An organization called “Americans for a Conservative Direction” is spending one million dollars to air a pro-amnesty TV ad in Texas, Florida, and Kentucky. The organization is an offshoot of Mark Zuckerberg’s political action group, FWD. Zuckerberg, a billionaire, is the founder of Facebook.
Fact Check: There is little about this organization or its ad that is either conservative or factual. One of the five board members of the organization is former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour who once lobbied for the Mexican government on behalf of Mexican illegal aliens and amnesty. Barbour tried to deny this charge, but documents of his firm clearly show otherwise. (Los Angeles Times 3/23/11 article by Melanie Mason and Maeve Reston).
It is hard to see what is conservative—or indeed patriotic—about working for a foreign government to reward its citizens for lawbreaking.
The ad itself features Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) making all kinds of claims about the Senate amnesty bill put together by the bi-partisan “Gang of Eight,” of which Rubio is a member. The announcer, referring to the gang members, says “conservative leaders” have a plan. To describe Democrat members, such as Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer, is a stretch to say the least. And Republican members such as John McCain and Lindsay Graham are hardly conservative on immigration.
The announcer then goes on to say that the Gang plan has “the toughest immigration enforcement measures in the history of the United States” and calls the plan “border enforcement on steroids.” Anyone who reads the bill knows these claims are absurd. Illegal aliens can start applying for legal status as soon as DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano submits a plan for border control. And what if the plan doesn’t work after five years? Then a Southern Border Security Commission would have authority to make recommendations. That’s it. All paper, no teeth.
Of course any plan serious about border control would demand proven effective enforcement before amnesty applications, and this is exactly what some senators tried to do with an amendment. That, however, was voted down. Voting against it were Republican “conservative” gang members Lindsay Graham and Jeff Flake.
Also the bill allows some of the deported relatives of resident illegal aliens to come back to the U.S. and apply for legal status. No legislation in the past has allowed such a benefit for those who have broken our laws. So much for the “toughest” bill in our history.
Rubio further claims in the ad that illegal alien applicants would have to undergo background checks. But history is any guide, overworked immigration authorities will have little time to do much checking, and fraud would abound as it did among applicants for the 1986 amnesty.
Applicants would have to pay fines, as Rubio says, but only a wrist slap initial sum of $500 and another $500 over the next six years. Applying for permanent residence and citizenship after that would cost $1,000. Still, the bill offers significant exemptions for paying these fees. And it also allocates $150 million to illegal alien advocacy groups for them to assist the amnesty. Some of that may go for paying the fees.
Something completely false claimed by Rubio is that applicant cannot be receiving public assistance. In fact, they can keep on getting what they’re getting. And as they gain legal status and eventual citizenship they will have more opportunities to receive benefits.
This advertisement is simply an attempt to delude conservatives and others who are skeptical of amnesty. Purely and simply, it is deception on steroids.