Back of the Line, Back of the Bus...or Just Plain Backward?

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama posted a short Op-Ed piece in today's Charlotte Observer on immigration, advocating tough borders for us, and tough love for them -- the 12 million undocumented. It's a document designed to please both "sides" of the immigration "debate" -- as if the issue can be defined simply in pro or con terms -- but it turns out to be disturbingly uninformed or cynical; I'm not sure which.

Obama breaks it down into two parts. First, seal the border (he voted for The Fence) and shut down the jobs magnet by locking every employer into a "mandatory electronic system" to verify the status of all new hires. Surely Obama's team has read the reports from security and computer experts demonstrating that EEV (employment eligibility verification) is not scalable for an economy as large and dynamic as ours, and is really "Franz Kafka's solution to illegal immigration." Still, we put a man on the moon, so we should be able to take control of our hiring halls with swipe cards and RFID chips.

Second, Obama says the undeportable 12 million should be punished and sent to "the back of the line" to wait for green cards and citizenship behind those who applied legally. Again, he and his team are well aware that for most of the 12 million, there is simply no line at all in which to stand, given the antiquated quotas and categories hobbling our immigration statute. Still, it sound like the right thing to say... if it weren't coming from an African American for whom the phrase "back of the line" should sound too uncomfortably close to the "back of the bus."

As I've argued before, trying to "secure the borders" first is putting things backwards, but it seems no candidate is willing to tell the American public the facts of life until after safely in office. Senator Obama has a stellar Immigration Policy Group at the ready; if only he would check with them before posting any more editorials on the subject.

Comments

[RedWilma]

I care a lot about the illegal immigrants here and do not want them punished or hurt. Unlike the majority of Americans, I supported Bush's immigration bill last year. I think the border fence idea is ridiculous as it now stands because it will not work. It's just a waste of money. However, I do agree that we need to do what we can to seal off the borders and I do think it would be in our national security interest and economic interest to deal with that issue before dealing with the issue of the illegal immigrants already here.

With regard to the illegal immigrants here, I support the DREAM Act and much much more. I actually AM in favor of amnesty under certain relatively simple conditions. I think we would be better off offering a path to citizenship to the illegal immigrants here than trying to find them and kick them out. That's not doable and many of them are wonderful kind people who have built lives here and have nowhere to go. If we gave them a path to legal residence and citizenship, many of the complaints about them would disappear.

[TuffPosh]

Obviously, Obama recognizes that we don't have a line, so he proposes allowing former illegal aliens to cut into the line. No matter how you want to look at it, that would have a serious impact on those who entered the line with the current procedure and those who want to enter the line in the future. He also doesn't want to "punish" them, he wants to reward them. And, he's also using a new talking point recently proposed: he'd "require" illegal aliens to join the program, which is a change from "offering" them the opportunity. And, he's also using another talking point favored by Bush/Chert­off/WSJ/Da­vid Brooks.

More on this here:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007635.html