Gwinnett Daily Post

Opinion
KING: On immigration and promises from the Gang of Eight: Remember 1986
D.A King

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

“We used the word ‘legalization,’ and everybody fell asleep lightly for a while, and we were able to do legalization.” — Former Wyoming Sen. Alan K. Simpson, co-sponsor of the “one-time” 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens, to NPR in 2010.

For conservatives, there can be no more effective reminder that the current attempt to legalize 11 million to 20 million illegal aliens is a shameless, calculated and deceptive scam than the rallying cry “Remember 1986!”

The liberal media seldom begins a news report on another legalization that’s “not amnesty” without stating that “the Republican party has taken a second look at its immigration stand since the 2012 election … ” This is in hope that obedient GOP voters will succumb to the endless false assertions that if granted citizenship, these grateful, low-wage, entitlement-dependent workers would vote for small-government, low-tax Republican candidates.

An announced goal from the Republican establishment of another legalization is to capture the Hispanic vote. And to “solve immigration forever.”

In 1988, just two years after the Republican establishment actually delivered the “one-time” amnesty (“we’ll never have to do it again … “), GOP presidential candidate George H.W. Bush lost the Latino vote by 39 points. The all-time modern record harvest was Texan George W. Bush, who promised amnesty in his 2004 re-election campaign. He got about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote.

In 2008, Republican John McCain got 31 percent of the Latino vote.

The record low was Bob Dole at 21 percent in 1996 against incumbent Bill Clinton, who had just implemented landmark, effective border-fence measures in San Diego. But Democrat Clinton still won. In a landslide. With 72 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Don’t like the legal and accurate term “illegal alien?” “Undocumented Democrat” is just as descriptive.

The legalization of 1986 only served to increase illegal immigration. Because the false promises of future border security, future enforcement of temporary visa holder departures and future workplace enforcement never happened.

The legalization of 1986 is in large part the reason for the crushing crisis today. Immigration is not “solved.” It is managed. And we will never have a workable immigration system until we have a genuine, visible and proven policy of unapologetic enforcement. Including at the workplace.

One of the current “Trust us, we mean it this time, no really!” promises on legalization-again is future nationwide implementation of the E-Verify system. In about five years. After legalization. “We promise!”

Who has been negotiating the terms of the promises — including E-Verify — necessary to slide another legalization swindle past the American people? One of the “stakeholders” is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The same people who used their enormous lobbying budget to stop E-Verify from being mandatory at its inception. The same Chamber of Commerce that sued multiple times in federal court to stop the requirement that E-Verify be mandatory on federal contracts. The same Chamber of Commerce that went all the way to the Supreme Court trying to stop the E-Verify mandate in Arizona.

HERE