Senators kill amendments tied to bill on immigration; border security issue put on back burner.

By Stephen Dinan Washington Times

The Senate immigration bill survived its first tests Thursday as a core group of Republicans and Democrats held together, killing efforts to require full border security requirements before legalizing illegal immigrants.

Kicking off the first votes on immigration this year, the Judiciary Committee held a daylong session on border security where senators agreed to require that the entire southwestern border be secured to 90 percent “efficiency.”

But the committee defeated Republican efforts to put that requirement and others before legalization. Members also rejected following through on a 2006 law that ordered the government to build 700 miles of two-tier fencing on the 2,000-mile-long border.

*Sigh* Well, I officially no longer support this bill. I was hopeful that we could do something about the number of illegals flooding through and deal with this issue once and for all. But once again, the Dems refuse to fund closing the border. They want to legalize these illegals, send em to school on the taxpayer dime, give em welfare, etc, but will NOT secure the border.

I was very hopeful, but they screwed over Ronald Reagan and it looks like we're gonna get screwed over again.

Why be hopeful about anything they do these days?

I'm glad they killed it. The provision was meant to keep any immigration changes from happening. Our southern border is currently one of the most militarized non-wartime boundaries, yep many people still make it across. In San Diego, where the border is most secure, DTO's dug tunnels to smuggle large volumes of goods. Fences can be climbed or tunneled. What the provision required for the rest of the bill to take effect would have been almost impossible, and the authors knew it. They wanted credit for helping draft an immigration bill without actually helping anyone legally immigrate!

In Cali I worked with scores of first gen citizens whose parents benefited from the 80's amnesty. I saw honest, butt busting early 20-something guys. They were not like the little white boys we typically get as entry level laborers. White boys(and black boys) always feel entitled and want to start at the top. We gotta hire 10 just to find one good one. This is not the case with these first gen Hispanics. Their parents did a good job ensuring that they assimilated. Most spoke better English than me.....albeit with an accent.....course it ain't hard to have better English than me.

Of course my experience with them is oil field. The oil industry attracts conservative minded people. Pretty much every single first gen I've met agrees with the GOP more than the Dems. Of course none of them vote......at least none that I know.

I got no problem with the amnesty portion. I just wish something meaningful could get done to stop the abuses these people face at the hands of the Mexican gov, the coyotes, the farmers and ranchers on this side. Unless we stop illegal immigration, sex slavery rings will continue to exist. The little shanty communities inside the big Texas ranches, that no one knows about will continue to exist. The farmers in Cali will continue to pay workers a pittance.

Two of my best friends in Cali came illegally. Now one owns an oilfield construction company based in Santa Maria and the other is the area superintendent for CD Lyon. Both would give me the shirt off thier backs if I needed it. The stories those guys told me about coming into tUSA were horrible. One lost two preteen siblings to exposure in The SW Texas desert.

I joke with both of them. They are my honorary Coonasses. Their mindset is closer to mine than they are to most whites in Cali. They earned everything they got and are proud of it. I even taught them a little Cajun and they taught me some Spanish. One is planning on bringing his wife to come stay and visit later this year. Hopefully she will teach my wife some of her real Mexican cooking. None of that Tex-Mex crap.

What is that saying??? Oh yeah, salt-of-the-earth.

Marconius wrote:In Cali I worked with scores of first gen citizens whose parents benefited from the 80's amnesty. I saw honest, butt busting early 20-something guys. They were not like the little white boys we typically get as entry level laborers. White boys(and black boys) always feel entitled and want to start at the top. We gotta hire 10 just to find one good one. This is not the case with these first gen Hispanics. Their parents did a good job ensuring that they assimilated. Most spoke better English than me.....albeit with an accent.....course it ain't hard to have better English than me.

Of course my experience with them is oil field. The oil industry attracts conservative minded people. Pretty much every single first gen I've met agrees with the GOP more than the Dems. Of course none of them vote......at least none that I know.

I've had the privilege of working with some first generation citizens as well. I was supervising a work crew for the Forest Service the consisted entirely of 17-18 year old children of immigrants. Those were some of the hardest working folks I've ever been able to work with. Many of them grew up with parents who worked multiple jobs at horrible pay to make a future for their kids, and this group seemed to understand that.

I got no problem with the amnesty portion. I just wish something meaningful could get done to stop the abuses these people face at the hands of the Mexican gov, the coyotes, the farmers and ranchers on this side. Unless we stop illegal immigration, sex slavery rings will continue to exist. The little shanty communities inside the big Texas ranches, that no one knows about will continue to exist. The farmers in Cali will continue to pay workers a pittance.

