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I\’ve made it no secret that I oppose this immigration plan.  It\’s a piece of shit as our House Minority Leader so eloquently stated.  And at this point I\’ve seen nothing change that indicates I should even consider supporting it, or that it\’s even a valid starting point for a compromise.  Because it\’s so completely devoid of some basic concepts as to be unworkable for anyone that respects our laws and wants our borders to actually mean something

So what are these basic concepts that would make a bill worthy of consideration, well, here are a few…and why the current bill doesn\’t meet them.

Build The Damn Fence – north and south.  They are simple and effective, both San Diego and Israel have proven that.  Yes it wouldn\’t stop everyone, it\’s not meant to.  It provides a barrier to most, and delays and impedes the rest, which gives our Border Control enough time to intercede.

This bill doesn\’t do that…sure you\’re told in glowing terms about triggers….but only half of the 800 miles already required by law are actually going to get built according to this bill.  400 miles vs 2000 miles.

Punish Employers – Enforce existing laws against hiring illegals.  Right now we have the laws, we just don\’t enforce them.  And I\’d see no problem with increasing penalties on employers as long as we provide a relatively reliable system to verify employment status.

This bill does nothing substantial in this regards.  Nothing.

No Amnesty – Do not forgive past transgressions.  That means more than just making them pay some penalty and jump a few hoops.  You also do not give the privileges not given to others who would pursue a legal path into this country.  That means in order to get any sort of legal status they have to begin it outside the country like everyone else in line.

This bill provides amnesty…pure and simple.  Any illegal can simply stand up and say here I am and they get a \”probationary Z visa\” which gives them legal status.  Presumably they are then supposed to pursue a permanant legal status but this is little to no incentive to do so.  Permanant status is expensive, while temporary they can renew every four years for minimal cost.  Plus even if they did pursue it, they get to pursue it while living and working in the US, something that foreigners who pursue immigration via legal means don\’t get.

Reform Immigration Process – Right now immigration focuses more on countries and family groups.  Honestly I don\’t give a shit which country they come from, if they have skills we need, get them in already.  Our quotas should be based more on economic reasons than family or country of origin.  If we need 10,000 low skill workers, let\’s bring in 10,000, not 50,000.  If we need 50,000 scientists, let\’s bring in 50,000, not 10,000.

This bill starts to think about contemplating beginning to progress towards something like that.  But it doesn\’t.  It still puts emphasis on family groups, and still provides for chain migration.  Any provisions that Senators quote, happens 10-15 years in the future.  Remember that\’s at least two elections away, so they aren\’t gonna happen.

Enforcement Via Attrition – Despite with our President keeps insisting, nobody has advocated deporting every illegal alien.  However, make a real effort to deport ones that are obvious.  Everyone knows where illegals are, you just need to enforce them.  Eventually an impact will be made.

This bill doesn\’t even think about addressing this.  Like the current status quo why should we actually enforce the law?