'Amnesty Concert vs. Vets' just another example that increasing foreign workers is highest priority for most politicians
The internet is exploding with outrage that the federal government has opened the National Mall to illegal aliens -- without any resistance -- for their pro-amnesty concert and march on Congress tomorrow after the Administration tried all last week to block the nation's military veterans from visiting the memorials dedicated to them on the Mall.
The Democratic Administration looks immensely foolish and ham-handed in this one.
The PR disaster does reflect the Administration's long stance that helping illegal aliens is far more important than almost anything else.
But before one makes too partisan of a condemnation, consider how insensitive many of the Republican leaders in Congress have also looked this past week.
While many Republican House Members were at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall removing barricades to allow aging vets to enter, their Party leaders were indicating that they intend to erect barricades to block millions of unemployed Americans from a reasonable chance at getting a job.
We must pass immigration reform. It's a priority for Republicans, for Democrats. There's a recognition that it's important to America. It's important to our economy. America has long been the land of immigrants."
-- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-ranking House Republican as chair of the House Republican Conference
What "immigration reform" is she talking about?
What Republican House leaders have indicated in multiple statements in the last month is that they want to "reform" immigration by greatly increasing the number of foreign workers who compete with Americans who are highly skilled and those who are low-skilled. And they have pledged to try to get lifetime work permits into the hands of most of the nation's estimated 11 million illegal aliens who will compete with every kind of American worker.
Five years after politicians' mismanagement of the economy created a Jobs Depression, 20 million striving Americans still can't find a full-time job. But neither Party's leaders have allowed the concerns of these struggling Americans to be considered when forming immigration policy.
Imagine the 20 million Americans showing up to visit a jobs fair on the National Mall and encountering government barricades while millions of foreign citizens have full access. That continues to be the primary stance of the leaders of both Parties in Congress.
It doesn't matter what the cause, that cause is less important to most Washington politicians than providing as many foreign workers as possible to the greedy employers who have spent nearly $2 billion on lobbyists the last six years to demand them.
Politico has reported that Rep. McMorris Rodgers promised in a Univision TV interview that the House will vote on immigration bills in 2013 and that "there's still time" for a comprehensive rewrite:
(Speaker John Boehner) over the last few weeks has continued to talk about the importance of the House moving forward on immigration reform," McMorris Rodgers said. "I believe that we have a window here between now and the end of the year and that this is a priority."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, the House Republicans' point man on immigration reform, has said the House needs to take up bills "the sooner the better" on the House floor.
And House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) -- whose panel has passed a border-security bill and is poised to take up a biometric exit system bill on Wednesday -- has said he believes the House will take up immigration bills near the end of October.
As long as the statements out of House Republican leadership address the importance of providing legalization to the nation's illegal population, we can assume that any bill that is passed on the House floor will be used to conference with the Senate to give lifetime work permits so that all illegal aliens can compete directly with Americans in the legal jobs market. And the Republican leadership doesn't even try to disguise in any way its insistence on providing more new immigrants to fill U.S. jobs.
The reaction in most of Washington is as if the 20 million striving Americans don't even exist -- or matter.
Keep in mind that the Republican House leaders try to change the subject by insisting that they would not give illegal aliens a "special path to U.S. citizenship." But every path to legalization leads to lifetime work permits to the detriment of the striving American workers.
The publicity about the contrasting treatment of veterans and illegal aliens on the National Mall has been part of an on-going political battle over the partial government shutdown and budgetary issues about which NumbersUSA takes no official position.
But NumbersUSA staff members (acting as individuals) were at the World War II Memorial last week during the removing of the barricades to pay respect to the veterans who arrived with their wheelchairs and walkers on Honor Flights from around the country. And I have a number of times over the years run over to the Memorial to meet these veterans to act as a guide for many of them who, if they didn't make that particular Honor Flight, might not live long enough to make another one.
As much as I resent the dishonor shown the veterans on the Mall by their government this last week, however, I feel a far greater concern to all of us is the dishonor our government is showing the struggling American workers who are part of the national community for whom those veterans devoted their service and sacrifice.
ROY BECK is Founder & President of NumbersUSA