This. There have been several stories in the local news recently about some dairies refusing to pay their (illegal) employees for services rendered. There is a non-profit legal group that exists to represent the workers in these kinds of disputes and has had a bit of success, however a local (Democratic) congressman is doing everything possible to dismantle this organization. The farmers don't want immigration reform, they want slave labor, and they are the ones who own our local politicians (the Democrats and Republicans in the Valley are all about the same).

Sen. Paul to Introduce ‘Trust but Verify’ and Additional Amendments to Immigration Reform Bill

Jun 5, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul yesterday announced one of his amendments that he intends on offering to the Gang of Eight's Immigration Reform Bill. The Paul amendment makes immigration reform conditional on Congress voting on whether the border is secure, requiring completion of a border fence in five years and a protection against the federal government establishing a national identification card system for citizens. Sen. Paul's "Trust but Verify" amendment requires Congress to write and enforce a border security blueprint rather than relying on bureaucracies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, to come up with a plan. The amendment also would provide new national security safeguards to track the holders of student visas and those provided asylum and refugee status. The Paul amendment would put pressure on the Department of Homeland Security to finally follow through on the broken promise of a secure border and an effective visa tracking system.

In addition to Trust but Verify, Sen. Paul intends to offer the following amendments:


'No New Pathway to Citizenship' Amendment

Sen. Paul's "No New Pathway to Citizenship" amendment removes the new and exclusive visa category and pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The amendment expands existing work visa categories instead of creating a new Registered Provisional Immigrant status. This updated work visa will not give any individual a new pathway to citizenship; rather they will be treated as if they are in line in their home country. No preference will be given to those on a work visa over individuals who are in line and outside the borders of the United States.

'Secure the Vote' Amendment

Sen. Paul's "Secure the Vote" amendment ensures that individuals on work visas or given status under the bill are not allowed to vote in federal elections until they become citizens. The amendment will provide new procedures to encourage states to check that individuals gaining status or a work visa are not registered to vote.

'Secure the Treasury' Taxpayer Protection Amendment

Sen. Paul's "Secure the Treasury" amendment will provide further protections for taxpayers against individuals in a new immigration status from becoming dependent on the welfare state. This amendment will prevent individuals in Registered Provisional Immigrant status from getting access to Obamacare and welfare.
SOURCE
Ok...if this passes, I'm back on board.

Cant say im surprised. Lol and our border is so secure only millions of ppl walk right across it lol. There are too many who are cozy with the illegal situation. Too much cheap labor

Update:  Today I heard some things on tv that are very discouraging.  Now I'm hearing that the plans for this bill are as follows:

The Senate will pass a bill that no conservatives will like.
The House will pass its own bill that sounds really good, (close the borders, etc).
The bill then goes into a committee and there are plans by both Dems and Republicans gut the bill and turn it into one that gives amnesty and doesn't close the borders!  Unfortunately all Dems will vote for it and juuuust enough Republicans will vote for it to pass this monstrosity.  Nancy Pelosi will be leading the Dems all the way too and John Boehner is going along with it too.  Boehner has threatened GOPers behind the scenes to remove congress members from their chairs on committees is they don't go along.  Lots of back-stabbing is taking place on this thing right now.

Michele Bachman wrote:“The Senate is going to pass a very bad bill. The House will pass what will sound like a pretty good bill. But I’m just here to tell you, it’s a Trojan horse.”
The lawmaker said the bill will say, “We’re going to secure the borders,” so all the Republicans will vote for the bill. Then the bill will go to a conference committee where it will undergo a dramatic change.
“The good guts of the Trojan horse bill will be pulled out,” she said. “The very bad amnesty provisions will be put in the bill. The bill will go to the House floor, and it won’t be Republicans that pass it.
“It’ll be Nancy Pelosi leading all the House Democrats to vote for it, and just enough Republicans will vote for the bill and you’ll have amnesty.

“I’m just telling WND viewers that if you sit this one out and you don’t start hitting the phone lines and email, calling and visiting your representatives now and saying, ‘No amnesty now, no amnesty ever,’ we’re going to have perpetual amnesty for illegal immigration.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/the-republic-is-at-stake/#0uKrPdW1mjgEl0q0.99

Just one more reason I've become an independent Christian Conservative.  You cant trust the GOP leadership anymore.  Voters need to let our members of Congress know this is unacceptable.  I suppose we need to tell them we don't support the bill if they are going to gut it in their committees.  It'll may wind up as a betrayal of what we thought we supported.

