How the Gang of Eight Bill Will Fast Track Illegal Alien Citizenship

 

By Geoff Britain

Cntrary to what we're being told, the Gang of Eight amnesty bill contains some interesting loopholes to allow a great many illegal aliens to be put on a fast track to citizenship if the bill's passed


Byron York explains some of the ways they're going to do it:

A little-noticed exception in the Gang of Eight bill provides a fast track for many — possibly very many — currently illegal immigrants. Under a special provision for immigrants who have labored at least part-time in agriculture, that fast track could mean permanent residency in the U.S., and then citizenship, in half the time Rubio said. And not just for the immigrants themselves — their spouses and children, too.

A second provision in the legislation creates another fast track for illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16 — the so-called Dreamers. The concept suggests youth, but the bill has no age limit for such immigrants — or their spouses and children — and despite claims that they must go to college or serve in the military to be eligible, there is an exception to that requirement as well.

First the agricultural workers. The Gang of Eight bill creates something called a blue card, which would be granted to illegal immigrant farm workers who come forward and pass the various background checks the bill requires for all illegal immigrants. Instead of the 10-year wait Rubio described in media appearances, blue card holders could receive permanent legal status in just five years.

How does an illegal immigrant qualify for a blue card? If, after passing the background checks, he can prove that he has worked in agriculture for at least 575 hours — about 72 eight-hour days — sometime in the two years ending December 31, 2012, he can be granted a blue card. That’s it. His spouse and children can be granted blue cards, too — it can all be done with one application.

A second provision in the legislation creates another fast track for illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16 — the so-called Dreamers. The concept suggests youth, but the bill has no age limit for such immigrants — or their spouses and children — and despite claims that they must go to college or serve in the military to be eligible, there is an exception to that requirement as well.

The immigrant who has done none of the things the Dream Act supposedly requires "may still be fast tracked if he can “demonstrate compelling circumstances for the inability to satisfy the requirement.” The bill does not specify what those compelling circumstances might be; the discretion for such decisions lies with the Secretary of Homeland Security.

There’s more. If an illegal immigrant is apprehended by authorities after the passage of the bill, and appears to qualify for blue card status, the law requires the Department of Homeland Security to give him a “reasonable opportunity” to apply for blue card status. He cannot be deported while his application is under review. Even if he is in removal proceedings, the bill says, the Secretary of Homeland Security is required to allow him to apply for blue card status, and immigration authorities are required to “terminate [removal] proceedings without prejudice.”

The bill’s supporters point out that the Gang of Eight would limit the period of time in which illegal immigrants can apply for a blue card. That’s true; the bill specifies that applications have to be filed in the year after the last of the rules enforcing the new immigration law have gone into effect. But the bill also gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the discretion to extend that period by another year and a half if she or he determines that “additional time is required” for the applications. The extension can also be granted for any other “good cause.”

The next step happens five years after the Gang of Eight bill is enacted. At that time, the legislation requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to change the blue card holder’s status to that of permanent resident if the immigrant has worked in agriculture at least 150 days in each of three of those five years since the bill became law. A work day is defined as 5.75 hours. Also, the immigrant can qualify for permanent residence with less than three years, of 150 work days each, if he can show that he was disabled, ill, or had to deal with the “special needs of a child” during that time period. He can also shorten the requirement if “severe weather conditions” prevented him for working for a long period of time, or if he was fired from his agricultural job — provided it was not for just cause — and then couldn’t find work."

Bottom line? In both cases, agricultural workers and Dreamers, there are major loopholes that are a far cry from what we were told by Senator Rubio when he claimed thta illegal aliens would 'go to the end of the line'for legal residency and citizenship.

The Fate of the Republic

 

by Geoffrey Britain

The RINO Republican Leadership have repeatedly demonstrated that they are at best, appeasers and at worst collaborators. In attempting to protect the financial status quo demanded by their big donors, they are incrementally sacrificing American liberties by cooperating in the PARTIAL abrogation of the Constitution.

