Questions For The Day

I understand that one thing which has united extremists on both the Left and Right sides of the aisle, is their contempt for President Bush’s attempts to reform Immigration and establish a semblance of Border Security. But as I have mentioned before, Bush’s plan is in many ways similar to one proposed by President Reagan. Something which many Bush-haters refuse to acknowledge, even though it is patently obvious to anyone who bothers to check the facts. The reason for this is obvious; Conservatives revere Reagan and desperately want to avoid acknowledging any similarity by President Bush to their patron saint. Liberals desperately fear the Reagan aura, and desperately want to avoid acknowledging any similarity by President Bush to their most feared adversary.

But it occurs to me to note further, that besides having a similar point of view on this question, both men were better informed than most people on the issue – both Reagan and Bush served as Governors of large border states who have had to face the illegal immigrant issue head-on, without the luxury of passing the buck a la McCain or playing political Rottweiler a la Tancredo. In short, Reagan and Bush were each far more qualified to speak with authority than many of the talking heads in the media or Congress.

My questions for today are these:

1. Who, if anyone, of the major contenders for President has a demonstrable plan for dealing with Illegal Immigration and Border Security?

2. Considering that any bill which could become law will have to pass through Congress, where many a good idea has been perverted beyond recognition, what is the “best” possible bill which could actually become law in the next two years?

3. No bill dealing with Border Security or Immigration Reform can come into being without the President signing it. What approach would you recommend your advocate take in getting President Bush to sign the bill?

4. It can reasonably be said that a lot of the problem is not a need for new laws, nearly so much as it is a need for existing laws to be enforced, and enforced consistently. How would you persuade Congress to support improved enforcement initiatives?