President-Elect Obama’s pick to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Arizona Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, has received media praise for being a “centrist,” while the facts about her record as a policymaker continue to be overlooked. But don’t be fooled by the hype. Gov. Napolitano talks tough, but her record of immigration enforcement is weak. While she may sound pro-enforcement, her policies reflect a pro-amnesty agenda.

One of the big bonuses Democrats enjoyed this year was a surge of support among Hispanic voters, a surge larger than the party would have dared to dream of just a couple of years ago.

Now, one of the biggest questions Democrats face is whether hardening attitudes toward immigration, aggravated by hard economic times and rising unemployment, will push the party down paths that could undercut that Hispanic support, much as hardening rhetoric undermined Hispanic support for Republicans in the past two years.

Specifically, a bill to give the kids of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

Sen. Richard Lugar has been a longtime and consistent supporter of such an approach, but intense – and often ugly – emotions have blocked it.

The U.S. routinely awards green cards to more than a million legal immigrants each year. They play by the rules, and together with those who have come before them, now comprise the largest legal immigrant population in U.S. history. But to sustain this generous legal immigration policy, we must put an end to illegal immigration.

The solution is simple: enforce current law.

Farmers would have an easier and cheaper time securing foreign guest workers under pending Bush administration rules.

The controversial changes to the so-called H-2A guest-worker program could cut wages and speed worker recruitment. They also would relax requirements for providing foreign workers with housing and transportation.

"The Department of Labor is going to weaken oversight and enforcement," Bruce Goldstein, the executive director of the Farmworker Justice Fund, charged Wednesday.

"Congress is leaning toward a guest worker-type program as one means of addressing illegal immigration, 1st District Congressman John Sullivan said Friday at a Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce breakfast."

One of the proposals being looked at is a card for those who want to work here that would be good for, let's say, three to five years," Sullivan said. "There'd be some sort of biometric identification and a background check to make sure they're not a criminal. They'd be able to work here, and they'd also pay taxes...."

Something unorthodox occurred on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The House Republican leadership began pushing a “discharge petition” — a procedural maneuver designed to force a floor vote — on a piece of Democratic legislation. The bill in question is the SAVE Act, authored by freshmen Congressman Heath Shuler (D., N.C.). As written, the SAVE Act’s most notable provisions would add 8,000 border-patrol agents, and within four years mandate that businesses use a government program to verify the legal citizenship of all employees...

... Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.), backed by her leaders, filed the discharge petition calling for a vote on the Shuler bill, which would add 8,000 border guards to the federal payroll, expedite the deportation of illegal immigrants and expand an existing database for employers to check the eligibility of a potential worker. ...

Minority Whip Roy Blunt , R-Mo., said he expects about 100 Republicans to sign the petition by Rep. Thelma Drake , R-Va., which seeks to bring to the House floor border enforcement legislation introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler , D-N.C. Shuler’s bill has 141 cosponsors — 93 Republicans and 48 Democrats. But it is not clear how many Democrats will sign the discharge petition. The petition represents a direct challenge to their party’s leaders, who have not embraced Shuler’s bill.

Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a policy group that seeks to reduce immigration, criticized Napolitano, saying she supports “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, though he still praised her efforts in taking steps to “secure the border.” In what may be a signal that Napolitano could face tough questioning from Republicans, many Numbers USA members harshly criticized Beck’s recent statement in his blog, that “Obama could do a lot worse” in picking Napolitano.

"Opponents claimed a populist victory over what Roy Beck of NumbersUSA called 'the cheap-labor lobby.' Beck said his organization, which focuses on immigration-related issues, generated more than two million faxes against the immigration bill since May. Hours before the Senate vote, the Capitol switchboard was swamped with phone calls."

Rosemary Jenks, director of governmental relations at NumbersUSA, a group that promotes reduced immigration, both legal and illegal, said the concept of a virtual fence isn’t necessarily bad, but it could work only in conjunction with other border security enforcement measures.

“Some folks in the administration see this as a panacea. It is not,” said Jenks

She also questioned whether a virtual fence makes fiscal sense.

“It’s hard to believe that the technology required would be less expensive” than a physical fence, Jenks said. “A virtual fence is going to require a constant infusion of funding and manpower. You can’t just set it up and leave it alone.”

NumbersUSA, which was instrumental in sinking the earlier Senate legislation, has alerted its 550,000-strong activist network to the prospect of a vote on the DREAM Act and on Thursday it flooded lawmakers with more than 260,000 faxes opposing the legislation, according to a spokeswoman for the group, Caroline Espinosa...
...“It’s narrower, yes, but it’s still an amnesty,” Espinosa said. “If you seek to reward illegal immigration, you’ll only encourage more of it.”

Caroline Espinosa, spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, which is urging defeat of the measure, calls it a form of amnesty. She said while this woman's circumstances are unfortunate, they are the result of bad decisions by her parents. "When you offer amnesty like that it only encourages more illegal behavior," Espinosa said. "We need to send the message that if you come here illegally you will not be rewarded."

NumbersUSA, the group that helped derail the comprehensive bill that would have offered legal status to the existing 12 million illegal immigrants, posted on its website a tally of its “anti-amnesty champions.” So far, 21 senators have signaled to NumbersUSA that they will oppose the amendment. The group is looking for 20 more senators to block it.

“If you were to pass another amnesty, you would only encourage more illegal behavior because it is seen as a reward,” said Caroline Espinosa, a spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, which claims credit for more than 260,000 faxes sent by its supporters to Congress in the past week.

