Speaker of the House John Boehner has a job that no one in their right mind would envy–being leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, when the Tea Party Movement has taken over a good portion of the Republican caucus, and is out to destroy any possibility of any Congressional action on just about anything, unless it fits their extremist right wing philosophy!..
Boehner has been heavily criticized on all political fronts of the left and the right, of the Democrats and Republicans, for trying to maintain some semblance of order, decorum, and discipline in the House.
Boehner is not exactly a likeable character, but one can sympathize with the burden he carries, and he has shown willingness four times this year to move legislation that does NOT have a majority of his party willing to back by their votes.
Boehner has pushed legislation with a minority of Republicans and a majority of Democrats in the following circumstances:
Passage of the “fiscal cliff” legislation in January of this year.
Hurricane Sandy relief vote in January.
Extension of the Violence Against Women Act vote in February.
Federal acquisition of historic sites vote in April.
Now Boehner has the most challenging situation, whether to allow an immigration reform vote, when the majority of his House majority will be bitterly against it, while Boehner has been supportive of immigration reform in his past career as a Congressman from Cincinnati, Ohio.
California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has threatened to call for a vote to unseat Boehner as House Speaker if he calls for such a vote.
So Boehner has to decide to gamble his Speakership on this matter–choosing between his own career, and doing the right thing, something which would revive Republican fortunes with the growing Hispanic-Latino community in America, and also just doing what is fair and just for eleven million people, many born here, and others coming only for economic betterment, not to commit crimes, which only a miniscule number have engaged in over the years!
Is the Speakership that important? Does not John Boehner secretly wish he could give up the burden, which has become a nightmare with the lunatic Congressmen and some Senators of his party who have set out to destroy the historical reputation of the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike?
The conclusion of the author is that Boehner will allow a vote, and immigration reform will pass the House, if a large majority of the Senate, including Republicans, pass a bill.
And if that happens, and even if Boehner loses his Speakership, we will be able to add Boehner to the list of people who have been a “Profile in Courage”, as John F. Kennedy termed it in his Pulitzer Prize winning book in 1956!
We should first:
1. Secure all borders – At least achieve a 70% reduction in illegal crossings
2. Vigorously enforce our existing immigration laws
3. Eliminate the magnets for illegal aliens
4. Prosecute employers who hire illegal aliens
Then after all of that is in place and illegal border crossing reduced and confirmed,we can talk about legalizing those that are here illegally. And I would have no problem in giving those that qualify a path to residency first then citizenship.
Are you aware, Juan, that cross border crossings are ZERO now? Or does that matter? This is the biggest mythology of many that the Right promotes, and they do not want anyone being treated with decency and compassion, as that is not part of their body chemistry, but instead to promote control by an elite which victimizes all of us in the middle class, as well as the poor!
I would rather have “control” by government, than by corporate interests and the elite wealthy, who are only out to exploit workers and consumers! That is why progressivism emerged in the time of La Follette, TR, and Wilson!
Ron: Please do not make me laugh! Zero! Talk about drinking the Kool-Aid! Let me ask you this. Do you know the difference between “returns” and “removal”? But lets assume your fantasy of zero is correct, then what would be the problem in demanding a 90% demonstrable apprehension rate? I mean if you already have a 100% apprehension rate, if crossings are ZERO, why would you reject a demonstrable 90% apprehension rate? Why do Democrats and RePUBICans reject the Cornyn amendment?
But lets say people stopped coming illegally to the US because of Obama. Because of the terrible Obama economy. I still have hope that someday we will be growing back at 5% per year. That American ingenuity and free enterprise will eventually prevail over bg government. What then? What will happen if they , assuming they now stopped, restart crossing the border illegally again? What are we going to do? Nothing like always!
The 1986 amnesty bill was called Simpson-Mazzoli. The 1986 law required Congress to secure the border, and it didn’t. In 1986, virtually everything being promised and assured now was promised and assured then, and it didn’t happen. That’s why we’re back here again doing this all over again, because what they promised and what they assured us about securing the border and closing it down didn’t happen.
The 2006 law requires Congress to build 700 miles of fences. They built 36 miles and they stopped. Now there have been amendments offered to finish the job. But it’s already the law! It just isn’t being enforced. So amendments have been offered in the past two weeks to finish the job of building the fence. But the amendments have failed. Why? Because Washington politicians, of both parties, just do not want to stop illegal immigration! That’s so crystal clear! And both of them are screwing the average American worker.
Finally, I’m not even going to address your nonsense about “body chemistry” and exploitation. When you go off on those childish immature hateful rants, it makes me wonder if you really are a college professor. Then it hits me, of course you are!
