Object Lesson: "Temporary" Amnesty Never Dies

Michelle Malkin

Does America lack "compassion" and "humanity" for uninvited foreigners? Quite the contrary. While open-borders activists rail against "injustice" and demand new "pathways to citizenship," official U.S. policy rewards countless line-jumpers with permanent residency and taxpayer-subsidized benefits.
Case in point: the massive "Temporary Protected Status" (TPS) program run by the Department of Homeland Security.

In theory, as the DHS website describes it, the Secretary of Homeland Security "may designate a foreign country for TPS due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country's nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately." Those conditions include hurricanes, environmental catastrophes, civil war, epidemics and other "extraordinary and temporary conditions."

The U.S. allows illegal aliens from TPS-designated countries to live here, work here, be protected from detention or deportation, and travel freely. It's essentially a bad-weather pass into the U.S. Whenever a natural disaster strikes, we allow legions of foreigners who entered illegally -- mostly from Latin America -- to stay here while their homelands recover.

In the meantime, TPS winners can apply for a panoply of other immigration benefits and protections and file for "adjustment of status" to pave the way to permanent legalization. In fact, the official draft application for Obamacare lists "Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Applicant for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)" as an "eligible immigration status."

Yep, that means you don't even have to be a legit, approved TPS designee to qualify for Obamacare. If you merely filed paperwork to be an "applicant" for TPS, you're in like Flynn! DHS documents are now officially pimping Obamacare to foreigners. And GOP Senate Budget Committee staffers estimate that covering illegal aliens could raise the cost of Obamacare by $120 billion to $200 billion in its first decade.

In theory, TPS beneficiaries are supposed to go home after their native countries improve. In practice, there is nothing temporary about these "temporary" reprieves for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from around the world.

Last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that TPS had been extended for at least 70,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans "for an additional 18 months, beginning July 6, 2013, and ending Jan. 5, 2015." Thanks to American generosity, these TPS winners have been here since 1998 -- when Hurricane Mitch hit their homeland.

That was 15 years ago.

Another 250,000 illegal aliens from El Salvador first won TPS golden tickets after an earthquake struck the country ... in January 2001. In addition, 60,000 Haitians received TPS after the earthquakes in 2010. Last fall, Napolitano extended their stay until at least 2014. Several hundred Somalis remain in the country with TPS first granted in 1991, along with some 700 Sudanese who first secured TPS benefits in 1997. Last March, the Obama administration extended TPS to an estimated 3,000 Syrian illegal aliens. Guatemala and Pakistan are lobbying for their own TPS designations.

As I explained when former President George W. Bush reflexively renewed work and residence permits for a quarter-million El Salvadoran illegal aliens in 2005, TPS designations are TINO: temporary in name only. Beneficiaries are supposed to register with the government. But DHS will do little to nothing to track them down once their status expires (if ever). Remember: After more than two decades, the federal government still doesn't even have an entry-exit database in place to track legal short-term visa holders.

TPS beneficiaries are supposed to provide proof that they arrived here on an eligible date, committed no more than two misdemeanors (!) and no felonies, and maintained a continuous presence in the country. But the feds' past experience with amnesties dating back to 1986 shows that the programs are dangerously rife with unchecked document fraud.

The prescient Federation for American Immigration Reform saw right through this transparent social and electoral engineering scheme. In congressional testimony from 1999, the organization warned:

"For the past 20 years, we have seen these programs transformed into backdoor immigration programs that are manipulated by the lobbying of foreign governments, ethnic lobbies and our own political leadership alike. Each special program that provides short-term relief has been followed by persistent demands for similar treatment by other groups and nationalities, not necessarily made up of persons in the same circumstances. It has now been politicized beyond recognition, and certainly no longer deserves the support of the general public."

"Temporary" amnesties never die. They just keep rolling and rolling along, producing new waves of cheap votes for Democrats and cheap labor for Big Business. American sovereignty, RIP.

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Rubio says bipartisan deal on immigration overhaul needs tough enforcement, strict penalties

A bipartisan deal on immigration legislation would need tough enforcement and even stricter penalties for those who came to the United States illegally, a leading Republican at the center of negotiations said Sunday.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who’s among the eight senators writing a plan that’s expected to come out Tuesday, tried to promote and defend the framework for the emerging overhaul that would provide a path toward citizenship for those who came to the country illegally or overstayed their visit.

While the deal does include a long and difficult process for the 11 million individuals in question, Rubio insisted the proposal does not include an “amnesty” provision that fellow conservatives have called a deal-breaker.

“We’re not awarding anybody anything. All we’re doing is giving people the opportunity to eventually earn access to our new, improved and modernized legal immigration system,” said Rubio, a Florida Republican and Cuban-American.

But among some of his fellow Republicans, there are serious doubts.

“I’m not convinced,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. “I know Sen. Rubio’s heart is exactly right. And I really respect the work of the ‘Gang of Eight.’ But they have produced legislation ... that will give amnesty now, legalize everyone that’s here effectively today and then there’s a promise of enforcement in the future.”

Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, added: “The pathway to citizenship, right now, before those other elements are in place, is the deal-breaker for me.”

He said he could consider supporting the proposals only if the first priority were border security.

Rubio said he would abandon the overhaul effort if enforcement, border security and other elements are softened to his dissatisfaction.

With an eye on a possible White House run in 2016, Rubio has been careful not to appear weak on border security or create political problems among the conservatives who have great sway in picking the GOP’s nominee.

Rubio also told those immigrants that it would perhaps be easier if they returned to their home countries and started the process from scratch rather than use the process Rubio is proposing.

“So I would argue that the existing law is actually more lenient, that going back and waiting 10 years is going to be cheaper and faster that going through this process that we are outlining,” he said.

Other lawmakers helping to write the legislation acknowledged the political challenges of the issue.

“A lot of my conservative colleagues have significant questions and they’re legitimate,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “This is the start of a process, this is a vehicle that requires hearings, requires input and we welcome all of that. ... I am guardedly optimistic that we will see finally the end of this long, long trek that a lot of us have been on for many years.”

The measure would put millions who are in the U.S. illegally on a 13-year path to citizenship, while toughening border security requirements, mandating that all employers check the legal status of workers, and allowing tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers into the country with new visa programs.

The legislation is expected to include a new emphasis on merit-based immigration over family ties.

“This is a very balanced bill. The American people have told us to do two things: one, prevent future flows of illegal immigration; and then, come up with a common-sense solution for legal immigration. And that’s what our bill does,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

All of this, however, is contingent on the border security and enforcement, Rubio said.

“If you are undocumented here now, if you are illegally in the U.S., that you can’t even apply for this until these plans are in place and they begin to implement them,” Rubio said. “And then you’re going to have to pay a fine. You’re going to have to pay an application fee. You’re going to have to pass a background check.”

Without those pieces, the path to citizenship is unavailable, and the proposal is available only for those who arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011. Anyone who came after that date would be subject to deportation.

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