Is anything REALLY going to happen in Congress on immigration?

[Jersey Devil]

So far the Senate's bill with its guest worker provisions passed in committee 12-6 with only 4 of 10 Republican votes and the aye votes of all 8 Democratic members of the committee.

There's going to be some kind of procedural vote on it today to find out if it has enough support to pass the full Senate.

Highlights of the competing bills - http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/27/immigration.glance.ap/

My guess - The Republicans in the Senate won't have the balls to pass any 'guest worker' provisions with midterm elections coming up and the fear that they will further alienate their wingnut "base" with hooples like Tancredo wanting to build 700 mile fences and making Mexicans who come over the border illegally to mow somebody's lawn in San Antonio felons.

Oh, OK, maybe it might pass the Senate if a few Repubs grow a pair and the Democrats vote with them (putting them in alignment with Bush, ain't that something?), but it won't pass the House in a gazillion years with Tancredo whipping wingnuts into a frenzy.

So, imo, the most that's gonna come out of all this is promises to guard the border better, which of course, is a heap of bullshit unless they're going to build something like 4,000 miles of electrified fences along all our borders, and then they'd come in anyway by boat.

So wingnuts are going to be pissed off that the Republicans didn't give them the draconian laws they wanted and something like 25 million Latinos in the US, legal and illegal, are going to be pissed off because the Republicans tried to pass draconian laws and if I was the Democrats I'd just sit back, be quiet and let the Republicans hang themselves.

Personally I think guarding our borders is very important from a security point of view but it is a totally different issue than immigration and the two really should not be confused as they are now.

[Minnesota Libra]

1. Just another amnesty bill - that'll just fix everything right up nt

[bowens43]

2. What's wrong with amnesty?

What exactly needs 'fixed up'?

[Minnesota Libra]

7. I thought we already dealt with this................

.....yesterday - all day long.:eyes:

Amnesty for illegal aliens just gives the open door approach to more and more of them. Illegal aliens - from any country - are already straining our educational system, health care, housing, on and on.

The illegal alien issue is just about the only issue I part company with Democrats over.:hug: That means I'm probably not going to change your mind and you definitely won't change my mind because I'm with Lou Dobbs on this one.:pals: Why? I lived it, I saw and experienced up close and personal what illegal aliens do first to a neighborhood and then to a whole city. Like I said I'm with Lou Dobbs on this.:grr:

Now, I've got better things to do than rehash the same old same old especially when NEITHER PARTY :argh: has some REAL ANSWERS or have too wide a yellow streak up their backs to offer up real answers.:rant:

[Cobalt Violet]

3. The pro- worker slavery advocates will probablly win.

They always do.

[Jersey Devil]

4. Yes, they always seem to, don't they?

I think you have to talk about the purposeful destruction of organized labor in this country whenever you talk about the exploitation of immigrants because they go hand in hand. With a strong labor force this kind of thing could never happen.

[KharmaTrain]

5. This Is Dead In The House

As you mention, Tancredo and the Taliban in the House see this as their keys to the kingdom. They're not going to support any guest worker or amnesty provision and will keep this as a political football for the fall elections rather than to cave into this regime and it's big money ranchers, meat packers and others who profit from the "illegal" labor. This regime can play out the clock here as once the elections are over, booosh can just wave an Executive order to put a guest worker program in place and Tancredo can pound sand. But by then it won't matter as the issue will have been milked at the polls. Democrats have to be careful not to fall into the Rovian traps this issue is turning into.

Democrats should use this opportunity to reach out to the hispanic communities across the country...groups that have long been kept in the background of American politics and see this issue as another form of systemic racism by the white majority of this country...notably the rich Repugnicans.

Yes, immigration and security are two very different issues...and neither is really being addressed here. Earlier I was hearing someone on C-SPAN bitching about all the Mexican flags and somehow Mexico was trying to invade this country. Now what would this person say if he drove along the Northwest side of Chicago where there are lots of Polish flags always on display...there are many illegals in that community, but we're not fearing an invasion from Warsaw.

This issue again just highlights the racist and insular nature of the Repugnican party. They look at the negatives...the hatred and fear as their only tickets to power and Hispanics make an easy target.

[acmejack]

6. They have been saving this issue for the election

And here it is all shiny and ready to go. I am sure they had a "hand" in helping the huge demonstrations we have seen get off the ground and gain the publicity they received too. We can get hundreds of thousands of antiwar demonstrators and not even get a mention on the news, but these folks get wall to wall coverage. Call me suspicious, but...

This thing is being spun just like any other republiCON issue and the faithful oopsition will eagerly run into the trap yet again. It must not really be much of a challenge beating the crap out of the Democratic Party year after year. The proverbial battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.