WASHINGTON -- In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, House Republicans today introduced their own immigration reform and border security bill, a tough measure that would bar illegal immigrants from gaining legal status, require employers to check the legal status of all workers and make English the nation's official language.
The Secure Borders First Act stresses operational control over the border as one of its core principles. The bill would reject "amnesty" and insist that the administration do more to enforce existing laws.
The lawmakers behind the bill also introduced a seven-page resolution detailing the myriad ways in which they believe the Bush administration and its predecessors have not only failed to implement immigration laws, but made it easier for illegal immigrants to live and work in the U.S.
"The federal government has lost credibility with the American people on immigration," said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who contributed sections of the bill.
The bill's authors, Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Peter King (R-N.Y.), cast their bill as a challenge to the immigration legislation the Senate is expected to take up again this week.
King derided the Senate bill as a danger to national security because it would not secure the borders. He said its provision allowing illegal immigrants to eventually gain citizenship was "against the wishes of the American people."
"We want to stop the Senate amnesty bill in its tracks right now," King said.
[...]
King said House Republicans were not worried about another round of demonstrations. "We shouldn't allow policy to be determined by riots," he said. "We have to do what's right, not by threat of what's happening on the street."
The new bill addresses major issues in immigration but it also turns a microscope on smaller issues that particularly frustrate conservatives. It would ban the use of matricula consular cards, identification cards issued by Mexican consulates and used by immigrants to open bank accounts or buy homes. It would make three convictions for drunk driving grounds for deportation.
The bill would require the deployment of at least 18,000 more border patrol agents by Dec. 31, 2008. It would also require the full implementation of US-VISIT, a long-troubled program that is meant to track entries and exits by land, sea and air.
American citizens would be affected by many of the changes proposed for workplace enforcement, including the mandatory database checks of employee eligibility, the creation of tamper-proof birth certificates and a nationwide electronic system for tracking birth and death records.
For those that thought your emails, faxes, calls and letters were being ignored, not so. These Republicans as well as some Blue Dog Democrats understand that their next election will be their last election if they do not stop any form of Amnesty for people that enetered our country ILLEGALLY.
Michelle Malkin brins us more insight into this new bill:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Immigration Reform Caucus Chairman Brian Bilbray (R-CA) joined Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, and Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, to unveil two new border security and immigration initiatives—a comprehensive border security and immigration reform bill as well as a resolution calling for full enforcement of all current immigration laws. The two new measures represent a strong ‘Security First-No Amnesty’ alternative to the Kennedy-Bush Senate Amnesty bill.
“We decided to take action today rather than wait for the Senate to pass an amnesty bill the American people clearly do not want,” Bilbray said. “There is no reason why Congress shouldn’t take immediate action to secure our borders, strengthen our immigration laws, implement true interior enforcement and establish a working employer verification system.”
The Secure Borders FIRST (For Integrity, Reform, Safety and anti-Terrorism) Act of 2007 will mandate operational control of all our borders and ensure better enforcement of current U.S. immigration laws.
“First and foremost, we must gain control of our borders, and the Senate bill fails to do this,” King said. “Furthermore, against the wishes of the American people, the Senate bill would provide almost immediate amnesty for an estimated 12 million illegal aliens here in the United States. These are serious issues that would only serve to weaken the security of our country.”
“The immigration status quo is intolerable. Not because our immigration laws are broken, but because they are not vigorously enforced,” Smith said. “Immigration enforcement has failed primarily because Administrations for 20 years have not enforced sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Our resolution calls on the Administration to enforce employer sanctions systematically, not just sporadically.”
Go read the rest...
again, it may not be perfect but enforcing our current laws must be done before we even consider adding more conflicting laws to the books.
I don't even want to hear the argument about how inhumane it is to deport those that came here illegally, that is on them, they made a choice and it is about time they live with the consequences of breaking our laws.
Come legally or get the hell out.
Those should be the only options.
More at Hot Air.
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