With their huge financial war chests, amnesty supporters continue to air commercials in support of the Senate’s immigration bill, evidently in hope that the House will pass something like it. One example is a TV ad called “Border Surge” sponsored by The American Action Network. The ad is aimed at conservatives and claims that the bill is “The toughest border security plan ever passed by Congress.”
Fact Check: The reality is that this is a most generous bill for illegal aliens. None of the supposedly tough enforcement provisions go into effect until after illegal aliens get legal status and the right to take American jobs. Also, many deported illegal aliens get to come back to the U.S. and enjoy amnesty, something never offered before this “toughest’ legislation.
Before the legalized illegal aliens can advance to citizenship, the bill maintains that border security must reach certain standards. To that end, it calls for 700 miles of new border fencing and the hiring of 20,000 more Border Patrol agents within the next ten years.
A proposal for a 700-mile fence recalls the fact that Congress passed a law seven years ago to build such a fence. But only about 40 miles were completed because Congress later amended the legislation which ended the project for all practical purposes. The new bill offers no guarantee that this won’t happen again. As for the 20,000 new border agents, the union representing the Border Patrol maintains that it simply can’t recruit and adequately train that many agents within a decade.
The hiring provision is so impractical it hardly seems like a serious proposal, but rather a device to attract support by sounding tough. In any event, there is no guarantee that Congress won’t ax this plan later just as it did with the fence law.
A real indication that the authors of the bill were not sincere about stopping illegal immigration is lack of effective provisions to stop legal visa holders from overstaying their visas. People in this category make up about 40 percent of illegal immigrants. It seems that the sponsors want to focus all attention on the border while leaving the visa loophole wide open.
Furthermore, the bill gives the Obama Administration significant leeway to weaken whatever enforcement provisions are enacted. That is little cause for confidence, given the administration’s systematic sabotage of immigration law enforcement during the past four years.
The Senate bill is a surge of deception, and its proponents are clearly misleading the public.