The Truth about Democrats and Immigration

The Democrats, with Dr. Dean leading the charge, are claiming that Republicans are in disarray over immigration.

From the DNC website:

GOP Doing Splits

Republicans in Washington are more divided than ever. From intra party feuds over the budget and immigration to the struggles to find a cohesive message heading into the 2006 elections, Republicans in Congress are at odds with fellow House and Senate members and even the Bush White House.

More from the DNC:

Take a look at the entire Time Magazine piece..., it's not that long. There's some good news in there for those of us who don't subscribe to the theory of closing borders 48 hours after our own last relative arrived on American shores. There's also some bad news... A majority of Americans believe that building a 2,000 mile long wall on the southern border will work to stem the flood of people coming into the country illegally. These kind of uncreative solutions will never solve serious problems. You'll know people like Tom Tancredo, James Sensenbrenner, and the Republican Party as a whole are serious about stopping illegal immigration when you see legislation flying out of a Republican controlled congress that promotes economic development in Mexico, specially Northern Mexico. Until then, talk of walls and deportation of 11-12 million people are not serious solutions, they are attempts to divide Americans and scapegoat an entire population of people for political gain. We've seen this playbook before.

Yes, there are different opinions within the GOP on the best way to address the immigration issue. That's to be expected from the Republicans, principled individuals who don't march in lockstep like the Dems typically do.

What's more interesting to me is not the differences within the GOP, but the split personalities displayed by the Dems.

They've been attacking good people like Tom Tancredo and Jim Sensenbrenner over their immigration policies, calling them racist and divisive.
The fact is these Dems have proposed much tougher methods of dealing with illegals than what the Republicans have suggested.

Read some of the things that Democrats had to say about immigration and their plans to handle the problem of illegals. It's quite enlightening.Mark Levin points out the stance toward immigration that Barbara Boxer promoted in 1994, with the Boxer National Guard Plan. Yes, the NATIONAL GUARD.

Levin cites an article from the LA Times, August 6, 1994:

(Excerpts)

Ten months after Sen. Barbara Boxer secured federal funds to deploy National Guard troops to hinder illegal immigration, the program has not been implemented anywhere in the country and the Department of Defense has no plans to do so.

Last year, the first-term California senator hailed her so-called "Boxer National Guard Plan" as an innovative solution to the state's illegal immigration problem. Supplementing federal Border Patrol agents with "well-trained, well-equipped" military personnel, Boxer said at the time, "could prove the most cost-effective way to bolster enforcement at the California border."

Soon after Congress passed the legislation, however, the Defense Department ruled that the plan lacked any legal authority and decided not to carry it out. Thus, no state has been allowed to apply for the program and no federal money has been allocated for assigning National Guard units to deter illegal immigration.

At a time when California's politicians are rushing to offer solutions to the problems many voters believe are caused by illegal immigration, this is an account of one major initiative that generated tremendous publicity, yet has accomplished little or nothing. The failure of the Boxer plan reveals the difficulties of finding answers to the vexing problem of unlawful immigration as well as the risks of proposing quick fixes.

"Frankly, (Boxer's office) didn't do their homework in terms of the legal requirements," said one Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "What was accomplished was not what they represented."

...Like many politicians in California, Boxer succeeded in attracting favorable attention for her efforts to crack down on the tide of immigrants who enter the country illegally. The senator's staff pointed to a Times poll last fall that found that 73% of Californians supported using the National Guard to halt illegal border crossings. ...

... The prospect of armed forces in military uniforms assisting in immigration patrols at the nation's borders for the first time in history drew protests from civil rights groups and criticism even from Republican hard-liners on the issue such as Gov. Pete Wilson. He called the plan "not helpful" and a violation of an international treaty that bans armed troops on the border.

So, in 1994, Boxer was pushing for armed forces to keep out illegals. Are we to consider the Boxer National Guard Plan a sensible and "creative solution" to the immigration problem, as opposed to the "uncreative solution" of a wall?

Boxer wasn't the only Dem to want to get tough on illegals.

Mark Levin offers even more of the Dems' inconsistencies.

From United Press International, August 26, 1993:

[Janet] Reno said last week the administration is studying ways to deal with the problem of its sieve-like southern border, and that illegal immigrants made up 26 percent of the federal prison population.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros said earlier this week he does not favor Wilson's constitutional amendment [preventing the children of illegal immigrants from getting citizenship].

But Cisneros said he agrees with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton: Illegal immigrants should not be included in any universal health care mandated by President Clinton's health care reform package.

And Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., also is warning about the danger of too many illegal immigrants. She said the United States can no longer afford to be the "welfare system" for Mexico's poor.

Get that?

Back in 1993, Hillary said that illegals should not be eligible for health care. Her failed health care plan did not include caring for illegals.
That sounds very different from her claim that Sensenbrenner's law "is certainly not in keeping with [her] understanding of the Scriptures. This bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself."

What a difference a decade makes, and dreams of becoming the first woman to be President of the United States!
For her part, Feinstein was complaining that the U.S. was serving as Mexico's welfare system.

Now, she's complaining about the lack of humanity on the part of Republicans.

The flipping and flopping by these self-righteous Dems couldn't be more blatant.

One of the worst offenders has to be MINORITY leader Harry Reid.

Drudge dredges up some haunting words from Reid's past.

August 5, 1993

The Office of Sen. Harry Reid issued the following:

Specific provisions of Reid's Immigration Stabilization Act include the following:

-- Reduces annual legal immigration levels from approximately 800,000 admissions per year to about 300,000. Relatives other than spouse or minor children will be admitted only if already on immigration waiting lists and their admission does not raise annual immigration levels above 300,000.

-- Reforms asylum rules to prevent aliens from entering the United States illegally under phony "asylum" claims.

-- Expands list of felonies considered "aggravated" felonies requiring exclusion and deportation of criminal aliens. Allows courts to order deportation at time of sentencing.

-- Increases penalties for failing to depart or re-entering the United States after a final order of deportation order. Increases maximum penalties for visa fraud from five years to 10 years.

-- Curtails alien smuggling by authorizing interdiction and repatriation of aliens seeking to enter the United States unlawfully by sea. Increases penalties for alien smuggling.

-- Adds "alien smuggling" to the list of crimes subject to sanctions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Expands the categories of property that are forfeited when used to facilitate the smuggling or harboring of illegal aliens.

-- Clarifies that a person born in the United States to an alien mother who is not a lawful resident is not a U.S. citizen. This will eliminate incentive for pregnant alien women to enter the United States illegally, often at risk to mother and child, for the purpose of acquiring citizenship for the child and accompanying federal financial benefits.

-- Mandates that aliens who cannot demonstrably support themselves without public or private assistance are excludable. This will prevent admission of aliens likely to be dependent on public financial support. This requirement extends to the sponsor of any family sponsored immigrant.

-- Increases border security and patrol officers to 9,900 full-time positions.

These are extremely harsh provisions, yet Reid has the nerve to condemn the Republicans for being short on compassion.

Read some of Reid's comments that he made today on the Senate floor, distancing himself and apologizing for ever introducing that legislation.

He referred to it as "a low point of my legislative career, the low point of my governmental career." It was a classic CYA attempt. It failed miserably.

The reality is these Dems -- Boxer, Feinstein, Hillary Clinton, and Reid -- are hypocrites.

They try to rewrite history and count on people having short memories.