By Paul Nachman
11/22/2009
As recently as May, 2007, VDARE’s Brenda Walker lumped Georgia’s then-and-now U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson (both Republicans) in a fivesome of "lying weasels" for helping cobble together the first of the two mass-amnesty-and-immigration-acceleration bills that real Americans managed to snuff that spring. (The photo at the bottom of Brenda’s blog entry shows Georgia’s dynamic duo grinning witlessly behind the late, unlamented Edward ["jowly, gray-haired fat man"] Kennedy.) However, in the end, Georgia’s immigration patriots apparently explained things noisily and clearly enough to Chambliss and Isakson that both ultimately voted to defeat the two monstrosities.But time passes, and most senators seem to be slogan-driven dim bulbs. (Larry Auster writes, in the context of the current health-care-reform fantasies, "Sometimes it seems you need a 150 IQ to understand Senate procedures, which is pretty funny, since the average IQ of the senators seems to be about 105.") So where, amid their mental meanderings, are Chambliss and Isakson today?
Actually, they seem to be in a good place! Perhaps their May/June 2007 pummeling made a lasting impression, which would be a cheering example for tired immigration-sanity activists nationwide. Consider:
Georgia’s U.S. senators are publicly criticizing recent comments made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that legalizing millions of illegal immigrants would benefit the country’s struggling economy.That’s a two-fer, publicly lambasting Napolitano for peddling amnesty and for gutting enforcement! Even better, they apparently copied some of their senatorial colleagues on the message.Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, both Republicans, sent a letter Friday to Napolitano and a number of other senators, expressing their disappointment at comments Napolitano made at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank.
Napolitano said that along with shoring up the United States’ borders with Mexico, lawmakers will have to overhaul immigration laws to create a "tough pathway" to citizenship for immigrants who are already living in the country illegally. … The "tough pathway" to earning legal status would require illegal immigrants to meet several tests, such as registering, paying a fine, passing a criminal background check, paying all taxes and learning English.
[snip]
But the idea of turning illegal immigrants into "full-paying taxpayers" didn’t sit well with senators like Isakson and Chambliss, who said that immigration reform is code for blanket amnesty, and that the strides in enforcement that Napolitano cited were overstated.
"With all due respect, legalizing those who have no legal right to be in the United States will not be a “boon’ to American workers," the letter they sent to Napolitano said. "Rather, it would only exacerbate the unfair competition American workers currently face as they struggle to find jobs."
[snip]
The letter the senators sent Friday [November 20, 2009] "strongly" encouraged Napolitano to "cease any discussion about enacting a legalization program that will only hurt U.S. workers and make it harder for law-abiding citizens to weather this economic downturn."
The senators also questioned Napolitano’s sincerity about her commitment to enforce immigration laws and secure the country’s border with Mexico.
They said the Obama administration has weakened rules requiring contractors of the federal government to verify workers’ citizenship and has reduced the effectiveness of the 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants "in many communities." (US senators decry illegal immigrants' citizenship “pathway’, by Ashley Fielding, The Gainesville [GA] Times, November 21, 2009)
Presumably, we have patriotic Georgians to thank for keeping Chambliss and Isakson facing in the right direction. If you know someone in Georgia, urge them to keep up the pressure.
Addendum: According to this press release from Isakson’s office, ten senators in addition to the two Georgians signed the letter to Napolitano. The letter’s full text is in the press release. It’s "comprehensive" [!] in a good way — and worth reading.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.