Immigration

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin marking up the
Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill from the "Gang of Eight."

301 amendments have been filed, setting the stage for extended debate. Senate immigration bill brings flood of amendments:

About two-thirds of the 301 proposals came from Senate Republicans,
including measures to grant Congress more authority over security along
the border with Mexico, to require illegal immigrants to provide DNA
samples before gaining legal status and to reduce the number of
undocumented workers who would be eligible to pursue citizenship.

The amendments reflected the desires of many GOP lawmakers, who say that
they will support only a comprehensive overhaul that puts a higher
priority on law enforcement along the border and in the workplace. The
Senate Judiciary Committee will begin considering the amendments
Thursday, and the fate of the 844-page bill will be tested by a process
that is likely to stretch through several days of hearings in coming
weeks.

* * *

Although Democrats have generally been more supportive of the bill,
they offered dozens of amendments, including two from Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) that would allow same-sex
foreign spouses and partners of U.S. citizens to apply for visas.
Republicans have said that they will not support any comprehensive bill
that includes gay rights protections.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It appears that the Pioneer Fund and its support for the "study and research into the problems of heredity and eugenics in
the human race" and "into the problems of race betterment with special
reference to the people of the United States," still has influence in the 21st Century. For a lengthy backgrounder on this subject, see History of the race and intelligence controversy – Wikipedia.

The Heritage Foundation released its long awaited report this week for the stated purpose of defeating the "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill (and thus it is a political document). The report was written in part by Jason Richwine. Dylan Matthews at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog introduces us to Mr. Richwine, Heritage study co-author opposed letting in immigrants with low IQs:

Jason Richwine is relatively new to the think tank world. He received
his PhD in public policy from Harvard in 2009, and joined Heritage
after a brief stay at the American Enterprise Institute. Richwine’s
doctoral dissertation is titled “IQ and Immigration Policy”; the contents are well summarized in the dissertation abstract:

The statistical construct known as IQ can reliably
estimate general mental ability, or intelligence. The average IQ of
immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the
white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over
several generations. The consequences are a lack of socioeconomic
assimilation among low-IQ immigrant groups, more underclass behavior,
less social trust, and an increase in the proportion of unskilled
workers in the American labor market. Selecting high-IQ immigrants would
ameliorate these problems in the U.S., while at the same time
benefiting smart potential immigrants who lack educational access in
their home countries.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea Party darlin', former Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), now pulling down big bucks for his conservative demagoguery at the Heritage Foundation, has an op-ed in the Washington Post (where else) this afternoon, What amnesty for illegal immigrants will cost America (note the code language to the nativist base) claiming that:

An exhaustive study by the Heritage Foundation
has found that after amnesty, current unlawful immigrants would receive
$9.4 trillion in government benefits and services and pay more than $3
trillion in taxes over their lifetimes. That leaves a net fiscal deficit
(benefits minus taxes) of $6.3 trillion. That deficit would have to be financed by increasing the government debt or raising taxes on U.S. citizens.

* * *

Given the U.S. debt of $17 trillion, the fiscal effects detailed in our
study should be at the forefront of legislators’ minds as they consider
immigration reform.

Ummm, sorry, but no. By now any rational intelligent human being should know that one does not give any credence to anything produced by the Heritage Foundation. Ever. Especially now that a demagogue like Jim DeMint is at its helm.

Greg Sargent writes in The right’s last stand against immigration reform?:

The Heritage Foundation has just released its long awaited report
supposedly documenting that the path to citizenship in the Gang of
Eight immigration reform compromise will sock the taxpayer with a
multi-trillion-dollar bill. You cannot overstate how much opponents of
reform have staked on the hope that this report will be the magic bullet
to kill the proposal. This is the report that’s supposed to send House
conservatives running away, never to return.

By Karl Reiner

Gov. Brewer recently asserted that Arizona's controversial SB 1070 served as the catalyst for the creation of the immigration legislation now in Congress.  Although much of SB 1070 was set aside by the courts, the governor believes the law, costly legal fights and publicity helped start the momentum that led to the current bipartisan immigration proposal.

The governor has a point because the SB 1070 effort was not a low cost affair.  The publicity it generated saddled Arizona with a mostly negative reputation.  In far away Washington, Congress would have been aware of the SB 1070 tempest.  It could have encouraged senators to consider moving on immigration legislation.