Monday, March 2, 2015

GOP on Immigration: Ample Supply of #2's and Erasers

Proposed New RNC Logo to Replace the Elephant
(Known to  have great memories)


The Issue: Massive challenge to President Obama's EO on immigration.

Cue the memory loss music.

GOP Mythical Hero: “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.” — President Ronald Wilson Reagan (statement in 1984)

Congressional Reaction to Mythical Hero's Call: Pass a bill that Mr. Reagan signed into law that is called: “The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (P.L. 99-603).”

That allowed between 3 and 5 million persons here illegally to immediately get green cards that put them on the path to U.S. citizenship. More in the law:

  1. Required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status;
  2. Made it illegal to hire or recruit illegal immigrants knowingly;
  3. Legalized certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants, and;
  4. Legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 had resided here continuously, and who faced a penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt;
  5. Required applicants to prove that they were not guilty of crimes, that they were in the country before January 1, 1982, and that they possessed minimal knowledge about U.S. history, government, and the English language.
 Now cue the spin cycle music.

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