Silent amnesty

Sen. John McCain was widely quoted last week for using the term “silent amnesty” to describe our current situation regarding illegal aliens. But the term was used two weeks earlier by Sec. Michael Chertoff, one of the president’s men working the Hill.

On May 23rd, Chertoff was explaining to USA Today that there are 12 million illegals in the country now. He then said, "If they don't leave, then you are going to give them silent amnesty. You're either going to let them stay or you're going to be hypocritical."

My thought was that Chertoff ought to contact the person in charge of finding and deporting those who are here illegally and find out why they haven’t done their job. But wait, that person is Chertoff himself.

Essentially what he told America is that he was responsible for this silent amnesty! And so are Bush and McCain and anyone who was part of the checks and balances. It’s not like they haven’t been reminded of the problem. The alarm rang loud and clear on 9/11 that our immigration system is broken. Bush and Congress slept through the alarm.

And in November of 2005 the House sent its bill to the Senate (HB4437) and the Senate turned its collective nose up at it. So blame yourselves McCain and Chertoff and Bush. You are the authors of silent amnesty, not the American people!

McCain tried to spin it his way by telling us how courageous he is and that he is DOING something about it. Well, Senator, where were you all those years you occupied a desk on the floor of the Senate? (FYI, McCain has been in Washington since 1983 – 24 years to work on the problem!) Don’t tell other candidates that they lack courage when you had the power to do something and sat on your hands.