Immigration Deformed
I haven’t said much, at least in English, about the deformed version of “immigration reform” making its way through Washington (apparently being kicked down the road a bit, but not far), and don’t intend to.
It’s partially because people who are in a better position to do it, including Hugh Hewitt and Debbie Schlussel, and many, many others, are doing the heavy lifting, and doing it well.
It’s partially because I previously fisked a number of items in last year’s bill (here, here, and here), and have commented frequently on related matters for the past two-plus years (some examples here, here, here, here, here, and here).
Finally, it’s because this year’s model is clearly worse, and apparently getting ever worse, with each successive whine.
So I don’t plan on following the twists and turns of this patent nonsense.
Therefore, for the record: I love legal immigration done right. We could probably absorb about double the number of legal immigrants allowed in every year if the problem of illegals didn’t exist. But it’s already perfectly obvious that the current bill is a sellout of borders, language, and culture writ large. It will become moreso as the days go by. It should not pass. Voters should make it clear to their representatives that anyone who votes for the measure as it currently exists, or any of the worse ones that appear sure to follow, does not deserve re-election, regardless of their other possible redeeming qualities.
You want “immigration reform”? Think Oklahoma.
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UPDATE: I do need to note this — The current welfare caseload (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) continues to decline. Since I last posted on it using March 1996 2006 figures, the number of families and the total number of recipients have both declined by about 3% (in the nine months ending December 31, 2006 — recipients from 4.231 million to 4.119 million; families from 1.814 million to 1.755 million). The cumulative decreases in recipients and families receiving welfare since the end of 2000 have been 25% and 19%, respectively — and over 66% and 61%, respectively, since the enactment of welfare reform in 1996.
If this deformed version of immigration “reform” passes, expect much, if not all, of that progress to be reversed. Add to that the cost increases in Food Stamps and Medicaid, which will be the stuff absolute nightmares are made of.
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UPDATE 2: Noteworthy commentary –
- Cal Thomas — “Amnesty by Another Name”
- David Limbaugh — “The Immigration Debacle”
- Thomas Sowell — “The Amnesty Fraud“; “The Amnesty Fraud: Part II” (May 24: Part III)
- Knoxville letter posted at American Thinker — “Blacks and the immigration bill”
- Also at American Thinker, from Dan Scott — “The Immigration Bill Sells Out the Poor” (the legal ones, that is; HT Larwyn)
UPDATE 3: Michelle Malkin — “The Comprehensive Open-Borders Goodie Bag”
