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March 22, 2007
Getting Silly About Immigration Reform
Members of Congress, by and large, are a pretty serious bunch. They take themselves seriously, and when they introduce a bill it's usually a pretty solemn occasion. When it comes to giving illegal aliens amnesty, normally nobody in Congress is more serious than Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). He has been very serious about wanting blanket amnesty for illegal aliens for a long time.
The problem for Rep. Gutierrez is that the American public is pretty serious itself about not wanting to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. The public just doesn't see any good reason to allow tens of millions of people who came here illegally to be allowed to remain. So faced with serious stalemate, Gutierrez has opted for silly. His new bill, the Security Through Regularized Immigration and Vibrant Economy, or STRIVE Act (the general exception to the seriousness rule is that members of Congress will give their bills silly titles to create a catchy acronym), introduced today with Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) includes what these two serious lawmakers call a "touch back" provision.
If the American people will not accept the idea of millions of people who came here illegally just getting to stay, then how about we make them all take a trip to the nearest border and come back? Kind of like tagging-up at third before jogging home on a long fly ball. They touch foreign soil and then they come back. Get it? They wouldn't have to stay away very long - maybe a day, says Gutierrez, and when they come back they won't have entered the country illegally. Problem solved.
But even Gutierrez himself cannot help but guffaw and the monumental silliness of this pointless "touch back" exercise. "Is it going to sound somewhat absurd to some people?" asked Gutierrez. "Certainly it is," he said, answering his own question. So far, no one has come forward to dispute him on the last point at least.
Posted on at March 22, 2007 06:04 PM