I really hoped that Rand Paul was going to get something done here, but it's looking bad folks.

 

Seventy House Republicans are planning a politically risky showdown with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to try to force additional debate on an immigration bill they say will mean amnesty for illegal immigrants and have dire consequences for the country.

The 70 members are petitioning for a special Republican conference meeting on the bill, a “highly unusual” move to go head-to-head with the speaker, according to Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Steve King (Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (Texas), who are serving as spokespersons for the group.

Bachmann, King and Gohmert told TheBlaze the group is invoking the Hastert Rule: requiring support from a majority of the majority to bring a bill forward.  The petition is expected to go to the House leadership on Friday, but it’s possible some signatories might remove their names due to political risk, or that Boehner could head off the challenge by striking a deal. Going against leadership in such a way could have harsh political consequences for the signatories, including retaliation such as permanently getting passed over for chairmanship positions.

The three representatives told TheBlaze that more than half of the Republicans in the House were elected after 2007, and have no concept of how strongly the public opposed the bill.

“This is President Obama’s number one political agenda item because he knows we will never again have a Republican president, ever, if amnesty goes into effect. We will perpetually have a progressive, liberal president, probably a Democrat, and we will probably see the House of Representatives go into Democrat hands and the Senate will stay in Democrat hands,” Bachmann said.

She also said that if it passes, the bill will create a permanent progressive class.
“That’s what’s at risk right now. It may sound melodramatic, I don’t mean it that way, but this is that big and that important,” Bachmann said.

How can they 'have no concept' as to how strongly Americans would oppose any bill that would ultimately provide for amnesty and fail to secure the borders???  Man, I knew Washington was corrupt, but this is like a malignant tumor festering on the heart of America. 

Contact your Reps and tell them to kill this bill.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Michele Bachmann has a plan to stop an amnesty bill from sneaking through the House of Representatives like a “Trojan horse.”
She and other conservative lawmakers are pressing fellow Republican and Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, to pledge to abide by the “Hastert rule.”
That is the understanding which requires a majority of fellow party members in the House of Representatives support legislation before it is allowed to make it to the floor.

“What we’re trying to do is get a special conference so we can actually give knowledge to our members. There’s two times the phone lines melted because the American people were so angry about a bill. One was Obamacare, but an even higher level of intensity than Obamacare was legal immigration, amnesty. This was John McCain’s bill in 2007. The country was livid and outraged.”
Bachmann says the bill now in the Senate is essentially the same as the one in 2007.

Since Bachmann and her colleagues expressed their concerns Thursday about an amnesty bill passing in the House, Boehner responded, ““My goal is always to bring bills to the floor that have a strong Republican majority.”

“I don’t intend to bring an immigration bill to the floor that violates what I and what my members of my party … what our principles are,” he added.  In her interview with WND, Bachmann expressed skepticism about the intentions of leaders in both parties.
“I think the master plan of the ruling class that runs Washington, D.C., is to ram this bill through before the American people know what has hit them and before members of Congress even know what has hit them.”
Bachamnn said there is only one person who can stop the master plan and that person is “you.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/bachmann-confronts-boehner/#AjzyD7l8zsUZq4i9.99

Man I'm hoping and praying they can get a handle on this issue.  If the GOP leaders cut some kind of deal with the Dems behind closed doors and give illegals amnesty and not secure the border, the GOP is sunk.  It probably already is anyway.  Up to now I think Boehner has been the weakest GOP speaker in my lifetime. 

Well if it doesnt go through, then the reps will predictably take the blame in the media.

Not much different than what they did to reagan. And this the reason the problems of illegal immigration and border security arent going away any time soon.

Imo, this is also why everything seems to go sour.  Political backroom deals and strong arm tactics.  You'd think we'd learn after awhile.

Thats washington

See? Lindsay "mouth of the south" graham has already set the table, saying that it wouldnt matter who we put on the ticket in 2016, if we dont do something about immigration reform. So he's already setting the mood to blame the reps for any failures. Thanks lindsay!

Lindsey Graham is one of those I have complained about for awhile now.  People like Graham and McCain (and Chris Christie, Colin Powell, Chuck Hagel, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chafee, Rep. Jim Leach, Mark Kirk, Lynn Jenkins, Charlie Dent, and Rodney Frelinghuysen) have very nearly ruined the GOP.  RHINO's.  I like people like Rand Paul and Rick Santorum.  (Though labeled a Libertarian, Paul is a social conservative and a realist and much closer to the type of Conservative than say...his dad).