Adding To The Golden Hoard!

Once upon a time 'The Derb' at NRO compiled a most useful list.

To wit...

"legalization" ——- amnesty

"guest worker plan" ——- amnesty

"temporary worker plan" ——- amnesty

"path to citizenship" ——- amnesty

"out of the shadows" ——- amnesty

"comprehensive reform" ——- amnesty

Today we have the pleasure of adding to this list a new term making the rounds in Washington. Mark Krikorian reports...

Congress Daily reports today that "A core group of senators that has been meeting almost daily for the last several weeks is close to announcing the outlines of a comprehensive immigration bill that could be the basis for Senate debate in late May." A part of the possible deal would be "a 'trigger' mechanism that would delay implementation of a guestworker program until enforcement mechanisms are in place." There's been talk of this phony "trigger" idea for a while now, but until I spoke with some congressional staffers last night I didn't realize how phony it really is. The idea is that there would be certain enforcement benchmarks that would have to be met before a guestworker/amnesty program kicked in. It sounds plausible enough, but it isn't.

The first problem is one that Mickey Kaus has written about — that having a promise of amnesty in a bill, regardless of conditions, just serves as a magnet for illegals to enter (or stay) and keep their heads down until the amnesty kicks in. But even worse is what the staffers explained to me: any deal including a trigger would actually give illegal aliens legal status (amnesty) immediately, while enforcement efforts were improved — so all that would be "triggered" is the illegals' opportunity to get a green card, not their ability to keep living and working here under some other status, which would continue indefinitely if the trigger conditions were not met.

So, if you will allow me to work the tote board?

Trigger = Amnesty!

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