Amnesty Opponents Shouldn’t Relax

            AIC’s Washington liaison called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office to inquire why hearings on the health bill care are being held in secret. He wanted to know what restraints the legislation will have against illegal aliens using the health system. About the secrecy, Pelosi’s aide replied, “We can do anything we want.”

            This attitude of the Democratic leadership may give cause to pause to true  immigration reformers who oppose amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens now living in the U.S. Many Washington observers believe that the announced intention of Democratic leaders to pass amnesty is more smoke than fire. They are doing it, the observers maintain, to placate the Hispanic Caucus and other amnesty supporters, but they are not serious about trying to pass an amnesty this year. The reason is that it would be too costly to the Democrats, with the election coming up in November. With unemployment as high as it is, allowing illegal aliens to stay and keep the jobs they have would not appeal to many voters.

            The commentators may indeed be right, but possibly they aren’t. It may be that the progress of the health legislation has emboldened Pelosi and other key Democrats to think that they can indeed do anything they want. And the prospect of electoral losses may not deter them.

            The leftist radicals within the party, one may assume, are familiar with the Marxist strategy of “one step back, two steps forward.” Basically this would consist of accepting significant losses in November—while planning for greater gains later on. The plan might follow the reasoning of prominent Democratic strategist Robert Creamer. He maintains that the party should make amnesty a high priority because once the amnesty is passed and its recipients get citizenship, the party will have a large new bloc of grateful voters. They and a certain percentage of naturalized legal immigrants, he believes, can give the Democrats a permanent lock on American politics.

            Of course there will be a number of Democrats in the House and Senate who won’t like the idea of having to sacrifice themselves for the future. But maybe the party’s leadership can ease their anguish holding out the possibility of cushy jobs in the federal bureaucracy if they lose their seats in Congress. People who think they can “do anything” they want are probably game to try anything.

            Passage of a major amnesty certainly won’t be easy this year. But amnesty opponents should think twice before relaxing too much.