That's John O'Sullivan's best "MoveOn.org" impersonation regarding the "comprehensive immigration reform" currently winding its way through the Senate.  Sullivan, a senior editor at National Review, summarizes the various amendments that have been considered by the Senate so far, and the picture isn't pretty.

Under the Senate legislation, criminals would be eligible for amnesty and citizenship, as would illegals who have lived in the United States for only a short time (which contradicts the equitable argument in favor of "normalizing" people who have lived much of their lives here); "guest workers," who supposedly are intended to fill "temporary" labor needs and then return to their home countries, would be eligible for "green cards" (i.e., permanent resident status); and former illegals would be eligible for social security benefits based on the period of their illegal employment (when they were using fraudulent or stolen social security numbers).

The result of this legislation will be 66 million new immigrants, mostly from Latin America, over the next 20 years.  Concerned about the growing bilingualization of our country, Senator James Inhofe (R—OK) proposed an amendment making English the "official language" of the United States.  Although this amendment passed, Sullivan points out that it later was replaced by Senator Ken Salazar's (D—CO) amendment that English is America's "common language" —— a nice sounding platitude that will have no legal effect whatsoever.  (Arguably, only a constitutional amendment would suffice to establish English as the nation's official langaue, and reverse decades of laws and court rulings requiring the provision of public and private services in a multitude of languages.)

Sullivan calls on House and Senate Republicans not to follow President Bush ("a lame lemming") over the cliff of "comprehensive immigration reform" as it is being proposed by the Senate Democrats and RINOs.  He urges them to filibuster or use various parliamentary procedures to halt the legislation.  But if they give in, Sullivan rightly argues, they will share the political blame, and suffer at the polls "for a bill drawn up by Teddy Kennedy."

Steven M. Warshawsky    5 24 06