‘Amnesty’ could doom overhaul

“Unless you are removed from the United States, you’re getting an amnesty,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government affairs at NumbersUSA, a group that pushes for reduced immigration. “The open border advocate side has turned it into a pejorative word. Amnesty is forgiving the violation of a law without applying the penalties under the law.” Deportation is one of the penalties for being caught in this country illegally, though the ongoing presence of 11 million people is testament to how rarely that’s applied. Enforcement in recent years has focused on those who commit crimes once they’re here. Jenks asserted that “path to citizenship” is a far more misleading euphemism, at least when it comes to the Senate blueprint. Under that proposal, illegal immigrants would gain “probationary status” that shields them from deportation as soon as they register and – another artful phrase – “come out of the shadows.” “Amnesty occurs on Day 1,” Jenks said. “The other side has tried to argue that it’s not amnesty unless you hand out a naturalization certificate on Day 1.”By Todd J. Gillman in The Dallas Morning News