Pirate's Cove

….that’s all really a load of mule fritters, but the Associated Press writers make it seem like they’re closing in on one of the most historic pieces of legislation ever!

(WRAL) White House-backed immigration legislation is gaining momentum in the Senate, where key lawmakers say they are closing in on a bipartisan compromise to spend tens of billions of dollars stiffening the bill’s border security requirements without delaying legalization for millions living in the country unlawfully.

“This is a key moment in the effort to pass this bill. This is sort of the defining 24 to 36 hours,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday night after a day of private talks.

Pretty highfalutin language, wouldn’t you say? (and how often does one get the chance to use the word “highfalutin”?) In reality, more and more Republicans are turning away from this crapsandwich of a bill, not that many were on board in the first place, but there were those who said “I’ll listen, let’s see what is proposed” who are now saying “hell no.” They know that this is bad for the GOP, bad for the country, and will end up simply being a way to turn the illegals into new Democrat voters quickly.

Under the emerging compromise, the government would grant legal status to immigrants living in the United States unlawfully at the same time the additional security was being put into place. Green cards, which signify permanent residency status, would be withheld until the security steps were complete.

Officials described a so-called border surge that envisions doubling the size of the Border Patrol with 20,000 new agents, constructing hundreds of miles of additional fencing along the border with Mexico and purchasing new surveillance drones to track would-be illegal border crossers. The cost of the additional agents alone was put at $30 billion over a decade.

First of all, there is already a law requiring that a border fence be constructed along 700 miles of the US-Mexico border. The immigration bill compromise would simply say “hey, finish it”. Supposedly. Because an amendment to do just that has already been voted down. The US government is already supposed to be increasing the size of the Border Patrol (the rank and file are against illegal immigration). Drones? Great, we can watch them come across in real time. Perhaps the drone can play soothing desert crossing music for them. Yet, this matters not, because the federal government is great at ignoring the laws they pass when the laws are inconvenient. And, more than likely, this will end up more in the way of giving green cards once there is a plan to Do Something about the border (which I still maintain is not the best plan to force the illegals to leave and stop coming). The bill gives the head of DHS enormous latitude to do whatever he/she wants, much like with Obamacare, rather than making the law black and white.

Here’s another interesting part of the article

It was unclear what other portions of the legislation might be changed. There is pressure from some Republicans to make sure no federal benefits go to immigrants who are in the country illegally, at least until they become citizens.

Hasn’t Marco Rubio (D-Fla) been running around the country, going on TV and radio, appearing in commercials, telling everyone, especially speaking to Conservatives, that “no illegal will get no federal benefits, period”? He wrote a big op ed in the Wall Street Journal which stated they wouldn’t. And here’s Rubio on his own Senate page

No Federal Benefits: Undocumented immigrants will not be eligible for federal benefits.  This legislation contains a partial repeal of ObamaCare to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving its benefits.  Once they are eligible to apply for permanent residence, this bill strengthens current “public charge” law that stipulates no immigrant can obtain a green card if they can’t prove they can support themselves and won’t become government dependents – by verifying that they are earning at least 25 percent above the poverty level and are gainfully employed.  They will have to do verify this more than once, at different parts of the process.  Current law, which we do not change, also bars permanent residents from receiving federal benefits for the first five years of that status.

If that’s the case, Marco, then why is there a need for pressure from Republicans to make sure that none of these illegals get federal benefits?

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.