04/05/2013
As the approaching Amnesty/ Immigration Surge beast bears down on America, Senator Jeff Sessions is stepping up his game. While many in the GOP seem to be fearfully hunkering down and parsing their words (lest the Open Borders media notice a tiny misstep), the Alabama Senator has been a one-man watchdog.
Consider his recent actions:
No single major promise has been kept, whether it’s the fence, whether it’s the US-Visit program, whether it’s the overall promise of enforcement in 1986, none of those promises have been kept.
“As you will hear today, this Administration has engaged in a sustained, relentless effort to undermine America’s immigration laws. They have handcuffed and muffled those charged with protecting the public safety and the integrity of our borders. Such action has not only weakened our security but our democracy.” (Watch)
An April 3 phone call from Sessions to Fox News contained an interesting new number: eight million workers could be amnestied. We hear the total number of 11 million illegal aliens (actually it could be as high as 20 million). But this eight million would be taking American jobs.
Not only is Senator Sessions a fearless defender of American sovereignty, he is serves as the Ranking Member on the Senate Budget Committee and is a powerful voice for fiscal sanity.
As a budget hawk, he has warned the nation of the terrible potential cost of Amnesty — specifically trillions of dollars added to the national debt. He was citing the 2007 research of Heritage scholar Robert Rector which showed a $2.6 trillion pricetag at that time. (Rector is currently reworking his numbers for an update of the cost for a more expansive 2013 amnesty.)
Senator Sessions has also had his eye on smaller budget issues that nevertheless add up — one being immigrants’ use of benefits designed for needy citizens. Legal newbies are supposed to be economically self-sufficient (a.k.a. not be a “public charge”) and stay off the welfare rolls. Accordingly, last November the Senator took issue with the DHS’ website with welcoming materials advising how new residents could mooch free stuff.
Sessions also demanded more information from the USDA about non-citizens using the growing food stamp program. The Obama Administration has been remarkably fiendish with its program to “partner” with Mexico in order to “increase participation” in the use of food stamps by Mexican nationals residing in this country.
Another important strength of Sessions’ leadership: his history of knowledge about proposed amnesties. His office has analyzed the bills and reported their loopholes tucked into the fine print. Every Amnesty bill in recent memory has been an appalling demonstration of bad faith on the part of the Open-Borders cabal, creating Christmas trees of benefits for lawbreakers, including the most undesirable foreigners imaginable.
Criminal gang member? Serial drunk driver? Jihad sympathizer? No problema.
Take the proposed 2011 mini-amnesty based on the DREAM Act. First, the innocent “toddlers” supposedly brought to America by parents actually included persons up to age 35, so the whole DREAMy premise of excusing blameless children was a lie. Second, none of the “requirements” like educational attainment or military service had any meaningful verification process. Undesirables like gangsters, illegal alien absconders, drunk drivers and terrorists would have been eligible for the big trough of the DREAM Act amnesty.
The 2007 Amnesty bill was an even more horrific example of why every piece of immigration legislation requires lengthy examination — not to be rushed through as is planned now by Senator Leahy.
In 2007, Sessions published a list of twenty egregious loopholes in the bill which included no verification of background required; violent felons (child molesters!) eligible; and gang members and terror-connected persons permitted. See the complete list — all items disgraceful attacks on law and sovereignty.
Americans are grateful for Senator Sessions' sustained defense of the nation. But he shouldn’t be pulling the load alone. Where are the other leaders for the preservation of America?
Where are the other members of the Senate who oppose rewards for law-breaking foreigners? Is the erasure of American sovereignty less important than the attacks on the Second Amendment?
Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, James Inhofe and Marco Rubio have pledged to filibuster a gun control bill, yet no similar group has yet emerged to filibuster the death-to-America Amnesty/ Immigration Surge.
Even the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has been disturbingly squishy. Where are the Tea Party conservatives who are supposed to care about sovereignty and reining in excessive spending? Why the silence?
Many may think that Amnesty is a bad idea whose time has come. But the failure of pro-amnesty candidate John McCain among Hispanic voters in 2008 should have proved decisively that amnesty is not the magic key to that voting bloc. Hispanic fondness for Big Government is far more central to their preference for Democrats and requires a more complex strategy.
Governors also need to pipe up, like Arizona’s Jan Brewer has done. States will have to absorb some of Amnesty’s enormous costs.
The 1986 Reagan Amnesty was arguably the worst public policy failure in the last century. It was sold as a permanent solution to immigration anarchy, but instead made the problem far worse by rewarding unlawful behavior.
Now Americans are urged to support a massively increased replay.
Senator Jeff Sessions has stood against the tide of insanity, even when immigration and border security are not in the news. He needs more help. Who will join him?
Sessions for President? VDARE.com Patrick Cleburne has already speculated about it (here and here).
But more surprisingly, neocon foreign policy pundit Michael Ledeen recently wrote:
We found a leader, but hardly anybody noticed. Never mind Rubio and Ryan, or people named Bush. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is the best we’ve got, and he’s plenty good. In fact, his words on the Senate floor when he implored his colleagues to reject the nomination of Jack Lew for Treasury secretary are as good as it gets. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything as elegant, compelling, honorable, and philosophically coherent as Sessions’ speech on the 27th of February.…we’ll hear a lot more from him. He’s got the right words and the right music. He speaks sadly, not in a phony rage. He’s the real deal. Ask those who go to Bethesda Naval Hospital, and they’ll tell you that Jeff Sessions has regularly gone into the wards where our wounded warriors are being treated. Which is further evidence of his understanding of the proper mission of an American leader.
You don’t get razzle-dazzle, and he talks slowly. But listen to him. He’s the best we’ve got.
Jeff Sessions for President, March 4, 2013
Brenda Walker lives in northern California and blogs about immigration and culture in LimitsToGrowth.org.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.