CSI Senate Chambers

Autopsy on Reform

I suppose the Senate is too busy licking its wounds to analyze what went wrong with immigration reform. Reid is blaming Bush for leaving the country just when he was needed most.

Harry can say that but I think his 12 member Senate think tank fell apart. Several of the 12 voted against Reid’s call for cloture. I’d say he had some work of his own to do.

Cloture itself was a problem. To the public it looks like the Senate itself doesn’t want to talk about the details of the bill. Reid wanted to cut off debate before the ink had dried on the first draft.

The Republicans still wanted to talk about it because they hoped to appease the voters with at least the semblance of enforcement. But the more they talked, the uglier things got. Senators were arguing with each other. Problems with the details came to light under full public view. The flaws were being exposed left and right. (I like that “left and right” part!)

So, take note Senators. Here are some things to consider the next time around.
1) Family unification and ending chain migration are mutually exclusive. Obama and Graham fought over that one a couple of days ago. You can’t do both, guys.
2) Local impact was ignored. That’s where the problems are felt the most. Schools, hospitals, police departments, social services. You really ought to walk in the shoes of local mayors.
3) There needs to be a successful pattern of effective enforcement, not just self-defined triggers. We’ve got a fence bill but no money for it. Bush, the chief “executive” (as in execute=carry out the enforcement of our laws) has an approval rating of 32%. Nearly six years after 9/11, a flagged TB carrier drives across the Canadian border while you are debating the bill. Now that’s a problem!
4) Bush may call us bigots but America doesn’t want to go Hispanic. We are tired of “Press one for English”. We are tired of dual language packaging and signage wherever you go. We are tired of funding bilingual education. We are tired of society being degraded by an ethnic group that refuses to assimilate. We need a new formula because we are overwhelmed by Hispanics. Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with Hispanics, but I do have a problem when they are coming here in sufficient numbers with sufficient birth rates to overwhelm us. And I have a serious problem with the demands made by hordes of protesters. I accept Laotians, Ukrainians, Somalis, Pakistanis, Koreans, even a few Frenchmen; but don’t flood the country with so many of one group that they become 25% of the population. OK, I guess I’m a nativist. I would like our immigration policy to serve the best interest of our citizens. When Congress understands it is not about race per se, but huge numbers of one race (any race) invading our country, you will begin to see the will of the people.
5) See my comments about attractive nuisances. We need to remove those. And it will be ugly indeed. Graham told Obama that Senators were showing great courage and sticking their necks out to get something done here. Perhaps that courage would be better expressed in saying “no” to some of the political correctness that has led us to give away citizenship, health care, and education.
6) By protecting convicted felons, you tipped your hand. That was a no-brainer and you blew it. The current laws need to be upheld. Period. You may have been thinking of Elvira Arellano when you voted on that amendment, but what you told future illegals was that they should head north because it is business as usual in the US of A.

Well, there are all sorts of other flaws in the bill. This is by no means a complete list. Maybe some of you have some comments for the good Senators.