We are once again faced with the prospect of being sold out by politicians scrambling to curry favor (votes) with certain racial segments of our society. We are compelled to lay out a few facts.
1. Amnesty programs encourage more illegal immigration. We predict that all this talk about amnesty will serve to create a huge wave of illegal immigration. It happened with IRCA 1986 and apparently we didn’t learn a thing with that disaster. Thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens came over the border, many being guided by friends and relatives who had obtained their “amnesty cards”. Obtaining a card required next to nothing. Just make a verbal claim that you were entitled to amnesty, and bingo, you get a card and instant legal status. Agents here recall arresting large groups of illegal aliens after IRCA 1986 was enacted, and they were often accompanied by one or more “amnesty card” holders who were either smuggling for profit or bringing in family members and friends. It was a joke.
2. There will be minimal enforcement. There will be lots of talk about tough enforcement and so-called “certifications” that the border is “secure”, but as soon as the politicians and special interest groups get the amnesty they will scream about the enforcement being too tough. The politicians, including DHS and CBP upper management, will buckle and give in on any long term enforcement. Talk of “enforcement” is just a way to fool the American people into buying another amnesty program. The amnesty program of the late 1980′s promised tough enforcement, worksite inspections and employer sanctions. Those enforcement measures didn’t last long. Complaints came in and everyone buckled. Worksite inspections stopped and employer sanctions were reduced to a trickle. It was again, a joke.
3. Another amnesty program will solve nothing in the long term. It will serve to encourage and embolden illegal aliens to come in the future. What do they have to lose? We have proven time and time again that we will cave in and reward them with legal status. It makes a mockery of our laws. Border Patrol agents have been sold out for decades. We are told to do a job, we fight, we get shot, we risk our lives, we arrest thousands of people, we take our jobs seriously, and ultimately we are sold out. If it’s so important to keep illegal aliens out of the country, why do we reward those who manage to evade us?
4. It’s grossly unfair. There are many immigrants and potential immigrants who try to do things the right way. They are cheated by amnesty programs and the illegal line-jumpers are rewarded. That is a great message to send to our new immigrants and citizens. “Disregard the law. It doesn’t really matter.”
5. Republicans are NOT going to get more votes in the future just because they go along with a Democrat-driven amnesty plan. It makes you wonder if they have any common sense at all. Ronald Reagan was a Republican icon. He signed IRCA 1986 into law. He is, to this day, not seen as a champion of illegal aliens, even though he did more for them than any other president. Republicans who go along with amnesty are foolish if they think they are going to be seen in a more favorable light by those they are trying to curry favor with. Most voters who are primarily driven by racial factors only know one letter of the alphabet when election time rolls around. They look for the letter (D).
6. An amnesty program will be haphazardly administered by a bunch of people who don’t know what they are doing. The paperwork and the sheer volume of applications will quickly overwhelm them.
7. Fraud will be rampant. During the last amnesty program the fraud was unbelievable. How do you prove when an illegal alien came into the country? They don’t register when they come in. They sneak across. There is no record of them coming in. They will get friends, co-workers and family members to say that they have been here for X amount of time. They will lie, cheat and do whatever they have to do in order to meet the standards to become legalized. And if they are caught lying and cheating, so what? There are no penalties. They will not be prosecuted for anything. It sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.
8. And finally, Border Patrol agents will be handcuffed more than we already are. Agents will be told to stay away from amnesty processing centers. If illegal aliens are detained and make a verbal claim to amnesty, they will be released. Agents will be told to cease all questioning if an illegal alien says the word “amnestia”. This is exactly what happened when IRCA 1986 was implemented. Hard working Border Patrol agents were disproving amnesty claims over and over again in the beginning and exposing massive fraud. But in short order the word came down from management to cease and desist all questioning and to release the illegal aliens if they stated that they were going to apply for amnesty. The special interest groups and the pro-illegal alien politicians repeatedly pointed out that IRCA 1986 was to be “liberally applied”. That was code for a rubber stamp process that saw very few applications denied. It was disheartening and it was a morale killer.