Senate Bill Puts Citizenship Up for Sale

By Aussiegirl

What's truly astounding is that what we are seeing is both parties abandoning and betraying their natural constituencies. The Democrats are betraying the unions, minorities and the average working joe, who the claim to support -- while the Republicans are betraying and insulting their entire conservative base -- and for what? Votes and slave labor?

If that's true, then you know the true state of politics today in both parties -- power and business money -- the people be damned!

HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE - Senate Bill Puts Citizenship Up for Sale by Stephen Manfredi

The Senate is currently considering legislation that would, among other things, sell citizenship to illegal immigrants for the modest price of $2,000. All Americans should take offense.

The immigration reform bill in question amounts to a massive blanket amnesty which would allow the 12 million illegal aliens currently in the United States to seek citizenship without even returning to their home country. Cautious to avoid the stigma of "amnesty," however, the bill’s defenders have erected an assortment of weak obstacles to absolutely unfettered citizenship. This is simply window dressing.

[...] Ultimately, this debate is not just about access to cheap labor. It is about the security of America's borders, our right to national sovereignty, and our national security in a post-9/11 world. Nearly five years after the terrorist attacks, our borders remain woefully insecure. And while our Mexican neighbors seeking work in America pose no national security or terrorist threat, our porous southern border has become our nation's soft underbelly. An open border cannot distinguish between a migrant seeking opportunity and a terrorist intent on doing us harm. We cannot afford this perpetual state of lawlessness.

Our government's first obligation is to protect and defend the American people and their Constitution. Yet our laws are flouted with contempt and our borders are mocked as irrelevant. The Senate's response? Continue to reside in the country you entered illegally, pay some fines, and maybe learn some English before becoming an American citizen. Those who have waited in line to legally become citizens should continue to wait. This is unfair. America has always been and should remain a beacon for legal immigrants.
And the American people are justifiably upset. If this Senate immigration bill becomes law, the political consequences for Republicans will be almost as devastating as the policy implications would be for America. Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose granting temporary worker status to illegal immigrants. And 62 percent oppose easing the path to citizenship. Facing a tough election cycle this year, Republicans are not helping themselves by supporting a wildly unpopular and Democratic-crafted amnesty bill that is rejected by a majority of Americans and a supermajority of Republicans.

[...] Republicans are frittering away what could be their last opportunity to show leadership on a crucial national issue before November. They have been completely outmaneuvered. Instead of uniting the country around border security and splitting the Democratic coalition, Republicans have succeeded in dividing their own party and will soon unite the nation against their unpopular amnesty bill.

[...] There is still a broad national consensus which supports tougher border security policies and opposes easing the path to citizenship for illegals. Republicans would be wise to tackle one problem at a time by focusing on border enforcement first, and the important question of immigration reform second. Both are essential to maintaining an open society based on the rule of law and legal immigration. That's not just sensible policy, but great politics.

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