Top 40 Reasons to Oppose the Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill (S. 744)

[Vel]

Those that understand the harm that this bill will cause need to call their senators daily starting Monday. This bill will probably come to the senate floor on June 10th. Special emphasis needs to be placed on Democrat senators from states that went for Romney in the last election.
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Top 40 Reasons to Oppose the Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill (S. 744)
May 28, 2013

In April 2013, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Bob
Menendez (D-NJ), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Marco Rubio
(R-FL) introduced S.744, otherwise known as the Gang of Eight immigration bill. S.744 grants amnesty
to the approximately 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S. and dramatically increases legal immigration,
while doing virtually nothing to improve border security or immigration enforcement.
In May, the Senate Judiciary Committee debated the Gang of Eight bill. While the Committee accepted
numerous amendments, none changed the core provisions of the bill and many amendments made the
bill worse. In the end, the Judiciary Committee approved the bill, as amended, by a vote of 13-5. The
Senate will likely take up the bill on the floor in early June.
To help educate the American people and lawmakers, FAIR has set forth 40 reasons why Americans
should oppose S.744. We believe this list will illustrate how the Gang of Eight bill does exactly what
Americans don’t want and nothing that they do want.
S.744 does not secure the border or strengthen national security. Instead, the bill
rewards law-breaking and encourages more illegal immigration:


1. S.744 allows DHS to grant legal status (registered provision immigrant, or RPI status) in
6 months, before any measure to secure the border has been taken. (Sec. 3, p. 10; Sec.
5, p. 24)

2. S.744 includes the DREAM Act, which puts illegal aliens who entered the U.S. before 16
on a 5-year path to citizenship. However, unlike previous versions of the bill, there is no
age limit and DHS may waive the work/study requirement. (Sec. 2103, p. 112)

3. S.744 grants amnesty to illegal farm workers and gives them green cards in five years.
(Sec. 2211, p. 155; Sec. 2212, p. 177)

4. S.744 does not require a biometric exit system at all land, air and sea ports of entry to
track aliens who enter and leave the U.S., per current law. Instead, Section 3303
requires only a biographic exit system only at air and sea ports that merely collects
information on a form or scans your identification document. (Sec. 3303, p. 556)

5. S.744 does not require any additional border fencing or completion of current border
fence requirements. Instead, it requires DHS to submit to Congress a fencing “strategy,”
in which DHS recommends what additional fencing is needed along the U.S.-Mexico
border, if any. (Sec. 5, p. 24)

6. S.744 does not require illegal aliens to pay back taxes before getting legal status (RPI
status). It only requires RPI applicants to pay back taxes “assessed” at the time of
application. (Sec. 2101, p. 70)

7. S.744 does not require illegal aliens to learn English before receiving amnesty or even a
green card. Under Section 2101, an RPI alien who applies for a green card that the
alien is satisfactorily pursuing a course of study "to achieve an understanding of English
and knowledge and understanding" of civics (Sec. 2101, p. 105)

8. S.744 allows illegal aliens who have been deported (for any reason) and/or who have reentered illegally to apply for RPI status if they have certain family members in the U.S.
(Sec. 2101, p. 73)

9. S.744 does not add any additional Border Patrol agents, who patrol the vast territory
between ports of entry. Instead, S.744 adds 3,500 Customs and Border Protection
officers, many of whom do only customs work, and are stationed at official ports of entry.

10. S.744 does not require any border security measures be taken on the northern border or
along the coasts where more illegal aliens are arriving to avoid border patrol agents and
drug cartels. Instead, it only requires that DHS prepare a border security strategy for the
U.S.-Mexico border.

11. S.744 allows states to grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens—not the aliens who receive
amnesty, but all illegal aliens who arrive in the future. (Sec. 2103, p. 119)

12. S.744 does not end abuse of prosecutorial discretion or administrative amnesty by the
Obama administration. Instead, it leaves in place policies direct immigration agents to
release illegal aliens the Administration deems “low priority.”

http://www.fairus.org/DocServer/amn...he_Gang_of_Eight_Amnesty_Bill_5-28-13_rev.pdf

 

[waltky]

The never ending pie-in-the-sky immigration reform bill...

On immigration, House GOP leaning toward piecemeal approach
6/03/13 > The House Judiciary Committee plans to approve multiple immigration bills and send them to the full chamber for votes, as GOP leaders move toward a piecemeal approach to reform rather than a comprehensive bill.

In an interview with The Hill, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the GOP leadership’s point man on immigration, said he would begin marking up his bills “in the not-too-distant future.” He would not make any commitment to broader immigration reform legislation that a bipartisan group of House negotiators is struggling to complete. “No decision has been made about what we do with what’s produced by the Gang of Eight,” said Goodlatte. “For one thing, it hasn’t been produced, therefore we don’t know how popular it will be with various members of the House, and we also don’t know what it contains or how it will work with the [committee’s] plans.”

These comments are significant because Goodlatte he has not previously agreed to consider amendments and schedule a vote on his panel's immigration bills. They suggest GOP leaders are anxious to produce legislation to counter the Senate bill, which supporters will try to get the upper chamber to pass this month. Goodlatte's bills would create an agricultural guest-worker program, increase visas for high-skilled immigrants and implement an e-verify system. Goodlatte said a fourth bill to crack down on immigrants who overstay their visas is coming this week.

