Amnesty Advocates Consider ‘Early Passage’ Plan

The failure of Congress to include the E-Verify provision in the economic stimulus bill has encouraged amnesty advocates to believe that they can advance amnesty legislation, perhaps much sooner than expected. E-Verify is a system that allows employers to check the legal status of employees. Without E-Verify, according to Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, as many as 300,000 of the stimulus-created jobs will go to illegal aliens. An article in Politico (2/17/09), a publication dealing with Washington politics, said that pressure from “Hispanic and business groups” prevented the system from being required of businesses receiving stimulus funds.

This victory and passage of a bill giving benefits to legal immigrant children, said the article, gives the amnesty lobby hope that the Obama administration will give amnesty a higher legislative priority than it has so far. Until recently Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has indicated that amnesty must be on the back burner until the economy improves. But more recently, in interviews with the Spanish-language media, Emanuel affirmed that the administration is committed to paying its campaign debts to the immigration lobbies.

One of those is the stridently pro-amnesty America’s Voice, headed by Frank Sharry. He stated, “I think [Emanuel] has actually revised his views on this [immigration] issue. If that’s true, it’s huge.” Sharry also observed, “One less of the Bush Administration is that if you don’t move early, it becomes harder, not easier to do.”

Sen. Robert Mendez (D-NJ) is another advocate of the “early strategy.” He maintains that if Congress can pass an amnesty this year, voters opposed to it will have forgotten by the 2010 mid-term elections. Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid (NV) also suggested an early attempt and even said that passage of a bill to legalize illegals might not be difficult.

The amnesty advocates certainly aren’t speaking from a position of weakness, but their pride—indeed their arrogance—could be their undoing. Passage of the stimulus bill without E-Verify is proof positive that Congress just doesn’t get it with respect to what’s going on in the country. Eleven million Americans are out of work, but quite a number of our representatives are intent on rewarding people who are illegally taking jobs in our country. With such rewards they invite more to come.

An article in the Hill (2/17/09), another paper reporting Washington politics, noted that “Opponents of [amnesty] have . . . proven incredibly adept at mobilizing thousand of their supporters to fight any proposal that can be tagged with offering ‘amnesty’ to illegal immigrants.” That’s a reputation we must continue to uphold. To stop amnesty this year, call the offices of your representative and senators today. The number of the Capitol Hill Switchboard is (202) 224-3121.