Schumer's Immigration Platform is Built on Planks Made of Balsa Wood

On Sunday, November 11, 2012, New York's Senator Chuck Schumer appeared on NBC News' Face the Nation and was asked about immigration. Here is, in part, how Schumer responded to that question as reported in an article posted by Capital New York:

Schumer said his compromise with Graham would have four main planks: closing the border; creating a "non-forgeable document" that would allow employers to tell which immigrants are legal, with stiff penalties for hiring illegals; letting in legal immigrants we need; and a path to citizenship "that's fair, that says you have to learn English, that you have to go to the back of the line, you gotta have a job, and you can't commit crimes.”

Let's take a hard look at Schumer's “planks” and see what they really mean:

1 – “Closing the border”

Although it is often claimed that there are four Border States, in point of fact, America has 50 Border States.  Any state that has a seaport or international airport must be considered “border states” just as are states that lie along America's northern and southern borders.  It is believed that there are at least 5 million illegal aliens in the United States that did not run our borders but entered the United States through ports of entry and then violated the terms of their admission.  This is how many terrorists including the 19 that attacked the United States on 9/11 entered the United States.

2- “Creating a non-forgeable document”

Certainly any identity document should be tamper and forgery resistant.  However, what name do you put on a document that is supposed to identify an alien who is “undocumented” meaning that he (she) has no authentic documentation to attest to his true identity?  When dealing with millions of such aliens there would be absolutely no way to conduct field investigations or even face to face interviews!  (In fact, this is how the Obama administration is dealing with the thousands of applications for its current “DREAMER” program is being done- thereby creating a national security nightmare!)

3 – “Letting in immigrants that we need”

On April 30, 2009 the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Immigration, conducted a hearing on the topic: “Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?”  Alan Greenspan stated:

“…The second bonus (in accelerating the influx of skilled immigrant workers) would address the increasing concentration of income in this country. Greatly expanding our quotas for the highly skilled would lower wage premiums of skilled over lesser skilled. Skill shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. Quotas have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process, we have created privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at non-competitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.”

The apparent goal is to create unfair competition for American workers, both at the bottom rung of the economic ladder as well as the middle class. Greenspan made it clear- importing more workers could eliminate income inequality based on skills!

4- “A path to citizenship that is fair”

The United States already admits more than 1.1 million lawful immigrants each and every year.  These immigrants are immediately placed on the pathway to United States citizenship on the day they acquire lawful immigrant status.  The law currently addresses the English language requirement and the issue of not having a record of criminal convictions.  For whom would a massive legalization program be fair?

America's immigration laws were enacted to save lives and protect the jobs of American and lawful immigrant workers.  Incredibly Schumer and his allies in Congress and the White house couldn't care less about truly achieving these commonsense goals.

I certainly would not want to find myself standing on Schumer's mythical platform, over the moat that Obama said those concerned about border security wanted built and stocked with alligators!