Standing with Americans on the border

RALEIGH -- It's clear that the White House and the Senate aren't serious about enforcing our nation's immigration laws. Consider this:

Recently, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow compared the Senate bill on illegal immigration to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a fine and continue driving.

Plain and simple, the bill that 39 Democrats and 23 Republicans voted to pass is amnesty for illegal immigrants already in this country.

If endorsed by the joint House and Senate conference committee, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years; allowing over 66 million persons to immigrate to the U.S. in the next 20 years. This is almost one-fourth of our current population.

"Temporary" guest workers will also be eligible for citizenship. If by chance they overstay their welcome, there's little likelihood that they will be deported. If the Senate bill were to make it out of the conference committee, it would send the signal that our policy makers view deportation as draconian. "Temporary" workers would permanently change America.

Robert Rector of the Heritage foundation believes one result would be the largest expansion of the welfare state in 35 years.

There might also be a likely demographic shift in politics, which most pundits believe would work to the benefit of the Democratic Party. Another possible outcome would be the increased balkanization of America, as many of the poor and uneducated people who would migrate here would be slow to assimilate, economically and culturally.

Also included in the bill is a prohibition on the federal government using information included in an application for amnesty in a national security or criminal investigation. Any federal agent who did use that information could be fined $10,000. That is five times more than an illegal immigrant would have to pay to get amnesty.

Amendments offered by conservatives in the Senate that were defeated included the following:

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., wanted to deny illegal immigrants the earned income tax credit. His argument was that it's one thing to legalize them; it is another thing to subsidize illegal immigrants.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., wanted to require that enforcement be proven to have succeeded before the amnesty or guest-worker provisions could take effect.

Conservatives have argued that if the senators were serious about securing the border, they would consider following a strategy of attrition. This involves stepping up the enforcement of immigration laws so as to shrink the illegal immigration population over time.

Standing for national sovereignty and in the way of the Senate amnesty bill are the leadership and conservatives in the House. Majority Leader John Boehner was quoted as saying that House negotiators "will oppose troubling polices that encourage open borders and invite more illegal immigrants into our country."

The lead negotiator from the House in the conference committee will be the Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner. Sensenbrenner believes the words "path to citizenship" are buzz words for amnesty. When asked on "Meet the Press" whether he would accept any bill that would put illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship he answered with a flat "No."

Some in the elite media tried to portray the House bill as strident and racist. Conservatives believe this is a test for the House and an opportunity for the House to separate itself from the elite establishment that has become the Republican Party. If the House insists on no deal and no amnesty, it will be siding with the overwhelming majority of the American people.

There is a disconnect between the elites in the Republican Party establishment and the grass-roots. Moreover, illegal immigration will be the one of the defining issues in the upcoming election. Caving in to Sen. John McCain and Sen. Ted Kennedy's amnesty abomination will not only forfeit our national sovereignty and our culture; it may well cause Republicans to lose the House and possibly the Senate in November.

(Marc Rotterman is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation and treasurer of the American Conservative Union.)