According to the Washington Post, during debate on amendments to the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill:
Democrats on the committee, along with two Republican allies who participated in developing the legislation, countered that the federal government has invested record amounts of money and manpower on border enforcement, helping to reduce the amount of people trying to cross illegally.Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) noted the government spent $18 billion on border security in 2011.Related Topics:
"That's more than we spend on all other federal law enforcement combined," he said.
Although the "$18 billion figure" has been debunked, this is, nonetheless, typical inside the beltway "gorilla dust", where politicians throw tons of money in the air and then declare a problem solved even though little or nothing has fundamentally changed.
Unless the Gang of Eight establishes results-oriented triggers, such as a 95 percent apprehension rate for all unauthorized border crossings, a 95 percent drug smuggling interdiction rate, a visa overstay rate of less than 5 percent, 98 percent of students in compliance with their visas, and 99 percent of all employers using E-Verify before any provisional legal status is granted to illegal aliens, they and their accomplices are just throwing up gorilla dust.
The current so-called triggers in the Schumer-Rubio bill are similar to declaring success by closing the valve on a gushing water main just enough to stop half of the water flowing out while allowing thousands of gallons an hour to continue to flow into the basements of surrounding homes and declaring the problem solved.
"We addressed the problem", officials tell hapless homeowners. "Our efforts have cut the water flow in half, so what are you complaining about?"
"We couldn't care less about token efforts", respond homeowners. "We want real results. We want the water flow completely stopped. We want dry basements."
"Well, if you're going to be inflexible and refuse to compromise, there is nothing more we can do for you", respond the officials. "Either take what we have given you or we will open the valve back up and wash your homes away."
As ridiculous as it may sound, this is exactly the position that Senator Schumer takes — either accept a solution that cuts the flow of illegal aliens in half or else. According to the Washington Post:
Sen. Charles Schumer, a member of the bipartisan group, called the bill a fair one that represented compromises on all sides. "Don't make an effort to kill a bill that is the best hope for immigration reform we've had…"
Thus, the Schumer-Rubio gang is counting on Americans confusing their inputs with real results and they anticipate that they will be praised for promising to throw billions of dollars at a problem they have no intention of really solving.
Unless the borders are actually secured, a tracking system for visa overstays is fully operational, and an employment verification system is being used by all American employers before any illegal aliens are granted provisional legal status, we will soon be back to where we were before immigration reform was passed and in another 25 years or so we will be looking at another amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
The more things change the more they stay the same.