An immigration "compromise"
by digby
Chuck Schumer this morning:
Well, it's been a tough week for immigration. But all three, or many of the Republicans have said the following, Speaker Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, even Jim DeMint, they have said they want to do immigration reform, but they don't trust the president to enforce the law, particularly the enforcement parts. So there's a simple solution.
Let's enact a law this year, but simply not let it actually start till 2017, after President Obama's term is over. Now I think the rap against him, that he won't enforce the law is false. He's supported more people than any other president. But you can actually have the law start in 2017 without doing much violence to it.
You simply move the date back from December 31st, 2011 to December 31st 2013 as to when people, the deadline for people who could get even legalization or citizenship. So we could go after the new people who come in later. And it would solve the problem. And make no mistake about it, David. This view that we can get this done in 2015, '16 is false.
You'll have the Republican presidential primary to pull people over to the right, Tea Party maximizes. So it's simple. Let's say to our Republican colleagues, "You don't trust Obama, enact the law, but put it into effect in 2017 and we can get--"
(OVERTALK)
DAVID GREGORY:
I've got to get a quick response from Senator Portman. I'm almost out of time. Senator, is Boehner at risk of losing his job if he pursues this?
SENATOR ROB PORTMAN:
No, no, I think John Boehner is fine in terms of his job. And I do think our immigration system is broken. When Chuck talks about delaying it, I think some Republicans would be interested in that, if we put in place the enforcement measure so that it would work. In other words, make sure the border is secure, make sure the anti-workforce enforcement program that works.
The concern we have, as you know, is to get back to the 1986 law. Last time we did this, where we did provide legalization but didn't do the enforcement, three million people were legalized, another six million people came here illegally. So I think that's what Republicans are looking for, is enforcement first.
I think we can see the outline here of a beautiful "compromise" don't you? The one where everyone agrees to do (even more) "enforcement" first and then have the good stuff kick in later. The sticking point will be if the Republicans could gather enough of the their nativist neanderthals to agree to a set date (2017? 2025?) for reforms that actually help human beings. It's a long shot.
Meanwhile, back in the states:
Even the most ardent "flash mob" haters have to admit that a band spontaneously playing "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles in a Spanish unemployment office can hardly be a bad thing. The flash mob was organized by the Spanish radio station Carne Cruda 2.0, marking the first time that "George Harrison" and "radio prank" have ever been mentioned in the same breath.
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