Mike Scruggs
After a little more of my pleading for his promise to get me a bicycle, my dad took me aside for a little talk. “Son,” he said, “I would like to get you a bicycle, but I cannot promise you one, because I might not be able to keep that promise. It is very important to keep your promises. Promises should not be given lightly, and they must not be broken.”
I did get a bicycle on my birthday, but that little talk with my father is remembered and appreciated far more than any bicycle.
Twenty-seven years ago, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. of 1986. It had three main objectives: amnesty for just over one million undocumented immigrants who had been here continuously since 1982, securing the border between the U.S. and Mexico, and strict enforcement of laws prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants. The bill passed, but because of a tremendous “underestimate” of the number of illegal immigrants then in the U.S., widespread fraud by applicants, and widespread laxity in processing the applications, the number of amnesties actually came to about 2.8 million. Six follow-up amnesties gave over 3.0 million additional amnesties. The promises to secure the border and enforce immigration laws at the workplace were subsequently ignored and actively undermined by most of its sponsors. The border is still not secure, and immigration enforcement at the workplace is practically zero. Our internal enforcement policy has become “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We have even come to the place where public demonstrations are staged by unlawful immigrants and their allies against any attempt to enforce our immigration policies. The 1986 amnesty was a terrible political decision wrapped in deception and promises that many never intended to keep.
Now we have an estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the country, and the annual net cost after taxes collected is estimated by the Heritage Foundation to be $14,685 per illegal immigrant household. Amnesty would bring the cost to more than $28,000 annually due to additional healthcare benefits and social security benefits kicking in. Yet we have Federal budget deficits of over $1.0 Trillion being added yearly to our already dangerous national debt of $16.5 Trillion. Like it or not, the U.S. has become a welfare state. It is easy for Congress to vote yes on more welfare but almost impossible to take it away. Unless we secure the border, strictly enforce immigration laws at the workplace, and limit legal immigration to reasonable numbers of fairly well-educated and productive people, we are going to go bankrupt and everybody’s Social Security check and Medicare coverage is either going to be shut off or be made insignificant by inflationary government creation of increasingly worthless money.
Times are going to get very tough for Americans unless we stop making immigration a sacred cow that politicians are afraid to control. The Schumer-Rubio immigration bill, S.744, is not about control. It is about giving a huge amnesty and bringing 3 to 4 million more legal immigrant workers per year into the country to provide dream profits for commercial special interests that are already making huge profits at the expense of American workers and taxpayers. The present practice is already depressing the wages of U.S. workers about $2,800 per year. Most of that and substantial state and local taxes are essentially being transferred to the pockets of the users of imported foreign labor, legal or illegal. The most reputable economic studies indicate that immigration levels in access of 500,000 to 550,000 per year hurt American workers. Yet Schumer-Rubio advocates want to bring in six to ten times that number.
In April, the Heritage Foundation released a report estimating the long-term cost of amnesty to be $6.3 Trillion. The bill is, however, deceptively structured to delay most of the fiscal impact until a fiscal dooms-day in 10 to 13 years. There is every reason to doubt, however, that Shumer-Rubio’s Democrat majority sponsors have any intention of sticking with such a major delay in new immigrant benefits. After all, they intend them to be Democrat voters as soon as possible.
No one outside of a madhouse believes that any significant immigration law enforcement would result from Schumer-Rubio. Senator Schumer was a major mover in killing enforcement provisions of the 1986 amnesty. President Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and U.S Attorney General Eric Holder have little regard for the Constitution or Congressional authority. No matter what enforcement measures are in the bill, it will not be enforced because they do not want enforcement. They want more Democrat voters and more profits for their friends.
Republican Amendments to increase border security are useless eyewash. There will be no enforcement beyond public relations smoke and mirrors, and they should know it. Even without amnesty, the massive increases in legal cheap labor will devastate American workers and taxpayers.
Even with the deceptive and disingenuous delays in amnesty implementation, a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report just released indicates that the immediate results of Schumer-Rubio will be higher unemployment, adding to the 21 million Americans who want a full time job and cannot find one; lower wages; and higher interest and mortgage rates for Americans. It would double annual legal immigration to around 2.0 million but only cut illegal immigration by 25 percent. Additional amnesties would probably follow.
Schumer-Rubio is an economically devastating, anti-American, Corporate Lobbyist Dream Act that will bankrupt the American people and solidify Radical Democrat Party rule for the foreseeable future. It is wrapped in outrageous attempts to deceive and promises its sponsors have no intention of keeping.
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