Excellent first article in a 3-part series about how corporations rip us off: http://www.winningprogressive.org/the-fine-print-part-i-jacked-up-and-barely-connected
If you insist, Juan, on character assassination again, calling me childish and immature, I will block you from further commentary, because you are, again, showing evidence of being childish and immature yourself. And YES, I am a college professor, but are you truly an attorney, with a closed mind, who only cares about his family and not society at large? 🙁 I am warning you, CEASE AND DESIST, or else! I will NOT let you hijack my blog! 🙁
Ron: As always deviating from what I have posted and focusing on minor issues. I wrote that your “rants” were childish and immature, not you personally. Also , who says I don’t care about society? I believe in that man through the civil society is much freer , prosperous and solves its issues better that through the big Federal government. Why I don’t even oppose local governments doing some things. But the Federal government? Give me a break. First of all, it lacks Constitutional authority to do many of the things it does. Second, it does it badly. Third, it discriminates and is politically motivated. But this was not what I was talking about. The issue was your statement about ZERO crossings! LOL. Sorry but I can’t help laughing each time a read it. But , never mind, I know you will not address what I have countered argued.
Juan, the economic situation has led to the collapse of illegal crossings, plus the very difficult reality of migrating through the desert situations that exist. Imagine, people had been crossing despite the horrific conditions, because they wanted freedom and opportunity, but the Great Recession and its aftermath has effectively, at least for the time being, ended that situation. I suppose that will change at some point, and I will grant you that!
Part two in the series about corporations ripping us off: http://www.winningprogressive.org/the-fine-print-part-ii-pipelined-shocked-and-railroaded
“Todos los Europeos son Illegales desde 1492â€
(All Europeans Illegal since 1492)
—Handwritten sign carried by a street demonstrator, New York City, La Marcha, April 10, 2006
“Go back to Germany where you belong!†“Stay in Germany! Get out of here!†“This is Mexico! This is our land! Get out of here, racist pigs! Viva Saddam Hussein! Viva Cuba!â€- Illegal immigrants at day labor site in Rancho Cucamonga, January 7, 2006
Clearly, the illegal immigrants at the day labor center didn’t want to be identified, since they were planning to take jobs at below-minimum wages and not pay taxes. Yet, the claim that California is actually Mexico was not made lightly. For millions of Hispanics in the Unites States, and for millions more in Mexico, the assertion is made in deadly seriousness. This is part of the Reconquista movement.
The claim of the Reconquista (“Reconquestâ€) movement is that the United States stole large sections of the southwestern United States from Mexico in the 1800s. Mexicans and other Hispanics making these claims seek to reconquer this territory by taking the land away from the United States and returning it to Mexico. The goal of the Reconquista is to “reconquer†these “lost†or “stolen†territories for “La Razaâ€â€”the race indigenous to Mexico.
How will the Reconquista be accomplished? Today, millions of Mexican illegal immigrants are pouring into the United States. None of these illegal aliens are checked in any way. They live in the United States while swearing their allegiance to Mexico. By their sheer presence and numbers, those in the Reconquista movement believe that a time will come when they can take political control of local communities where Hispanics are the majority. The ultimate dream of the Reconquista movement is that political control can be gained in one or more southwestern states. Reconquista activists plan that the states controlled by Mexican immigrants would secede from the United States and join Mexico, much as the southern states seceded during the American Civil War and formed the Confederacy.
As crazy as this seems, the Reconquista agenda has been pushed by the left for decades. Maps of Aztlan are drawn ( see raising of Aztlan flag at Chicano Park in San Diego with Mural painting of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Ho Shi Ming among other leftist revolutionaries http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BTikYxGLyA ) incorporating large sections of the U.S. southwest and the theory that the U.S. stole the southwest from Mexico is actively taught by Leftists in Mexico as well as in “Hispanic studies†programs in U.S. schools. Those in the Reconquista movement understand the “Trojan Horse invasion†for exactly what it is. They plan to exploit America’s generosity to the fullest, all the while mocking us.The goal is for illegal aliens to get citizenship for themselves and their children so that they can eventually vote to return to Mexico large sections of the American southwest.
Jose Angel Gutiérrez, a political science professor and former head of the Mexican-American Studies Center at the University of Texas, Arlington, a public university. [1] Professor Gutiérrez’s speech spouts typical Reconquista rhetoric:
“We remain a hunted people. Now, you think you have a destiny to fulfill in this land that historically has been ours for forty thousand years. We are a new Mestizo Nation. This is our homeland. We cannot, we will not, and we must not be made “illegal†in our homeland. We are not “immigrants†that came from another country to another country. We are migrants free to travel the length and breadth of the Americas because we belong here.
We are millions. We just have to survive. We have an aging, white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It’s a matter of time. The explosion is in our population.”
Juan, I want to make it clear that I would be totally opposed to a return of the Southwest US to Mexico. I am aware of this movement you write about, but I find it difficult to imagine a scenario where these areas seceded, and certainly, the federal government would oppose such a situation!
Final part in series about corporations ripping us off: http://www.winningprogressive.org/the-fine-print-part-iii-corporate-welfare-and-actions-for-reform