Well, we all wondered just when Obama would get around to his plan to revive proposals of amnesty for illegal aliens. It seems that they've decided now's the time to go for it, especially since more expensive plans like health care and cap-and-trade programs don't look as easy right now given the state of the economy, despite their denials to the contrary.
Why is this? Numbers people, it's all about numbers. As in the much promoted "path to citizenship" for the estimated 12-20 million illegal aliens already living in this country. Or make that 12-20 million potential new Democrat voters.
According the the NY Times story,
While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama [2] plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration [3] system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.
Mr. Obama will frame the new effort — likely to rouse passions on all sides of the highly divisive issue — as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system,” said the official, Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House.
Mr. Obama plans to speak publicly about the issue in May, administration officials said, and over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall.
It looks to me like Obama will try and rope the support of the unions into the deal this time. As in, the Dems push for card-check, (the union supported bill to end the secret ballot in union organization elections), and the unions will support his amnesty bill...which he'll sell as "not adding to the workforce" and taking union jobs, since they're already here. And with card-check, they could swell the ranks of the unions...meaning more muscle for Democrats in future elections.
And what are their plans to prevent future illegal immigration? Well you see, this will be a "comprehensive" bill...and it will make sure we finally get tough!
...the Obama administration favors legislation that would bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by recognizing that they violated the law, and imposing fines and other penalties to fit the offense. The legislation would seek to prevent future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the legal immigration status of new workers.
Just like the last several amnesty plans did, right?
***
Speak out now. Join the campaign to "Stop Amnesty" today [4]. Let your elected officials now how you feel!