To obtain that cooperation from Republicans, the Far Left engages in a three step process; Lie through omission, Revise history to support the Lie, Demonize any opposition. Then rinse and repeat until the issue reaches its 'date of expiration'. That is effective but limited in its long term efficacy. The left's needing to lie, in order to advance its agenda, reveals the intellectual bankruptcy of that which is lied in favor of, which is in fact, a form of evil.

Evil and incompetence are almost always intertwined, as to justify its behavior, evil has to continually rationalize away the truth of the matter. To do so requires habitually lying about that which reality consists... when done long enough, the ability to recognize reality itself is lost. And recognizing reality is the most basic prerequisite for competence.

That is why the Obama administration so often behaves incompetently.

Only utter ignorance or willful denial can support the contention that the Obama administration still feels bound by law. The latest example being the stonewalling of emails from 'second channel' governmental email addresses. Any subpoena for all communications requires that all the secret and hidden files be turned over. However, if a regime is already not obeying the law, then compliance in any area becomes optional. And when such revelation can bring consequences far more negative than the penalties for non-compliance, what incentive is there to comply?

This administration long ago burst outside the bounds of law. The recent revelatory scandals have shown that they wish to control every aspect of our lives and thoughts and have no hesitation about violating the law, the Constitution, or any set of non-situational ethics. All means are justified by the ends sought.

This administration has a hunger for absolute power, possesses an authoritarian collectivist ego, and habitually practices the concealment of reality from the public. A combination fatal to constitutional government. And we are there.

History demonstrates that when those in power routinely resort to extralegal means, it inevitably leads to those viewed as a mortal threat, being 'disappeared'. Though Benghazi may argue otherwise, we are probably not there yet. But with the accumulation of extraordinary statutory powers, DHS troops loyal only to this regime, the massive accumulation of firepower by civilian agencies; all aimed explicitly at the civilian population... how far away can we really be?

The defiance of the White House and its executive branch departments of the IRS and DOJ to normal Constitutional processes is already common. The Obama administration is simply refusing and ignoring questions, subpoenas and legal demands for specific information that is within Congress' lawful purview. The courts are being ignored at will. The unconstitutional and thus illegal recess appointments to the NLRB have been struck down by two Circuit Courts of Appeal and upheld by none. Yet the illegally appointed members are still operating, demonstrating that the lawful Constitutional processes designed to restrain factions within the government from operating outside the law have broken down. Our Constitutional checks and balances are no longer working due to the massive infiltration into the government, mass media and academia of far left ideologues who regard constitutional protections, laws and regulations as inconvenient, meaningless impediments to implementation of the progressive agenda.

And the Obama administration is using its powers to prevent appropriate prosecution of government officials who have engaged in highly unethical and/or illegal actions.

We have not had a constitutional budget for 5 years, and have little prospect of ever having one again. Our electoral system has been corrupted to the point where the voter rolls and vote counts are actively disenfranchising Americans.

The left is actively engaged in adding millions upon millions of immigrants, both legal and illegal who are strongly inclined toward socialism, in order to permanently institute its agenda.

The former Soviet Premier Khrushchev foretold all of this; "We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders into repeatedly and gradually giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have [de facto] Communism.”

None of this is accidental and all of it prima facie evidence that the Far Left is engaged in a planned, seditious campaign attacking both the Constitution and the American people.

There is however, a reason for hope, though slim it may be, for we are not Europe, where bureaucratic regulation and "hate speech" laws are superseding unwritten but previously assumed freedoms. Our written Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land is as much a legal document of what the government cannot do as of what it can, which is why our Constitution is a LEGALLY insurmountable stumbling block to the full implementation of the "Progressive Agenda" that is required for that agenda to last.

“Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.” Abraham Lincoln

Which means that sooner or later, the Far Left is going to have to discard all pretense and, through illegal means, attempt to fully abrogate the Constitution. That is when low-information, "useful idiot" liberals will face an unavoidable choice; awaken to what their political support has really wrought or become through willful denial, fully complicit in tyranny.

Upon that determination hangs the fate of the Republic.