The Schumer plan

Senator Chuck Schumer from New York (Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration) offers this plan for comprehensive immigration reform on June 24th, the day before the Obama summit at the White House.

“1. Illegal immigration is wrong, and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration.”
He’s right; deterrence is a key element.

“2. Operational control of our borders--through significant additional increases in infrastructure, technology, and border personnel--must be achieved within a year of enactment of legislation.”
Remember when Dad used to promise you he was going to take you fishing? It was always “later”, never “right now.” His phrase “within a year of enactment” doesn’t exactly do much for me. Remember House Bill 4437 in December of 2005. That would have been a good time to get serious about enforcement rather than debate it.
Schumer touts a decline in border crossing traffic. Duh! We don’t have any jobs right now.
The picture he paints of the current level of border security is far too rosy to reflect reality. Perhaps Schumer should read some of the recent reports, like the Operation Red Zone report from May 14th of this year.

“3. A biometric-based employer verification system—with tough enforcement and auditing—is necessary to significantly diminish the job magnet that attracts illegal aliens to the United States and to provide certainty and simplicity for employers.”
Come now, Senator. After fighting mandatory E-Verify all these years and keeping the funding in limbo you can’t make this suggestion with a straight face.
Surely you know that most illegal aliens working today did not have high quality forged documents and would have been denied employment under Basic PILOT or E-Verify.
As for biometric ID, we have neither the time nor the resources to create another US-VISIT fiasco.

“4. All illegal aliens present in the United States on the date of enactment of our bill must quickly register their presence with the United States Government—and submit to a rigorous process of converting to legal status and earning a path to citizenship—or face imminent deportation.”
Well, I guess you weren’t listening to Kris Kobach when he testified before you in April. Simple math reveals that we don’t have any way to process 12 million people coming forward at one time.
And your statement suggests that there will be no time test for qualifying. In 1986 it was four years. This plan implies no date. May I suggest that if this idea gets any traction at all we’ll see hordes at the border trying to be here by the date of passage.

“5. Family reunification is a cornerstone value of our immigration system. By dramatically reducing illegal immigration, we can create more room for both family immigration and employment-based immigration.”
Family reunification is a demographic disaster with no end in sight. It is perhaps the fatal flaw of 1965. Chain migration is unacceptable. Period.

“6. We must encourage the world’s best and brightest individuals to come to the United States and create the new technologies and businesses that will employ countless American workers, but must discourage businesses from using our immigration laws as a means to obtain temporary and less-expensive foreign labor to replace capable American workers.”
Roy Beck says the golden age of immigration was 1925-1965, when we truly were admitting the world’s best and brightest.
Was Schumer’s hidden message to the SEIU? That he understands and agrees with their demand that guest worker programs are unacceptable to the union leaders? That they want these workers to be permanent with a path to citizenship? I think so.

“7. We must create a system that converts the current flow of unskilled illegal immigrants into the United States into a more manageable and controlled flow of legal immigrants who can be absorbed by our economy.”
Perhaps a better plan would be to employ our own people first, especially the unskilled and entry-level (teen) workers. Certainly Schumer recognizes that foreign workers not only impact wages but benefits and working conditions as well.

Schumer’s plan gives the appearance of action but in reality merely seeks license to allow amnesty and increase quotas…with a promise to fix the problems they’ve neglected. He’s learned well from the master, Ted Kennedy.

Read Schumer’s press release here:
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=314990