Does anyone think that the reason there are millions of foreign nationals living in the United States in violation of US immigration law is because the government just never got around to allocating an extra $4.4 billion to enforcement? That’s what President George W. Bush hopes you think as he offers a new sop to, as the New York Times puts it, “his conservative base,” more accurately described as the American people.

In an attempt to undo a rare Washington victory over the lobbyists and profiteers, the death last week of the comprehensive amnesty bill S. 1364, President Bush has promised Americans another $4.4 billion dollars on enforcement if the senate will revive the bill and help get it through the House and to his desk.

Ok, never mind that California taxpayers alone pay nearly twice that every year just to educate the children of illegal aliens. And never mind that we spend that in a few days in the Bush war for peace in the Middle East. And never mind that the president is trying to bribe us with our own money. And never mind that the enforcement of US immigration law is one of the regular functions of the government and not, therefore, to be used as a bargaining chip.

But, do mind this: George W. Bush swore to us twice, in the Januarys of 2001 and 2005, that he would faithfully execute our laws. He has broken that promise; he has broken faith with the American people.

President Bush has kept faith, however, with the Mexican people. In a public address in Mexico on March 13, 2007, President Bush, responding to a toast from the President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, said,

“Perhaps the biggest issue concerning your country is the issue of migration. America is a country of law, we’ll respect law, but America is also a hospitable country, a country that recognizes the value of each human being [notice how respect for the law and recognizing the value of each human being are in opposition for the chief executive of those laws]. And as the President of your grand country, I know you’re deeply concerned about how your citizens are treated within our country. And my pledge to you and the people of Mexico is they’ll be treated with respect and dignity.

“The best way to do that is to pass a migration law that upholds the values of America, and at the same time, allows us to respect the rule of law. As I told you in private, as you expressed your deep concerns about whether or not America can pass such a law, that I will use all the efforts I can, working with both Republicans and Democrats, to pass such a piece of legislation.”

And so, keeping faith with the Mexican people, he is, dangling $4.4 billion of our money in front of us as bait, and like a Mississippi riverboat confidence man, the president offers a promise as surety he’ll keep his promises this time.

In a speech to a meeting of cheap labor profiteers (and heavyweight lobbyists for amnesty), the Associated Builders and Contractors, the president said, according to a report in today’s Washington Times, “We’re going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept.”

But, as Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican noted in the same Washington Times article, “[President Bush] still thinks it’s about whether you can make enough promises to sell the bill. What it’s really about is the empty promises in the past.”

On top of the naked treachery of the administration’s broken promises is the uber-treachery that were this bill ever signed into law, the “promises” it contains would cement an immigration policy that represents an indifference to both the well-being and the wishes of the American people so extreme that the use of the word treason doesn’t sound like hyperbole.

Take just one example of a “promise” contained in this bill:

In the “non-controversial” AgJOBS component of this legislation S.340, §104(h), the right of illegal aliens to access publicly funded legal services has been expanded this go-around. The bill removes restrictions in current law that would prevent access to taxpayer money for legal costs associated with the amnesty process itself. The expanded access would extend to the myriad “qualified designated entities” that will be given unreviewable authority to prepare the applications under this legislation—UNITE, La Raza, MALDEF, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the SEIU, Farmworker Justice Fund, Lutheran Family Services, the American Farm Bureau, and a host of trans-national race-identity organizations, civil rights organizations, and employers’ associations.

(In case you were wondering, the immigration lawyers who wrote this bill didn’t forget to remove the restrictions on the fees immigration lawyers can charge for services rendered helping illegal aliens take advantage of the amnesty.)

In other words, not only would we be getting an amnesty we don’t want, but the very groups that have done so much to subvert US immigration law and force this amnesty down our throats would be able to bill us for the costs associated with the amnesty application process itself.

How’s that for treachery?

With the administration’s approval, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined Senator Harry Reid of Nevada last night to announce the reappearance of the comprehensive amnesty and immigration expansion bill—300 pages of this kind of stuff.

I hope Americans can reignite and amplify their outraged opposition to S. 1348. Every phone call made in opposition to this bill, every call to the Washington and local offices of your Senators and Representative and to your state and local Republican and Democratic party headquarters, every voter registration switch from DEM or GOP to IND, with the reason well-advertised, is an effort to derail the mad obsessions of an out-of-control president and the collaborative weakness, venality, and ignorant insularity that characterizes the U.S. Senate.

Tags:   AgJobs · AILA · amnesty · Bush · Calderon · Dinan · La Raza · mexico · senate · Steve King · Washington TimesNo Comments