Amnesty First

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R.-Ga.) offered a simple amendment last week to the Senate immigration bill. This is the same Hagel-Martinez bill that would allow 66 million new immigrants to enter the U.S. in the next 20 years by, among other things, granting amnesty to the illegal aliens already in the country. Isaakson’s amendment merely would have required that the secretary of Homeland Security certify to the President and Congress that all of the border security provisions in the bill were fully funded and operational before the "guest-worker" provisions - meaning amnesty - could go into effect. The Senate defeated the amendment 40 to 55, when 17 Republicans joined with Democrats to vote against it.