Hugh Hewitt has just posted an interesting initial read of the new immigration bill. He notes that 90%+ of the illegals in the country will be able to get a Z visa due to the exceptions allowed to the triggers (he describes them after reading portions of section 601).
When you find Section 601(h), you may be surprised to read that the exception to the triggers appears to be enormously large: …
Section 601(h)(2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) lay out additional provisions concerning this huge –indeed almost certainly 90% plus?– portion of the illegals currently in the country that are not subject to the “triggers,” and even notes in subparagraph (5) that if an illegal is arrested or detained prior to filing hisor her application for Z permit status, “the Secretary shall provide the alien with a reasonable opportunity to file an application under this section after such regulations are promulgated.” Unless the computer spits out a no within 2 days of submitting the application, the illegal gets probationary Z status –before even one more mile of fence is built or a workplace verification system is constructed.
Perhaps I am wrong, but I can only read Section 601(h) as a massive undercutting of the entire concept of “triggers,” an undercutting which various talking points have not underscored or quantified, which points to why the jam down demanded by Senator McCain is so reprehensible. Ordinary citizens have almost zero chance of figuring out what this bill intends and how its provisions will interact, and the proxies on whom they might rely will hardly have any opportunity to fully vet the language.
I have had faith in Kyl’s work on the immigration issue before, but I wonder if even he has been snowed on this and we are all being sold down the river. The more I hear about this new immigration bill, the less I like it. It seems that Bush and the Democrats are going to get amnesty by hook or by crook.
