I’m American before an Ethnic Group or Political Party

[Marty]

I’m American before an Ethnic Group or Political Party

“It’s the question of the decade if not the question of the century: “Why is there such a disconnect between the political class and the people of the United States on the issue of illegal immigration?â€

[Otay Michael]

Thanks Marty. It puts a direct spotlight on the problem. Now, the solution is needed.

[Lance]

Well said Marty.

L

[Marty]

The U.S. House of Representatives passed three bills today that would bring about moderate increases in enforcement against illegal immigration. It is all part of an ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT strategy that avoids both mass deportations and mass amnesty. The idea is to make life less and less comfortable for illegal aliens so they will voluntarily deport themselves. All three passed easily and now head to the Senate where it remains unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) will allow them to come up for a vote next week (problem he’s getting his instructions from the man himself - Pres. Bush), which is the last week Congress will be in session before the November elections. They sure take a lot of time off.

Pres. Bush said this week he will sign the bills if they come to him -- even though he would prefer that they included massive new foreign worker programs and some kind of legalization for illegal aliens already here. What really gets me is the American Bar Association lobbied Congress hard to defeat all three bills. You would think the ABA, of all organizations, would back respect for the rule of law.

H.R. 6095 ... Passed 277-140
Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006

What passed today basically reaffirms the inherent authority of state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. It doesn't seem like it adds much. But perhaps it is a strong symbol to all the local governments around the country who just now are flexing their enforcement muscles to try to break up illegal populations in their communities -- and that have all kinds of groups threatening to take them to court to stop them.

Here is how the Parties voted:

YES
Republicans 215
Democrats 62

NO
Republicans 5
Democrats 134
Independent 1

Check out who voted which way at:
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp ... number=468


H.R. 6094 ... Passed 328-95
Community Protection Act of 2006

This bill would provide for the detention of dangerous illegal aliens, the removal of deportable criminal aliens, and the inadmissibility and deportability of illegal aliens participating in street gang activity. This was an especially wide-margin victory. It is interesting looking through the 95 names of Members of Congress who are so hard core in their protection of illegal aliens, they couldn't even vote for this bill. But this got the majority of Democrats, as well as nearly all Republicans.

YES
Republicans 222
Democrats 105
Independent 1

NO
Republicans 4
Democrats 91
View the roll call at:
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp ... number=465


H.R. 4830 ... Passed 422-0
The Tunnel Bill

This would create explicit penalties for construction and/or use of a border tunnel. Because there had not been explicit laws against digging networks of tunnels under our borders. Like we need a bill to tell us this is illegal – you digging a tunnel in my back yard you see what you get. Apparently not a single Member of Congress is willing to face voters this fall and explain why he/she wanted to protect the tunnels.

What’s Next out of our political elites?

Senate Judiciary Chairman Specter (R-PA) and several Democratic leaders continue to complain about the possibility of Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) bringing the House enforcement measures to a vote without giving Senators a chance to add an amnesty to the legislation. Sen. Specter has been the most explicit in the shameful strategy. Specter has said that he thinks the enforcement measures for security are necessary but that he doesn't want to provide that security now because it would take away from him bargaining chips to get a massive new guestworker program. In other words, he is holding security hostage to his insistence that we can't have border security until he is able to deliver to today's Robber Barrons all the foreign labor they desire.

We've actually suspected all along that a lot of Senators are exactly that cavalier about Americans' safety. But it wasn't until this week that Republican Specter and Democratic Leader Reid (D-NV) publicly confirmed that their main interest in enforcement is as something to help them gain amnesties and guestworkers. Doing Pres. Bush work.