The Pence Bill

Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind) has submitted a bill for Immigration Reform and Border Control. It takes a while to read, so I am posting a few brief observations, and will post more when I have digested the thing.

First off, this is going to test the study skills of Congressional staffers. At 280 pages, no politician is going to read it. That means the smart ones will ask their staff what it says, and follow up later with questions about specifics. The dumb ones will ask what they should say, and parrot the party line. As a point of trivia, if every Congressman has five staffers print out this baby, it will eat up 1,230 reams of paper.

With fourteen "titles" in it, this is a freaking omnibus type thing, but at first glance, I found the following sections worth pointing out:

Title XIV - Temporary guest Worker Program - Section 1402 creates a new "nonimmigrant" visa category, Section 1405 restricts eligible benefits, Section 1406 has an English requirement, and Section 1407 notes a fee for this certification. This is a good place to start, because it's likely to be the most controversial.

Title I, Section 101 notes "Achieving operational control on the border".

Section 111 addresses airspace security, which is a key focus to border control.

Section 117 notes "consultation" with businesses and firms, indicating that specific requirements and penalties may still be in planning, although Title VII addresses Employment, particularly Section 702 for the verification process, and Section 706 for penalties.

Title II ratchets up penalties for smuggling, noted in Section 205. Section 219 addresses reducing the immigration backlog, which is important to decreasing demand for illegal crossings by non-violent entrants. Sections 221 and 222 discuss how to bring State and Local law enforcement onto the same page for enforcing the law, and also how to pay for it.

Title IV, Section 410 discusses making sure immigration violators are added to the NCIC database.

Title VI addresses the more dangerous illegals, especially terrorists, criminals, gangs, drunk drivers, and producers of false credentials (Sections 601, 602, 603, 604, 606, 618, and 619)

Title X addresses fencing and walls, with Section 1002 focused on construction improvements, consolidation, and cost.

Title XII enforces an "Oath of renunciation and allegiance". You can cheer for Mexico in the World Cup, but if you are going to be here, you better promise to be an American (Section 1202).

All in all, you might find it interesting how much this looks a lot like what Dubya promised all along, just this one has a lot of detail, and is harder for cynics to heckle.