With less than three months before the important midterm elections it is clear that Congress has no stomach for straightening out the immigration mess nor for that matter does the Obama administration, although the president has at least paid lip service to the idea.
Meanwhile, back along the southwest border, illegal immigrants continue to stream into a country that has fewer and fewer jobs for them. The debate about how far a state can go to fill the void caused by congressional inaction rages on following a Justice department suit to set aside Arizona's controversial law that would put immigration matters into state hands. A federal district judge has ruled parts of the law unconstitutional. But the case is clearly headed for the Supreme Court.
Republicans apparently want the strictest enforcement of the current mishmash of laws, giving no quarter even to the most productive of those aliens, including students who came here as teenagers, have finished high school and are in college. Majority Democrats don't seem to have a clue.
There are an estimated 700,000-plus in the student category, according to recent news reports. The U.S. immigration authorities have practically declared a moratorium on deporting these young men and women. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is, it seems, concentrating its resources on ridding the country of aliens who have committed crimes. Not a bad thing.
Also, the early summer debate about the citizenship status of children born to aliens in this country seems to have subsided at least temporarily with support declining for proposals to amend the Fourteenth Amendment to declare these offspring also illegal. That at least signals some hope that calmer heads will prevail to reject a very bad idea.
All this, of course, is merely to say that among the worst domestic problems in recent history will continue to resist solution because the nation's officials have no clue about what to do or the courage to do it if they did. For all the bashing of George W. Bush by Democrats and historians, he at least tried to push legislation that would bring some order out of the chaos. Worker programs and amnesty and a variety of ways one might legitimately become a citizen of this country were scoffed at by those who lumped the good aliens with the bad and demanded they all be expelled post haste.
What impact all this will have on the elections is anyone's guess. Probably not what could be expected given the volatility of the issue. Obviously, politicians bordering Mexico all seem to be on the same page out of necessity when it comes to immigration, calling for action while walking a tightrope with Hispanic voters.
The frustration over inaction can be seen in the fact that almost a dozen states are pushing their own legislation or plans that incorporate at least a portion of Arizona's law that would require state and local authorities to also become immigration agents, identifying aliens, detaining them and reporting them to U.S. officials for deportation. It is of course a form of profiling no matter how much state authorities deny it since the overwhelming majority of those who would be under scrutiny are Hispanic, many of whom already are citizens of the United States and would have to continuously prove it.
Revising the Fourteenth Amendment, which was an add-on to the abolition of slavery, is not a new issue. Hardliners on immigration have been calling for its repeal for years without success. It is an emotionally charged issue brought on by the fact it affects children and families. Statistics also show that far fewer women find their way here merely to have babies than critics of the amendment contend. So-called "birth tourism" is estimated at only a few thousand. At the same time, the number of children of illegal immigrants already living here is put at about 4 million.
Revoking birthright citizenship clearly would increase the number of illegal aliens living here, creating whole generations of non-citizens and retarding assimilation, critics contend.
All this has a terribly long way to go.
E-mail Dan K. Thomasson, former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service, at thomassondan@aol.com.
samkat posted at 1:42 pm on Thu, Aug 12, 2010.
Obama refers to the illegal aliens as undocumented democrats.
While it is a polarizing subject, it is time to take drastic action to stem the tide of illegal immigration. With over 4 million children born to illegal aliens last year, it is necessary to address the 14th Amendment as the United States is basically the only country who has such a law on its books.
Brittanicus posted at 11:25 am on Sun, Aug 15, 2010.
Have the pro-amnesty pushers forget we have millions of Americans of every color, religion or creed slogging the streets looking for a decent job. The American people better clear their eyes of political cataracts and start ridding those in power who are corrupting this Democracy. We once had an Amnesty that turned into a travesty, that's why 8 years ago the numbers of illegal aliens elevated to at least 11 million? Well it's entirely up to the American population in November, but we can send a red-flag message to Washington and every state Capitol that we won’t tolerate corruption any more, from any political party. Begin with the ejection of Senator Reid of Nevada, as at any rate it's time he retired and all his open border politicians from feeding us a bunch of lies. The processing for all those people, would probably pay our troops in Afghanistan for a whole year? Why not bring our battle hardened troops home and deploy them along the border with orders to apprehend and shoot drug criminals?
The massive dispute right now is the political rhetoric around the firestorm over the 14th amendment. Instant citizenship has become an epidemic, another billion dollar battle, for expectant Mothers. Illegal aliens are very much aware that if they can somehow get across the border by jet or stealing in, the stupid American taxpayers will pay for her pre-birth and post natal hospital stay with all the monetary trimmings that will apply to that instant-citizenship child. They know this is "Carte Blanche" for every conceivable type of welfare program; some that is denied to US citizens and legal residents. Once situated all other pregnant family members move into government housing, that taxpayers generously pay. As an American expectant female or legal resident issued with a real SS number, after giving birth you will be incessantly hunted down to pay for their stay in hospital by debt collectors
So this so called immigration reform--or good old Amnesty. What do the American people get out of it, if passed? Democrats and its shadow Liberal government get a huge block of uneducated, manual labor, to enhance their hold on Washington. The Republicans, they receive oozes of cheap labor and the American blue and white collar workers get lower wages and indisputable feces. Totalization agreement of our Social Security which President Bush embarked on, that an illegal worker cans immediately access and much of the money disappearing out the country. Now let's see, to be legitimized for a path to citizenship, investigate criminal records--What about police records in countries that do not allow access? are they going to use the Awaji board? Next--check for contagious diseases--? Many forms of sub-tropical afflictions have already arrived in America from people who entered America without papers? Pay back taxes! a lesser majority of illegal aliens pay some taxes, except those who are working for criminal businesses that cook their books.
But then the IRS has issued ITIN numbers (a fabrication of a Social Security number) to foreign nationals, which in my book is illegal. Read and understand English, comprehend American government and the big one--Pay a fine? What's that? $500.00 dollars? What a laugh. This is contempt for the honest people who came through Ellis Island, or filled in the mound of immigration documents. Just like one of my immediate relatives, who has been waiting six years? They have lost her documentation (Twice) and they expect to process 18 and up million illegal immigrants, with a good many who have no more (if their lucky) a 8th grade education. What about all those people who have followed the "rule of Law" and entered America through the front entrance. How can our respective government hope to process millions of people (Unless it’s through rampant corruption by immigration attorneys?)