable, as does a provision offering a new “W” visa to non-agricultural, low-skilled workers. Visas for agricultural workers also need clarification. A good starting point might be the “Bracero program” (1942-1964) that permitted Mexican farm-laborers to work seasonally in the United States.
Social/Welfare Benefits. Questions are sure to arise regarding the social/welfare benefits offered to illegal-alien applicants. One provision would give applicants free cell phones. U.S. taxpayers are likely to recoil at this giveaway, as Internet commentators already are doing.
Employer Verification System. The bill proposes a tougher employer verification system to assure that companies hire only legal or “legalizing” immigrants and incentives for companies that hire them. Provisions would be made for more entry-level workers. IRCA has failed to enforce employer sanctions, just as the federal government will fail to enforce E-Verify provisions.
Family Unity. The number of people covered by the Gang-of-Eight bill would be three to six times the alleged 11 million illegal aliens currently in the United States, because the bill has a family-unity provision that allows “legalizing” immigrants to bring in family members.

Among the flaws in the proposed Gang-of-Eight legislation is its failure to require health examinations of illegal immigrants, even though health exams are required of all legal immigrants to protect the public health.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers complain that the bill’s provision prohibiting the use of “racial profiling” is too restrictive and would prevent law enforcement.

Another flaw is the setting of December 31, 2011, as the arbitrary cutoff date for illegal aliens to have been in the United States. Illegal aliens, however, can easily obtain forged predated documents. Ask any U.S. Border Patrol agent about the increase in border crossers — it is the lure of “legalization.”

Members of the Obama administration repeat that “The border is more secure than it has ever been.” Why then did a recent New York Times article report that the border is not secure and that the struggle to secure it continues? And why did a U.S. Border Patrol official recently testify that border apprehensions were up 13 percent in fiscal 2013 from 2012?

The Gang-of-Eight proposal is a start, but a shaky one. Months if not years of congressional hearings are needed to produce effective immigration legislation. On April 17, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., a proponent of Obamacare, announced that implementation of that law is heading for a “huge train wreck.”

The Gang-of-Eight immigration reform bill, if enacted as is, also would be heading for a train wreck, with U.S. taxpayers the casualties.

James H. Walsh was associate general counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1983 to 1994. Read more reports from James Walsh — Click Here Now.


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[okie52]

Chuck Schumer's Immigration Triumph
Friday, 19 Apr 2013 10:12 AM

Everyone presumes that Sen. Chuck Schumer, the media-hungry Democrat from New York, wants to be the next Senate majority leader. His performance in the negotiations over the Gang of Eight immigration plan should bolster his case for an eventual promotion.

Schumer has been at the center of crafting a bill for a mass amnesty of undocumented immigrants that has high-profile, bipartisan support and a chance of becoming law. He had the shrewdness to realize what he needed to do to make the bill viable.

If you are going to have any hope of passing a sweeping amnesty bill in a divided Congress, you need a conservative Republican with credibility with the party's base willing to go out and aggressively advocate for it. If he is a potential front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, all the better.

You need bells and whistles about triggers and enforcement so the aforementioned conservative Republican can portray the bill as a toughening of the nation's immigration laws.

But, to make it palatable to your own side, you need a near-instantaneous amnesty before anything else meaningful happens.

Check, check, and check. Even the most incorrigible Schumer critic has to concede: Well played, senator, well played.

Schumer rightly recognized the importance of keeping on board Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been tireless and fearless in making the case for the Gang of Eight's approach. The muted reaction of the right to the bill is a testament to its fondness and respect for Rubio.

Schumer managed to hold Rubio and win his grudging respect, while selling him a lopsided deal. Rubio traded amnesty — although he refuses to call it that — for an enforcement plan on paper and a commission to be named later.

Under the bill, no additional enforcement has to take place before undocumented immigrants get legalized. The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security merely has to come up with a strategy for enforcement and notify Congress that it has commenced. It doesn't matter if it is a good, bad, or indifferent plan, so long as it is a plan. Then, an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants get legal status.

The bill stipulates that we will establish a 90 percent effectiveness rate at catching people trying to cross the border in five years. If that goal isn't achieved, then a bipartisan border commission swoops in to take charge and come up with its own report and recommendations. And if the commission fails to produce these recommendations within 180 days, well then, the bill demands that the Department of Homeland Security come up with yet another border-security plan!

Schumer's genius is to have placated Rubio not just with promises, but with new versions of old promises. Rubio touts the bill's mandate for the creation of an exit-entry tracking system, a key piece of the puzzle of controlling who comes here. Congress first mandated the creation of such a system in 1996.

It is one thing for Congress to make earnest assurances about wonderful things that will occur in the future. It is quite another for them to occur. In 2001, Congress congratulated itself for passing the No Child Left Behind Act that quite sincerely said all students — yes, all students — would achieve proficiency in reading and mathematics by the 2013-14 school year.

If the Gang of Eight bill becomes law, a natural political dynamic will take over. Denying any undocumented immigrant newly legal status will seem arbitrary and unfair, and so the notionally tough requirements for legal status will be only loosely applied. Pro-amnesty advocacy groups and the business lobby will work to undermine enforcement in the courts and in Congress. And the new argument against Republicans will become that they are alienating Latino voters by insisting on an inexcusably drawn-out process for formerly undocumented immigrants to get citizenship (and become voters).

No doubt, Chuck Schumer has already thought all this through. That's why he's Chuck Schumer.

Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and a variety of other publications. Read more reports from Rich Lowry — Click Here Now.

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[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

hoo lawdy!

[SoonerorLater]

Your tax dollars at work. Detached from reality politicians at work giving the honest, law abiding U.S Citizens what they aren't asking for and what don't want.