May 17, 2007

No Amnesty For Wrong Vote on Illegal Immigration

Remember when U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker ran that ad with him down at the Mexican border walking along that border and talking tough on illegal immigration? Well, now the time has come for Sen. Corker to show that he meant it - by voting against the sell-out "compromise" immigration reform bill that amounts to less of a border fence and a big, fat amnesty "path to citizenship" for the 12 million or so illegals already in the country.

The Conservatives for Corker blog today recalls what Sen. Corker said during the campaign...

Illegals need to be PENALIZED, FORCED TO RETURN BACK to their point of origin AND placed at the back of the processing line behind those orderly submitting themselves to our nation's immigration statutes.

Under the tentative deal, undocumented workers who crossed into the country before Jan. 1 would be offered a temporary-residency permit while they await a new "Z Visa" that would allow them to live and work lawfully here. The head of an illegal-immigrant household would have eight years to return to his or her home country to apply for permanent legal residence for members of the household, but each Z Visa itself would be renewable indefinitely, as long as the holder passes a criminal background check, remains fully employed and pays a $5,000 fine, plus a paperwork-processing fee.

There are few single issues on which I would base a vote or non-vote on any candidate for federal office. The war is one - I'll never cast a vote for any senator or representative who votes for a scheduled defeat in Iraq. Illegal immigration is another. I'll never vote for any candidate or incumbent who votes for any immigration reform that doesn't build the fence first, and only after it is completed and the border is secured and the invasion of America by illegals is ended, contemplate measures to address the 12 million who are already here.

There should be zero contemplation of "temporary-residency permits" and "Z Visas" or a "path to citizenship" for any such effort to legalize 12 million illegals until the fence is completed.

For phone numbers to call Corker, Sen. Lamar Alexander or Tennessee's nine House members, see the Conservatives For Corker blog here.

Memo to U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn: Vote against this travesty and there's a Senate seat in your future.