Very few Senators heavily involved in passing a major piece of social legislation are still in the Senate forty years later when the subject comes up again. And absolutely none has looked as spectacularly foolish about it as Senator Edward Kennedy. As floor manager of the 1965 Immigration Act Kennedy assured the country

“First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same… Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset…. Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia….

“In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think.”

Every one of Senator Kennedy�s assurances proved false - yet he has never apparently felt the need to explain, much less apologize, for his grotesque inaccuracy.

A reader kindly sent in the canned response she got from Kennedy’s office about the current abomination. While it is obvious nothing Kennedy says about immigration is worth any credence, I thought for the record it should be analyzed [VDARE.com comments]:

From: Kennedy_Response@kennedy.senate.gov
Subject: Thank you for contacting me about immigration reform.
To: [Name withheld] Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:57:34 -0400

Dear ———

Thank you for contacting me concerning the ongoing debate over immigration reform. This is a complex issue [No, it isn't. The question is simple: does America become a Spanish-speaking slum, with the cultural traditions of the pre -65 nation obliterated, the living standards of the majority eroded --but with an upper class including the Kennedys benefiting from the regressive income distribution effect of flooding the labor market?] , with many concerns, and it requires a comprehensive solution. 12 million undocumented workers [Very likely 20 -- shouldn't we know first?] are currently living in the United States, working, paying taxes, and raising children who are U.S. citizens [Only because the Birthright citizenship anomaly is not fixed]. These undocumented immigrants contribute to our economy [and take most of the benefit for themselves], and it is long past time to provide legal avenues to bring them out from the shadows.

Border enforcement has increased dramatically from 1990 to 2004. The budget for the Border Patrol has increased from $263 million in 1990 to $1.6 billion today - a six-fold increase. [At the same time, the Bush Administration has essentially abandoned workplace enforcement.] During this period, between 480,000 and 660,000 undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. each year. In all, nearly 9 million have arrived since 1990. Our immigration system is broken, and enforcement alone will not fix it. [It might, if it were tried.]

We need realistic and comprehensive solutions that will protect our borders, enable temporary workers to enter the country legally, and allow workers already here to earn legal status. I am proud to be a sponsor, with Senator McCain, of the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, a comprehensive reform [relaxation] of our nation’s immigration system . Under our proposal undocumented immigrants who wish to become citizens must show they are currently working, pay a $2000 fine, work for an additional six years, pass security checks, pay taxes, learn to speak English, learn about American civics, [Does anybody seriously think this would be administered honestly?] and get in line behind all other legal immigrants before being eligible for a green card. [Except that they are already here, having "Anchor Babies."]

Border Security is addressed in the bill. It establishes a National Border Security Strategy, based on “smart” border technology, information sharing, and cooperation with our neighbors. A new temporary visa will be created to allow foreign workers to enter the U.S. The visa will be valid for 3 years, and can be renewed one time for a total of 6 years. Enforcement of current laws will be strengthened, improving fraud detection and allowing random audits of employers to ensure compliance with existing labor laws. Unnecessary obstacles preventing families from being together when immigrating to the U.S. are also removed. [Which means more pressure on schools and health care - and therefore taxes - eliminating the main efficiency advantage to a society of using "temporary workers".] The bill will enable undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows, submit to background checks, and register for legal status. During this time, they would have to continue working, play by the rules, and pay substantial fines and back taxes. [Of course, if they did this, raising their costs to their employers, only extremely draconian and effective border enforcement would prevent them being undercut by another wave of illegals. So why not try to perfect that first?] The bill is not an amnesty, which implies that all is forgiven [Doesn't Confession involve doing Penance normally?]. It is not. Undocumented workers must pay fines and go to the back of the line before earning a chance for citizenship.

By heritage and history, America is a nation of immigrants [No! It's a NATION. Historically, immigration has been a relatively small contributor to American population growth, with many long pauses allowing for assimilation. And those immigrants were from easily-assimilable backgrounds]. Our bill proposes necessary changes in the law while preserving this tradition. These necessary changes will ensure that immigrant families today, as in the past, continue to live the American [or Mexican, or Asian] dream and contribute to our prosperity, our security, and our values [by stealing and destroying them].

Again, thank you for writing to me about this important issue [about which I am determined to prefer my class and ideological interests.]

The CS Monitor recently covered the issue of the attempts to make illegal immigration a felony. [Felony threat rouses immigrants,April 12, 2006] Now, what they missed is that the present proposals are strong on punishing the immigrants themselves–but rather lax on punishing employers, investors, property owners that profit from illegal immigration.

Personally, I think that it is rather irrelevant to solving the immigration problem whether illegal presence in the US is a felony, misdemeanor or civil offense. Few illegal immigrants make much money from the process of illegal immigration-the one asset they typically wind up with(if they are lucky) is a Green Card or Citizenship (which is probably worth about $100,000 in today’s market).

What is relevant is how we treat those that really make money off this process-and those that cater to them. Employing an illegal alien, renting to an illegal alien, investing in a business that profits from illegal immigration should be deal with on a basis that make them highly unprofitable. Now, that alone might not solve the problem-but the tendency of Mexico to export its poor rather than uplift them can be dealt with:

The US could make it clear that without better education and health expenditures and containment of private fortunes in Mexico, NAFTA will be nullified. For $60 Billion/year all extreme poverty in North America could be eliminated. The excesses of the wealthy in the US and Mexico can be contained. Illegal immigration can be reversed–and it doesn’t have to mean deprivation for the poor in Mexico-or even the illegal immigrants in the US.

Remember Francisco Serrano? (bio here)

He was the 21 year-old illegal alien found living in his old high school in Minnesota last year. After he was arrested for trespassing, the school and most of the town of Twin Cities rallied around the lad and tried to stop his deportation hearing–they even paid his bail.

Oh yeah, and some billionaire guy and his wife wanted to adopt him…he was such a nice boy.

He was ordered to return to Mexico where he could re-apply for entry into the U.S. and after much fanfare by the media and lots of supporters hugging him goodbye amid floods of tears, Francisco walked through the security gates at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport…but never boarded the plane.

Authorities in Boston just arrested him on residential burglary charges stemming from an incident on March 29th. It seems Francisco broke into an apartment with a knife and when police arrived, he was still attacking the victim.

Illegal immigrants are only here for the American Dream…which apparently involves knives and residential burglary.

Click here for the story.

That didn’t take long…

In a joint statement issued last night, House Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) announced they would drop the provision from the House bill which would make illegal presence in the U.S. a felony.

“It remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony.”

GOP Leaders to Drop Felony for Immigrants By David Espo, AP 4/12/06

Well I just lost a bet…I thought the GOP would make it at least two weeks before surrendering. I gave them no chance of exercising logic and seeing these entitlement rallies for the garbage they are–nor did I think they would stand on principle…they don’t have any left.

The thing is, this decision will neither please their constituency nor appease the opposition. Senator Kennedy (D-Chappaquiddick) had this response:

“Actions speak louder than words, and there’s no running away from the fact that the Republican House passed a bill, and Senator Frist offered one, that criminalizes immigrants.”

Hmm…most of the people attending the entitlement rallies are illegal aliens who can’t vote. The Democrats are going to smear Republicans on this issue no matter what they do–the GOP could write a bill giving immediate citizenship to all 12 million illegals and they would still get kicked in the teeth by the liberal left.

It seems the only supporters they have left are old school Republicans–wait a minute, nope…they seem to be losing them too.

Good luck in ‘06 Hastert! Good luck in ‘08 Frist!