The 'shamnesty' legislation

Right now, the Senate is desperately trying to convince the American people that their immigration bill is something else — anything else — than what it is: a massive amnesty for all 15 million to 20 million illegal aliens without any meaningful enforcement provisions. This same open-borders crowd that has betrayed the American middle class for years is hoping to fool us again.

This "shamnesty" bill spells out the level of contempt the Senate has for middle-class Americans. This "comprehensive" bill includes:

• In-state tuition for illegal aliens. Your kid has to pay full freight if they cross state lines, but the illegal alien who broke into the country doesn't.

• All temporary guest workers have to be paid the prevailing wage. American citizens do not have to be paid prevailing wage.

• All agricultural guest workers under this bill cannot be fired by their employers except for what the bill calls "just cause." However, American agricultural workers can be fired for any reason.

• Illegal aliens are made eligible for Social Security. Not only will they receive retirement benefits, but their children will receive survivor benefits should the parents pass away. This is at a time when we are trying to keep Social Security solvent for the next generation.

• Expands the visa lottery program, which is itself a questionable way to make visa distribution decisions.

• Employers of illegal aliens get amnesty, too. Employers would be exempt from civil and criminal tax and criminal liability under immigration law. God forbid we hold employers accountable for helping illegal aliens break the law and being the magnet that has drawn them here for years.

• Taxpayer dollars to radical immigrant-rights groups so they can help illegal aliens adjust their status. Millions of your tax dollars will go to the same groups that organized those rallies where people who came here illegally waved foreign flags and thumbed their noses at our laws.

The Senate assures us we get "tough" border protections out of this bill, right? Wrong. The Basic Pilot Verification Program, which would force employers to check to see that a person has the right to work in America was gutted, the fencing provisions were gutted and the bill expands chain migration. Sen. Jeff Sessions did offer and pass an amendment to provide 370 miles of border fencing — half of what the House had offered. Sens. Sessions, David Vitter, Jon Kyl and John Cornyn have been heroic in attempting to salvage this bill — but gluing teeth and fur onto a duck doesn't turn it into a bear.

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