Reagan gave an amnesty in 1986. It did Republicans no good at all with Hispanics. A mere two years later, George H.W. Bush got only 30% of the Hispanic vote. Fact is, Hispanics may be and often are White. We Arabs are by Census definition.

America has been "browned" for more than 100 years. My ARAB ancestors were among the hundreds of thousands of Arabs migrating to the US, Canada, and Latin America. In fact, the richest man in the world is a so-called Mexican, Carlos Slim, who is the son of Lebanese immigrants to Mexico.

Obama's Aunt Zeituni claims she didn't ask for the freebies she got as an illegal alien. As it is we already have illegal aliens filing for the additional child tax credit using ITINs and getting $4.2 BILLION from the US Treasury. If that's any indication of what all or even many illegal aliens who aren't currently filing would get if legalized, well, we're sunk.

Great quote!

While it is true that Hispanic immigrants new to the U.S. are, on average, substantially poorer than the native-born population, they do not remain so. -----------------Actually, they do. The entire increase in poverty between 1996 and 2006 was due entirely to the addition of 3 million Hispanics to the poverty rolls. Furthermore, Hispanics have the lowest household incomes of any ethnic/racial group. And nowadays, the number of Hispanic kids living in poverty exceeds in ABSOLUTE terms and in terms of rate the number of White kids who do. Furthermore, Linda, just what basis do you have for your assertions? You tank the Heritage Foundation's work, but offer nothing substantive to back up your own claims.

Schumer, Durbin, and McCain were all peddlers of the 1986 amnesty bill and told us it would be the ONLY AMNESTY because our laws would be enforced. Now, they're Ba-a-a-ck, peddling a re-run of that amnesty bill, with AMNESTY again the FIRST order of business and a promise of enforcement to come after. Same old, same old.

The two are INTERTWINED, but he doesn't talk about that. How does adding millions and millions more people, legalized illegal aliens and more immigrants/"guest workers" who will drive down wages, reduce tax revenues, and increase use of welfare and social services help our debt?

The government doesn't even need to deport most of them. Simply dry up the jobs magnet by making eVerify mandatory and enforcing the laws we have against both employers and workers.

So, this "half a loaf" means that ALL illegal aliens (and their relatives who have already been deported) get amnesty, i.e. work permits, SS numbers, access to Obamacare and travel documents, within 6 months of this bill being signed, AND WE GET NO ENFORCEMENT AT ALL for the next 10 years?! Sounds to me like the 1986 amnesty all over again--we give the amnesty and get a promise (in this case called a "plan") of enforcement that never gets carried out. And of course, enforcement is something that we can't be sure of anyway, since this administration is ALREADY ignoring federal law and giving work permits to 1.7 million illegal alien "children".

There's a misleading focus on "border" as meaning the southern border. US VISIT is supposed to track entries and exits of visa holders to track illegal aliens such as the 9/11 terrorist who were visa overstays. After 17 years and a billion dollars, it still doesn't work. Everify works, but wouldn't be made MANDATORY for FIVE YEARS under this bill. And of course, the fence required by the Secure Fence Act of 2006 hasn't and won't be built. Instead, this administration has a "virtual fence" of cameras, cameras which, by the way show that the Border Patrol is catching LESS THAN HALF of those who are crossing our southern border illegally.