Senate Creates Half A Sausage ...

Half a sausage at full price...

Cross posted from Red Hot Cuppa Politics:

Our distinguished Senate gerbils grappled with illegal immigration reform, with mixed results. It's kind of like the proverbial sausage, tastes good, but you don't want to know what goes into it. Maybe we really don't want to know what's really going into the immigration reform bill, but for sure, they're skirting around basic human nature.

Yesterday, the Senate did pass the Kyl-Cornyn amendment, which would deny citizenship to illegal aliens who commit felonies, by a whopping 99-0. Before spring break, they refused to discuss it. Now, I'm still mystified why we can't just deport illegal felons, but okay. For the Senate, that's a pretty stern measure.

Jeff Sessions brought up proposal to start a fence, which passed. From the NYT's, title link:

By a vote of 83 to 16, the Senate approved a proposal by Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, to construct about 370 miles of "triple layer" fencing on the Southwest border along with 500 miles of vehicle barriers.

Mr. Sessions said that type of fencing would cost about $3.2 million a mile, but he said the cost would be offset by reductions in the expense of detaining and processing people illegally crossing the border. The House has approved 700 miles of fencing..

Anyway, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman will be submitting proposals in the next two weeks, to provide high tech gadgets for a virtual fence.

ProfessorBudgie oinked when he heard the Sessions amendment discussed, but I think it may give relief to some border ranchers that have had their property methodically destroyed. Hope so, anyway.

So, the National Guard's (sort of) going down there, and we'll (sort of) have a fence. Now, I'm still not sure that either of the measures will actually do any more than the MinuteMen are already doing, but okay.

Folks, the Senate's agreed to part of what we've been asking for, so let's toss them a couple of cookies.

Here's what got voted down:

The Senate, on a 66-to-33 vote, defeated an effort by Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, to kill a provision that would allow illegal immigrants who meet certain qualifications and pay a fine and back taxes to seek citizenship.

Mr. Vitter said the provision would result in illegal immigrants' "being treated better than the folks who have lived by the rules from the word go." He said that amounted to amnesty.

Well, the current proposed "path to citizenship" actually doesn't consider human nature, because it seems to run on the honor system. While some will step forward, I don't know how many people would step up voluntarily to pay a couple of thousand dollars, and back taxes, in order to wait 11 years to be a US citizen -- when they can already work, live, educate their kids (in Spanish), and get social services without any effort.

Look -- I personally think that we need to raise the quota's for citizenship, and revamp the INS. If people are going to live here, give them a stake in our country. But, there is no immigration reform that's going to work if it doesn't have teeth in it, and we're going to have to deal with the "D" word.

Look at it this way: Suppose your kids brings home a passle of new friends; you offer them hospitality and snacks, and you let them spend the night. Then, you notice that a couple of them have sneaked in through a back window. They're partying, breaking every house rule you've got, running up your phone bill, and trashing your house. They're making snide comments about you, and loudly proclaiming how much better it is at their own home.

So, what are you going to do? Pull them aside, kindly explain house rules, and ask them to never, never do it again, although you'd never dream of asking them to leave? Tell them that your door's always open to them, but you really, really wish they'd behave better, and in the meantime, what would they like you to buy for them during your next grocery run?

Tell you what -- why not tell the kids that if they give you 20 dollars, and live in your house for 11 years, you'd be happy to adopt them?

We're going to need to take a hard cold look at the "deportation" word, because without a credible threat of deportation, nobody's going to take it seriously -- and anyone who compares the US of A to Nazi Germany is just too stupid to be allowed near a keyboard.

Deporting illegal immigrants in cattle cars is a dumb (and liberal inspired) image. However, we can sure start by deporting illegal immigrants who break the law, beyond the fact of being here. And, I'm talking "catch and catapult" here -- we don't need to jail them on our soil, and there's no earthly reason why an illegal immigrant needs to have the benefits of American due process.

Remember what Sun Tsu would do ... apart from laughing his kimona off at US immigration policy.

Check out the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform. Free Constitution posts an article about the "Good, the Bad and the Ugly" Senate bill. There's a pat on the back for Vittner over at Persuing Holiness. Debbie, over at Right Truth also points out the problems with legal immigration -- heh! She's right, and it relates to our laws. ChristiKing at CommonSenseAmerica is writing about a mindset, and DeMediacratic Nation talks about perceived hate crimes. And don't miss Brian's post about the Senate -- the guy's a champ for putting the coalition together -- I don't know how he finds the time to write, given the workload, but his articles are always worth the read.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let me know at what level you would like to participate.**

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