Immigration-Reform Update
Kate O'Beirne

Senate Repubicans [sic] met today and it appears that the majority of them are willing to sign on to a White House-Kennedy "comprehensive" reform. Some have convinced themselves that the measure represents a good trade, i.e. amnesty for 12 million (which they privately acknowledge is the case) in exchange for beefed -up enforcement including a worker-verification system (assuming government can effectively design one with Democrats refusing to agree to data-sharing among relevant agencies), and an end to chain migration at some point in the future, i.e. when the big backlog on extended family members waiting for green cards is cleared up.

Faith-based immigration reform! The "good trade" case is easier to make when the huge net costs of legalization are simply ignored. The fact that much of the improvements they seek could be achieved by enforcing current laws is also being ignored. ...

Hat tip: Allahpundit, who comments on the matter here. (H/T: Michelle Malkin)

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The Border Deal
John Hinderaker

Paul noted earlier the rumor that Republicans in the Senate have caved and agreed to a deal on immigration that includes amnesty for illegals. Hugh Hewitt has the talking points that are being circulated by the Republicans.

Hugh thinks the projected deal is a disaster, and he may be right. But on paper, at least, I don't think it's so clear. To me, the key is workplace enforcement. I don't think people come here from Latin America to go on welfare; they come for jobs. Many people who have studied the illegal immigration problem more than I have believe that this is the key: as long as illegals can make far more money here than in their own countries, no fence will keep them out, whereas if the lure of a good job is gone, so is their reason for coming here. So I put a premium on workplace enforcement.

The Republican talking points say:

The bill will create an Electronic Employment Verification System ("EEVS") so only legal workers can get jobs.

If I believed that to be true, I would probably accept the compromise as infinitely better than the status quo. The problem is, I just don't believe it. ...

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Immigration Compromise Nears Readiness 
Ed Morrissey

Democrats and Republicans have come closer to a compromise on immigration reform that will probably leave the bases of both parties dissatisfied. Democrats have acquiesced on a staged implementation that requires borders to be secured before addressing illegal immigrants within the US, while Republicans have had to allow normalization in most cases:

Senators negotiating a bipartisan immigration reform bill have settled on the details of a plan that would immediately grant legal status to all illegal immigrants currently in the United States.

The deal on “Z visas” for illegal immigrants is one of several issues where Democrats and Republicans have reached broad agreement. …

The plan to award legal status to all illegal immigrants who meet certain qualifications would occur only after other “triggers” are met. These triggers would require that certain border security and work-site enforcement measures be in place before other aspects of the overhaul go forward. ...

This puts the solution squarely in the center. The Democratic base had campaigned for open borders and immediate normalization, while conservatives in the GOP wanted deportation and complete border security. In the end, it looks like the national-security implications of border control created the impetus for a compromise.

It doesn’t seem that the conservatives do all that badly in this compromise. They get the borders-first approach demanded last year (and ignored by McCain-Kennedy), with an eighteen-month delay for the triggers to get met, as well as a statutory burden to ensure that they are met before continuing with normalization. It keeps in place the fines and requires a “touchback”, forcing the head of household to return to his/her country of origin and applying for legal entry into the US. It excludes felons from the program, and levies a fine for the illegal entry. ...

If the final version of this bill falls into these lines, then the GOP has done well in keeping most of their demands in the final legislation. Overall, if this program allows us to identify the millions of illegals already in the system, it will make it much easier for us to identify and chase down the few that fall outside of it — the felons and the potential terrorists. At the same time, it provides a legal channel for low-cost labor to American business that allows us to know who crosses our borders and where they go, and it offers humane treatment for everyone.

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The amnesty bill we were told was not an amnesty bill
Rick Moran

Ed is too sanguine about this bill, I think. The security aspects of it will be watered down even more and then honored in the breach in the rush to give these “Z” visas to illegals.

And history has shown us that the visa process itself will be pro forma. After all, with 12 million people to work through the system, the bureaucrats will find short cuts to ease the load. ...