Ten major flaws in the immigration bill
May 27, 2007| By Nathaniel Ward
Heritage Foundation experts have spent the past week closely examining the immigration legislation currently being considered in the Senate.
Working with Kris Kobach, a former top immigration adviser to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding has put together a list of the ten worst provisions in the portion of the bill that “create[s] a new ‘Z’ visa exclusively for illegal aliens.”
- A massive amnesty
- A permanent “temporary” visa
- Hobbled background checks
- Amnesty for “absconders” who have ignored deportation orders
- “Reverse justice” that effectively closes immigration courts
- Enforcement of amnesty, not laws
- Amnesty for gang members
- Tuition subsidies for illegal aliens
- Taxpayer-funded lawyers for illegal aliens
- Amnesty before enforcement triggers (despite the claims of the bill’s supporters)
These flaws make clear, they write, that the bill would “cripple law enforcement and undermine the rule of law.”
The list has already made an impression on the media, garnering a link on the Drudge Report and other major online news outlets.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.