"'A lot of people on our side are saying the same thing,' says Roy Beck, director of NumbersUSA, an 'immigrant reduction' organization opposed to granting citizenship to illegal immigrants, which processed more than 2 million faxes to Congress in opposition to the Senate bill. 'We believe these very public and dramatic raids were designed to create a situation where we'd come to believe President Bush will carry out enforcement, so that we would support his amnesty plan. It obviously didn't work.'

"Much of the credit should also go to the bipartisan lobbying organization NumbersUSA, a powerful advocate for strengthening border security, which made it clear to members of Congress that they weren't buying the phony games some lawmakers wanted to play: proposing tough-sounding amendments that stood little chance of becoming law, while voting for cloture — and in effect for amnesty."

"Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who helped revive an immigration bill this week, is drawing criticism back home in a sharply worded television ad being run by a national group. NumbersUSA, which favors restricting immigration, accuses McConnell of joining liberal icon Ted Kennedy in "strong-arming" senators to support "amnesty" for millions of illegal immigrants..."

Rosemary Jenks, a policy advocate at NumbersUSA, which calls for curbing immigration, said that 7,000 new members signed up for the organization in a single day last week.

Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a policy group that seeks to reduce immigration, criticized Napolitano, saying she supports “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, though he still praised her efforts in taking steps to “secure the border.” In what may be a signal that Napolitano could face tough questioning from Republicans, many Numbers USA members harshly criticized Beck’s recent statement in his blog, that “Obama could do a lot worse” in picking Napolitano.

"Opponents claimed a populist victory over what Roy Beck of NumbersUSA called 'the cheap-labor lobby.' Beck said his organization, which focuses on immigration-related issues, generated more than two million faxes against the immigration bill since May. Hours before the Senate vote, the Capitol switchboard was swamped with phone calls."

Rosemary Jenks, director of governmental relations at NumbersUSA, a group that promotes reduced immigration, both legal and illegal, said the concept of a virtual fence isn’t necessarily bad, but it could work only in conjunction with other border security enforcement measures.

“Some folks in the administration see this as a panacea. It is not,” said Jenks

She also questioned whether a virtual fence makes fiscal sense.

“It’s hard to believe that the technology required would be less expensive” than a physical fence, Jenks said. “A virtual fence is going to require a constant infusion of funding and manpower. You can’t just set it up and leave it alone.”

NumbersUSA, which was instrumental in sinking the earlier Senate legislation, has alerted its 550,000-strong activist network to the prospect of a vote on the DREAM Act and on Thursday it flooded lawmakers with more than 260,000 faxes opposing the legislation, according to a spokeswoman for the group, Caroline Espinosa...
...“It’s narrower, yes, but it’s still an amnesty,” Espinosa said. “If you seek to reward illegal immigration, you’ll only encourage more of it.”

Caroline Espinosa, spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, which is urging defeat of the measure, calls it a form of amnesty. She said while this woman's circumstances are unfortunate, they are the result of bad decisions by her parents. "When you offer amnesty like that it only encourages more illegal behavior," Espinosa said. "We need to send the message that if you come here illegally you will not be rewarded."

NumbersUSA, the group that helped derail the comprehensive bill that would have offered legal status to the existing 12 million illegal immigrants, posted on its website a tally of its “anti-amnesty champions.” So far, 21 senators have signaled to NumbersUSA that they will oppose the amendment. The group is looking for 20 more senators to block it.

“If you were to pass another amnesty, you would only encourage more illegal behavior because it is seen as a reward,” said Caroline Espinosa, a spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, which claims credit for more than 260,000 faxes sent by its supporters to Congress in the past week.

"'A lot of people on our side are saying the same thing,' says Roy Beck, director of NumbersUSA, an 'immigrant reduction' organization opposed to granting citizenship to illegal immigrants, which processed more than 2 million faxes to Congress in opposition to the Senate bill. 'We believe these very public and dramatic raids were designed to create a situation where we'd come to believe President Bush will carry out enforcement, so that we would support his amnesty plan. It obviously didn't work.'

"Much of the credit should also go to the bipartisan lobbying organization NumbersUSA, a powerful advocate for strengthening border security, which made it clear to members of Congress that they weren't buying the phony games some lawmakers wanted to play: proposing tough-sounding amendments that stood little chance of becoming law, while voting for cloture — and in effect for amnesty."

"Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who helped revive an immigration bill this week, is drawing criticism back home in a sharply worded television ad being run by a national group. NumbersUSA, which favors restricting immigration, accuses McConnell of joining liberal icon Ted Kennedy in "strong-arming" senators to support "amnesty" for millions of illegal immigrants..."

Rosemary Jenks, a policy advocate at NumbersUSA, which calls for curbing immigration, said that 7,000 new members signed up for the organization in a single day last week.

This paper proceeds under the assumption that immigration reform is needed but that the two sides currently being touted, both eager for attention are wrong. There are reforms that can be instituted now in an effort to ratchet up boarder protection and shrink the pool of undocumented aliens in order to allow better control of our immigrant population. This needs to be done without severely impacting the American economy.

This paper proceeds under the assumption that immigration reform is needed but that the two sides currently being touted, both eager for attention are wrong. There are reforms that can be instituted now in an effort to ratchet up boarder protection and shrink the pool of undocumented aliens in order to allow better control of our immigrant population. This needs to be done without severely impacting the American economy.