Immigration Reform Bill: Give us your rich, educated and white

Without a doubt, the immigration reform bill being debated in the senate right now is the ugliest, most racist piece of legislation that has passed since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Introduced by one Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. from Wisconsin, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 has already passed the House with an over 90% republican support. Even though, Bush himself opposes such sweeping, irrational legislation, it speaks volumes about his lack of leadership and inability to gain any bipartisan support except for the most mundane and ultimately inconsequential bills (read Dubai port scandal).

Over 500,000 activists rallied in California over the weekend, protesting a bill that if passed, would do several completely horrible things. Among other things, it’s a bill that effectively turns illegal immigration into an aggravated felony that carries with it mandatory prison time. It criminalizes employers with the same sentencing imposed on smugglers. And furthermore, it supports building a wall (a bigger wall—one already exists) on the US-Mexico border (utterly ignoring that all the 9/11 terrorists crossed over from Canada). It hysterically claims that being a rapist or murderer is akin to being a poor, low-wage, illegal immigrant.

One of the biggest, most glaring problems with immigration reform is its unnatural coupling with anti-terrorism enforcement. We see this with the bureaucratic nightmare of conflating the Immigration Naturalization Services (INS) and the Department of Homeland Security. I know I am being naïve, and that the reality is that too many Americans see combating terrorism as an immigration problem. After all, terrorists are immigrants, and the threat comes from the outside. Of course, it also blithely ignores the fact that the overwhelmingly vast majority of immigrants (both legal and illegal) do not commit crimes.

The fact is that fighting terrorism and implementing immigration reform, while related, are enormously different issues. And they require completely different policies for meaningful, comprehensive change. They are joined in our culture and particularly politics, by some of the flimsiest, most reactionary and thoughtless arguments ever used. And yet, especially after 9/11, it becomes harder and harder to see the difference, that was so easy to do 10 years ago.

Also, I hate Bill Frist. More everyday. Unlike Bush, he never makes me laugh and is a joyless troll-man.

The bill is going through the congressional strainer right now, with new provisions, and amendments added seemingly every day.

Check out this very cool site for more information: Gov Track