amnesty

The latest version of the reconciliation bill in the House contains a giant amnesty for at least 7 million illegal aliens.

How do we know it’s an amnesty? Because House Democrats are insisting it’s not an amnesty.

This hackneyed talking point is a dead giveaway. (The title of this post is from NR’s July 9, 2007, cover, about John McCain and Ted Kennedy’s proposed non-amnesty amnesty.) The House Judiciary Democrats’ talking points on the immigration provisions in the bill claim that this latest attempt to sneak an amnesty into the reconciliation bill (this is the third try, the Dems’ Plan C) is not an amnesty for two reasons.

First, it’s supposedly temporary. The proposal would grant immigration parole to illegals here since 2011, providing them work permits, Social Security numbers, and driver’s licenses, and everything that flows from that — effectively, a “DACA-for-All” program. But, these benefits “will not be available beyond September 30, 2031.” Two points here: Ten years is not “temporary,” and in any case, there’s no chance that on September 30, 2031, anyone’s status will be terminated. DACA, after all, is also supposed to be temporary, and yet the courts stopped the Trump administration from ending it. And the template for DACA, called Temporary Protected Status (for illegals from countries that suffered natural disaster or civil strife), is not actually temporary, either — lawless judges stopped the previous administration from even allowing the built-in expiration of TPS grants to take place. Passage of this measure would mean de facto permanent status for all beneficiaries.

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The second reason House Democrats claim their amnesty isn’t an amnesty is almost unworthy of comment: “These benefits are not just handed out to anyone.” Well, nothing ever is — that doesn’t mean it’s not an amnesty. The 1986 amnesty, after all, had eligibility requirements. Heck, even Jimmy Carter’s amnesty for Vietnam-era draft-dodgers wasn’t “just handed out to anyone” — those who had engaged in violence or who deserted after enlistment were not covered. And while this amnesty wouldn’t be “just handed out to anyone,” the criminal bars are looser than in proposals in earlier years, ensuring that, in the words of the fact sheet from House Judiciary Republicans, “certain criminals and other bad actors will be granted parole.”

Contrary to the Democrats’ protestations, anything that lets an illegal alien stay here legally is an amnesty. A day may come when amnesty is called for, but it is not this day.

The reconciliation bill also includes gimmicks to increase legal immigration and, unlike previous amnesty proposals, does not even pretend to strengthen enforcement going forward. These are all bad policies. But reheating the stale claim that this amnesty isn’t really an amnesty is truly comical.

But as the Good Book says, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”

House Democrats unveiled their plan to legalize millions of illegal immigrants — and to make taxpayers pay billions of dollars to process their applications.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s proposal, released late Friday, calls for $2.8 billion in federal funds to help U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services build capacity to handle the expected surge of paperwork and decision-making.

USCIS is almost entirely fee-funded, under the theory that immigrants should pay their own way. Mr. Nadler’s proposal would subvert that model.

SEE ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: Homeland Security would need years to prepare for new amnesty

His plan would also kick in the amnesty by May 1, giving USCIS little time to get up and running.

Previous directors have told The Washington Times it would take at least 18 months to prepare for a mass amnesty.

Mr. Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, envisions legalizing “Dreamers,” who came to the U.S. before age 18, those in the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status program and illegal immigrants who held “essential” jobs during the pandemic. That covers more than three-quarters of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants believed to be in the country.

The plan does not contain new border security or enforcement measures. That marks a major break with past immigration plans, whose security measures were considered critical elements to prevent the amnesty from enticing more people to come to the U.S.

The eligibility date is the start of this year, meaning any illegal immigrant who made it to the U.S. by that time could qualify. That includes hundreds of thousands of people who jumped the border during the surge in 2019 and who should have been deported.

Democrat Joe Biden says he will send an amnesty deal for “over 11 million” illegal aliens to the United States Senate in his first 100 days in office.

During an interview with NBC News’s Lester Holt, Biden reiterated his plan to give amnesty to the roughly 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. Biden said of his agenda:

Some of it’s going to depend on the kind of cooperation I can or cannot get from the United States Congress. But I am going, I made a commitment, in the first 100 days, I will send an immigration bill to the United States Senate with a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people in America.

Already, a number of Senate Republicans have suggested that they are interested in working with Biden on some sort of immigration deal. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have all hinted at striking a Democrat-GOP deal on immigration that would almost certainly include an amnesty.

Currently, about 24.5 million Americans are either jobless or underemployed, but all want full-time jobs. Those unemployed are forced to compete in the labor market by an endless stream of foreign workers who secure visas and green cards that rack up to more than 2.5 million admissions every year.

These legal immigration admissions are in addition to the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who successfully cross U.S. borders and overstay their visas every year.

Exit polling after the election reveals that voters across party and racial lines overwhelmingly want less overall immigration to the U.S. More than 3-in-4 voters, for instance, said it is important to reduce immigration with continued high unemployment, and more than 62 percent said, even after unemployment has leveled off, immigration should remain lower than its current levels.

The U.S. Supreme Court split 4-4 Thursday over a challenge to President Obama's immigration policy, a result that prevents the administration from putting the program into effect during the rest of his term.

The split was reflected in a one sentence statement from the court: "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court."

Announced in late 2014, it would shield more than four million people — mostly Latinos — from deportation. But lower courts blocked its implementation after Texas and 25 other states sued, claiming the president had no power to order the changes.

The ruling deals a blow to a White House which has used executive actions to push forward immigration reform in the wake of congressional inaction and President Barack Obama who has sought to rewrite a legacy that had some inLatino activist circles calling him "the deporter-in-chief."

There have been more than 2 million deportations in Obama's tenure.

The president on Thursday stressed that people who have been in the country for a long time and are otherwise law abiding will remain lower deportation priorities.

He said the tie was "heartbreaking" for millions of immigrants.