By a vote of 55-40 the Senate rejected the notion that we secure our borders before we start handing out citizenship and legalizing those who entered this country illegally.
The absolute ridiculousness of tying the security of our nation and border into the same bill as granting amnesty to illegal aliens is a tragedy. The joining of the two in the same bill is what they call "Comprehensive Immigration Reform". What I call it is a bunch of loopholes in order to allow illegal immigration to continue unfettered and increase in numbers.
Most of you will remember that this same thing was done in 1986 by then President Reagan and all of the enforcement parts of the law were quickly ignored. The same will happen again and anyone who thinks otherwise only has to look around at the enforcement that's been going on for the past 20 years -- which is almost none. That is why we have grown from 1 million illegal aliens to 20 million illegal aliens and not reduced this number over the years.
You may like the president, you may like illegal aliens as people, but you have to sit back and really think about that for a second and realize that the path being pushed by the Senate is wrong and won't work.
ABC
On a vote of 55-40 that crossed party lines, the Senate rejected an appeal from Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to require the border be secured before other immigration law changes could take place.
Anything less would mean "a wink and a nod one more time to those who would come here" unlawfully, said the Georgia Republican. The bill's supporters said he had it backward. "We have to have a comprehensive approach if we're going to gain control of the borders," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., echoing Bush's remarks of the night before.
Hours later, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., made an unsuccessful effort to exclude foreigners and recent illegal immigrants from a new guest worker program that could provide jobs for millions over the next decade. "This bill is going to allow illegal workers to come in stamped as legal," he said, but the vote was 69-28 to scuttle his amendment.
That's right, Ted Kennedy agreeing.
Isakson went first, brushing aside claims that in seeking to assure the border was under control, he was asking for the impossible. "Listen, this country put a man on the moon in nine years. This country responded to the terrorist attacks on 9-11 within three weeks. This country can do anything it sets its mind to."
Hear, hear Isakson. We can do it, anyone who says it's not possible to secure our borders has some other agenda they are pushing because they benefit from illegal aliens.
Update
Michelle Malkin passes along these GOP Senators who voted to continue down this "comprehensive" plan.
Bennett (UT)
Brownback (R-KS),
Chafee (RI),
Coleman (MN),
Collins (ME),
Craig (ID),
DeWine (OH),
Graham (SC),
Hagel (NE),
Lugar (IN),
Martinez (FL),
Murkowski (AK),
Shelby (AL),
Snow (ME),
Specter (PA),
Stevens (AK),
Voinovich (OH),
Warner (VA)
Not voting:
Cochran (R-MS)
Gregg (R-NH)
Lott (R-MS)
McCain (R-AZ)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Keep note of these people.