Democrats, and some Republicans, say immigration reform must be comprehensive and that a piecemeal approach is unworkable. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is faced with the vexing task of steering an overhaul through a Republican conference dominated by lawmakers long opposed to a comprehensive approach to immigration reform. “The House is going to work its will on immigration,” Boehner vowed last month at a press conference. “Don’t ask me how,” he quipped a few moments later. That same day, Boehner, Goodlatte and the entire House GOP leadership issued a statement saying the House would produce its own immigration proposal and not simply “take up and pass” the Senate plan.

The bipartisan House group, which includes long-time reform advocates Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), has met privately for more than four years but has yet to finish its legislation. The incomplete bill has been kept under wraps not only from the public but also from other legislators. Democratic staffers spent the Memorial Day recess drafting legislative language for the four Republican members to review, a congressional aide said, but the bill is still not expected to be released until mid-June at the earliest.

Read more: On immigration, House GOP leaders leaning toward piecemeal approach - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com

See also:

Schumer: Immigration bill to pass Senate by July 4
June 2, 2013, WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawmaker who helped negotiate a bipartisan bill to overhaul immigration predicted on Sunday that comprehensive legislation would overwhelmingly pass the Senate by July 4 while House Republicans cautioned that they would write their own version, one piece at a time.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he anticipates as many as 70 of the 100 senators will vote for the measure heading to the full Senate on June 10. Even if it passes there, the proposal faces tough prospects in the Republican-led House, where lawmakers are at work on their own piecemeal approach that could stall a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants living in this country illegally. "We are moving forward because we believe in a bipartisan way this is so vital for America, and we'll have a good bill," Schumer said, pledging to allow colleagues to amend the legislation. Not so fast, House lawmakers cautioned. "That Senate bill is not going to move in the House," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

For months, four Democratic senators met with four Republican colleagues behind closed doors and developed a proposal that would enact new border controls and enforcement mechanisms in the workplace, allow tens of thousands of workers into the country legally for high- and low-skilled jobs and create a 13-year path to citizenship for those already living here illegally. It passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month by a vote of 13 to 5; three Republicans joined the Democratic majority.

House lawmakers, though, have pledged to put together their own measure — likely taking components of the comprehensive Senate plan one at a time and adding their own priorities. "We think it's better to do it with a step-by-step approach," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. "We'll continue down that path, but the final outcome in terms of the form of the legislation is not yet known," he added.

Democrats and Republicans alike recognized the political potency of the issue. The Senate, led by Democrats, is putting added pressure on the House, led by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Congressman Boehner is in a box. There are about 60 or 70 of his people who are against any immigration reform. But at the same time, he knows that the Republican Party will be consigned to a minority party for a generation if they're anti-immigration," Schumer said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says make `em pay it - might get us outta the deficit...

Immigration Bill Would Cost $6 Trillion, Harm Hispanics, Blacks
June 14, 2013 – Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) delivered her case Friday against the comprehensive immigration reform proposal, saying it would cost $6 trillion and particularly harm blacks and Hispanics.

“What I’m asking all of us to consider are the profound implications of what this will mean, because amnesty will cost a fortune,” Bachmann said at the Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “We’re looking at a $6 trillion cost for amnesty. Just the retirement benefits alone for illegal aliens – which must be born by the American people – is something like $2.7 trillion.”

The Congressional Budget Office has yet to estimate how much the immigration reform bill would cost, but the Heritage Foundation estimates it at $6.3 trillion. “It would be one thing if we had high skill workers coming into the United States, but the estimate is that the average illegal alien that comes to the United States, the average age is 34 years old,” Bachmann said. “The average education level is about 10th grade. That’s not to demean anyone for a lack of education, but a 34-year-old with a 10th grade education, it’s tough to believe you will be paying more in taxes than they will be receiving in benefits,” she said. “The people who will be hurt the most are Hispanics and African-Americans who already suffer high levels of unemployment, because rather than competing for jobs now at say $10 an hour, they will have seven more people with like skills who don’t have to compete,” she added. “In 1986, the American people were promised we would have a one-time deal for amnesty – one time, and it would be 1 million illegal aliens to be given status,” Bachmann said. “We all know that did not turn out to be true. It turned out to be 3.5 million.”

Bachmann said that under this legislation, America will confer legal status on more illegal aliens in 10 years than in the last 40 years. Bachmann expressed doubts that the bipartisan Gang of Eight proposal will have adequate enforcement measures as proponents claim. “The bill that we are currently looking at, if it survives in its existing form, will mean that the borders will not be secure, despite the promises that we are being given,” Bachmann said. “It is as we heard this week from one of the members of the Gang of Eight, it will be legalization first and maybe we’ll deal with border security down the road. It takes the whole technology of e-Verify and puts it on the shelf. It prevents the states from even using the concept of e-Verify. The Senate is still debating the immigration reform proposal. The House Judiciary Committee will begin discussing the legislation next week.

- See more at: Bachmann: Immigration Bill Would Cost $6 Trillion, Harm Hispanics, Blacks | CNS News

 

[Socio]

Here is another;

Obamacare’s tariff on hiring American workers still plagues immigration bill

An unnamed staffer for Sen. Marco Rubio has caused the latest stir over the immigration bill by telling the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza that, “There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it…There shouldn’t be a presumption that every American worker is a star performer.” Rubio himself was quick to explain that the quote did not represent his own views. But in reality, the immigration bill Rubio is pushing, when combined with President Obama’s health care law, would actually do something much worse than make it easier for employers to higher immigrant workers over American citizens – it would provide a massive financial incentive to do so.