The Democrats’ latest comprehensive immigration reform bill was finally introduced today in the House and Senate. (Here’s the Senate version, sponsored by Menendez and 20 of his Democratic colleagues; Linda Sanchez is the House sponsor.) The measure, outlined by President Biden on his first day in office, is a parody that almost makes the Gang of Eight legislation pushed by Obama look moderate.
As I noted a few weeks ago, the Biden bill is a radical departure from previous immigration measures, which at least pretended to care about enforcement of the immigration law after everyone here was amnestied. The three main thrusts of the 353-page legislation are amnesty for everyone here as of the first of the year, reductions in immigration enforcement, and a doubling of legal immigration. (It also provides taxpayer-funded lawyers for illegal immigrants and a gusher of grant money for anti-borders-activist groups, but then you probably could have guessed that.)
Everyone seems to acknowledge that the bill is dead on arrival. With the “Biden Effect” at the border — increased apprehensions (and releases) as migrants take their cues from the new laxity at the border — some Democrats are starting to get scared; South Texas Democratic congressman Vicente Gonzalez told Politico, “The way we’re doing it right now is catastrophic and is a recipe for disaster in the middle of a pandemic. . . . Biden is going to be dealing with a minority in Congress if he continues down some of these paths.”
This is where Plan B comes in. The online subhead of the New York Times story sums it up: “After two decades of failure, advocates for the broadest possible overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws are considering a new strategy: pressing for piecemeal legislation.” . . .
[Read the rest at National Review.]