Senate Judiciary Committee Balks at Enforcement
On the first day of the Senate Judiciary Committee's markup of the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, one thing was crystal clear -- the Democrat-leaning Committee and its two GOP Gang of Eight Members are set on legalizing 11 million illegal aliens before any enforcement takes place. The Committee voted down 5 amendments that would have required measurable enforcement efforts occur before illegal aliens are legalized and given work permits.
On all 5 amendments, the votes fell along partylines with two exceptions - both Senators Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who are members of the Gang of Eight, opposed the amendments. Their votes seem to indicate that the bill would lose Democratic support if enforcement was put before legalization despite a number of different polls that show that Americans support full border security before the rest of the immigration system is addressed.
The defeated enforcement measures include:
- Sen. Jeff Sessions - An amendment that would require fulfillment of the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and the Secure Fence Act of 2006 to build a double-layerd fence along 700 miles of the Southwest Border before amensty can be given to illegal aliens. Under the bill, DHS only has to submit a fencing strategy before amnesty is given.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley - An amendment that would require DHS to reach the 90% apprehension rate, as proposed in the bill, for at least six months before amnesty is given. The bill currently requires DHS to submit a plan describing how they'll try to reach a 90% apprehension rate before amnesty is given.
- Sen. Mike Lee - An amendment that would require Congress to approve DHS's Southern Border Security and Fencing Strategies before the amnesty is given to illegal aliens.
- Sen. Ted Cruz - An amendment that would require securing the border, including massive increases in personnel and resources along the border, and completion of a biometric entry/exit system at all ports of entry before the amnesty is given.
- Sen. John Cornyn - An amendment that would require the border secured, fencing completed, E-Verify mandated for all employers, and completion of an electronic entry/exit system at all sea and air ports before the amnesty is given.
A few amendments of note did pass, including:
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein - An amendment that would reimburse states and local municipalities for any pre-detention costs associated with the detention of illegal aliens. The bill currently calls for reimbursement of only the detention costs.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley - An amendment that removes all instances of "high-risk" from the bill. The original bill requires DHS to attempt to reach a 90% apprehension rate in "high-risk" sectors, which were defined as sectors with at least 30,000 annual apprehensions. This amendment requires DHS to reach the 90% rate over the entire Southwest border.
On March 4, 2013, a Fox News poll found that 69% of American voters support securing the border before dealing with the rest of the immigration issue. On March 20-21, 2013, a Rasmussen poll found that 64% of likely voters support securing the border before legalizing illegal aliens.
For a detailed description of Thursday's markup, see our live blog.