For the third May in a row, the U.S. Senate is trying to force another amnesty on the country.
In May 2006 and 2007, the Senate attempted to cram Teddy Kennedy’s and John McCain’s so-called “comprehensive” mass amnesty down the American people’s throats.
Last September, the Senate tried again with amnesty for younger illegals. Known as the DREAM Act, it included in-state college tuition for illegal aliens.
Now, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has attached the perennial AgJOBS amnesty to the must-pass Iraq War appropriations bill. This was part of the “comprehensive” amnesty bill. She is carrying water for those in the agriculture sector who wantonly hire illegal aliens.
AgJOBS’s latest iteration would give out five-year “emergency agricultural worker status” visas. That means legalizing some 1.35 million illegal farm hands, plus their spouses and children (adding another 3 million or so).
The Feinstein amendment stacks the process with so much laxity, the program will be overrun with fraud and abuse. So instead of 4-6 million securing amnesty, count on many more than that getting legalization.
There’s a definite “path to citizenship.” Amnesty recipients may pursue “adjustment of status,” that is, change from temporary visa to a green card and eventually to naturalized citizen.
What must an illegal alien do to qualify for this amnesty on the installment plan? Show enough “evidence” of having worked about 22 weeks or earning at least $7,000 over four years doing farm labor. The AgJOBS amendment defines a “work day” as 5.75 hours.
Evidence may be sketchy or self-incriminating. It won’t matter. The harried bureaucrats, under the gun to “approve first, ask questions never,” will judge what the illegal presents using “just and reasonable inference.” In other words, guess — in favor of the illegal alien.
Aliens seeking this amnesty must lawyer up. They must either hire a lawyer or get one through an advocacy group. Illegals could get help from the Legal Services Corporation - which is to say, taxpayers will cover some or all of the legalization process costs for these lawbreakers.
Illegals receive immunity for any Social Security fraud if they worked under a fake or stolen Social Security number. They’d get their own SSN. They don’t have to pay any back taxes owed on illegal employment.
And any illegal alien could forestall deportation by making a “nonfrivolous” claim that he qualifies for this amnesty.
Of course, the illegal aliens will have to pay a fine - I mean, a “fine:” $250! And they’d be indentured to part-time farm work: 100 “work days” a year in agriculture for up to five years.
Feinstein prohibits Homeland Security from using any information illegals provide on their legalization application for law enforcement. So, AgJOBS gives lawbreakers (illegal aliens and agricultural employers) immunity from past lawbreaking.
Some thought they’d given Senators a pretty good idea during the past fights that America opposes amnesty. Shutting down the Senate phone system with angry constituent calls. Clogged fax machines. Zillions of e-mails. Booing proamnesty Senators back in their states.
Even presidential hopeful/amnesty advocate John McCain (the GOP candidate left standing after all the conservative candidates split the conservative/antiamnesty primary vote) has claimed he got the message on immigration. McCain has said he understands the public wants enforcement first and real results toward reducing illegal immigration.
Feinstein’s amendment gives McCain a chance to prove he really did learn his lesson on immigration.
If the AgJOBS amnesty weren’t bad enough, the Senate Appropriations Committee also attached more bad immigration measures.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) increased H2B visas. These go to unskilled foreigners who take jobs in nonagricultural fields. They’re popular with resorts, landscaping, restaurants and hotels.
Mikulski exempted from the yearly H2B cap of 66,000 any visaholders from the previous three years. By the third year, that could translate into some 400,000 unskilled foreigners taking low-end American jobs. They’ll compete directly with the most vulnerable American workers, and our teens and college students needing to get started on the first rungs of the career ladder, where they learn basic job skills.
Also, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) added an amendment to “recapture” permanent visas from the employment category that went “unused” over the past two decades.
In truth, no such “unused” visas exist. Under current law, employment-based visas not allocated in one year go toward family-based visas the next year. These Senators’ sleight of hand would put about 218,000 more employment-based visas on top of the 140,000 cap for that visa category.
That means increasing overall immigration levels - something the majority of Americans strongly opposes.
All told, the U.S. Senate needs a remedial course in Immigration 101. The public should let Senators hear, loud and clear, that amnesty in any form is unacceptable; and that immigration - temporary or permanent - should be cut, not increased.
