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February 06, 2007
Promises, Promises
President Bush and congressional supporters of what they term "comprehensive immigration reform" assure us that this time things will be different. Sure, the promises made to control illegal immigration in exchange for the illegal alien amnesty of 1986 were never kept, but this time we really, really mean it, guest worker amnesty advocates tell us. Really?
For anyone who thinks that this time things might actually be different, consider this: In September 2006 Congress approved construction of 700 miles of security fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, sort of as a gesture to the American public to demonstrate that they are prepared to do something to slow down illegal immigration and defend the nation against the infiltration of terrorists. President Bush wasn't thrilled with the project, but he signed into law. That was six months ago, not 20 years ago.
Apparently the shelf-life of an immigration enforcement promise is an exceedingly short one – oh, like say, the life expectancy of a fruit fly.
President Bush’s proposed FY 2008 Budget, introduced yesterday, lopped some 330 miles off the promise made to the American public back in September. Instead of 700 miles of security fencing, the president envisions only 370 miles of fencing by the time he leaves office in two years.
The 370 miles of fencing Mr. Bush wants to build is exactly 370 miles more than Democratic congressional leaders seem prepared to make good on. Even before President Bush sent his $2.9 trillion budget proposal to Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was expressing serious doubts about whether any money would be appropriated for fence construction.
It took six months to back out on the promise made to construct the border fence. Does anyone want to take bets on how long it would take for the administration and Congress to renege on the enforcement components of “comprehensive immigration reform”?
Posted on at February 6, 2007 04:28 PM