December 06, 2007
[UPDATES below]
Mike Huckabee has released his immigration plan (
link). It has as few details but isn't as strong as
Mitt Romney's immigration plan. It's also not as detailed nor as strong as
Fred Thompson's immigration plan. Last things first, the end of the plan says the following:
This plan is partially modeled on a proposal by Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. ("Re: Immigration: Ten Points for a Successful Presidential Candidate," National Review, May 23, 2005.)
Reading
that first might be a good way to start; this shout out might have been a mistake on The Huckster's part if Krikorian has issues with the scheme.
Like others, Huck wants to build the fence (by 2010) and increase the numbers of Border Patrol agents. Like Rudy, he also wants a virtual fence. Then, things get complicated:
3. Prevent Amnesty
Policies that promote or tolerate amnesty will be rejected.
Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and leave the country. Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit; those who do not return home will be, when caught, barred from future reentry for a period of 10 years.
First, the INS hasn't existed for over four years. So, I'm going to guess that whoever drew this up didn't really know what they're talking about. Second, I can just see how this plan would play among the current supporters of illegal immigration, from the New York Times to far-left racial power groups. In fact, I can practically hear the chants of "ethnic cleansing!" and see the images of boxcars right now.
And, I wonder whether those who do go home will then, in a similar fashion to the
Mike Pence or
Flake-Gutierrez plans ("touchback"), be able to immediately re-enter with a changed immigration status, i.e., amnesty. While there are many good questions this plan engenders, asking about that would be a good first question. And, someone more familiar with the specifics can discuss how under current law illegal aliens can likewise be barred from future reentry for 10 years.
And, I can imagine that millions of illegal aliens would not return home. What exactly does Huck plan to do in that case?
Then:
Employment is the chief draw for most illegal immigrants and denying them jobs is the centerpiece of an attrition strategy.
OK, except what's outlined above isn't an "attrition strategy". It's a "mass exodus which will inflame the left and cause endless lawsuits by the ACLU et al" strategy.
Then, something that might turn into a national ID card, although no details are provided:
Institute a universal, mandatory citizenship verification system as part of the normal hiring process.
This section has an asterix which references the recent
no-match suit brought to us by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU:
Prevent the IRS and the Social Security Administration from accepting fraudulent Social Security numbers or numbers that don't match the employees' names.
After supporting the Fair Tax and the Clear Act, Huckabee gets ironic:
Reject Mexico's "matricula consular" card, which functions as an illegal-immigrant identification card.
In fact,
Huckabee enabled Mexico to pass out thousands of those so far this year due to him pushing for a consulate to be built in Arkansas.
On the bright side, he says he wants to discourage dual citizenship; that may be similar to current attempts to discourage that.
And, he also says he wants to support legal immigration, end the visa lottery, cut back on chain migration (adult brothers and sisters), and increase high-skilled immigration.
Some of it sounds good, but the mass exodus part is doomed to fail and would probably end up being amnesty. And, of course, there's Huckabee's horrendous record to consider.
So, thanks, but no thanks.
UPDATE: Via
this we learn the Mark Krikorian
likes the plan. Unfortunately, I have to disagree. While parts of it are certainly good, I have little doubt that it won't be long before the usual suspects start weighing in on the mass exodus plan which, even if those here illegally wanted to take part in would be a logistical nightmare. Choosing a round figure of 12,000,000 illegal aliens over 120 days is
100,000 people per day (or more than
10,000 per working hour, since they'd have to register). And, somewhat less than half of those would be from countries other than Mexico. And, once again,
there's everything Huckabee has said and done on this issue which would result in him providing a lot of leeway in his plan.
UPDATE 2: It took a while, but the left is starting their chants. New Democrat Network (Simon Rosenberg) says (ndnblog.org/?q=node/1584):
No matter how you feel about the morality of the plan, or its practicality, it is amazing that the man who may win the GOP nomination is calling for the forced expulsion of 5 percent of the current American workforce. The economic and societal chaos these kinds of plans would create is almost unimaginable.
"Booman" links to that (boomantribune.com/story/2007/12/8/112236/031) and goes even nutrootier, saying that Huck is vying (with Joe Biden's Iraq partition plan) for the "Adolf Eichmann Mass Relocation Award".
Posted to Immigration2007b at December 6, 2007 08:45 AM
