Tammy Bruce: The "No Felon Left Behind" Cornyn/Kennedy Amnesty Comparison

The "No Felon Left Behind" Cornyn/Kennedy Amnesty Comparison

**UPDATE after the jump. Scroll to the end of the post for more on the impact of the defeat of the Cornyn amendment.**

That's what Senator Cornyn noted the bill should be renamed if his amendment did not pass. You would think an amendment stating that a variety of criminal groups should be barred from receiving amnesty, benefits and American citizenship would be something everyone could agree on. Instead, it was controversial, with the proponents of amnesty, like Kennedy, arguing that Cornyn's bill would exclude virtually every single illegal alien out there from being able to 'come out of the shadows.'

That attitude alone--the belief that America not allowing criminals to benefit from the Amnesty bill, would negatively affect most of the illegal aliens in this country, exposes the deep racism which sits at the core of today's democrat Party, and every democrat and Republican who continues to try to jam this bill through.

Cornyn's amendment failed while a Teddy Kennedy alternative passed. During Tammy Radio, when all this was transpiring, the text of the Kennedy bill was no where to be found. But to their credit, my staff called Kennedy's office, they answered the phone, and agreed to email the summary of their bill to us immediately. I didn't expect that kind of cooperation, and appreciated it.

Bottom line, and an illustration of just how screwed-up this bill is in general, none of this would even have been addressed if Harry Reid had his way. As it is, Kennedy only delivered the alternative to give the clowns in the senate a way to save face without barring felons from receiving the benefits and rewards of the amnesty bill. I want to thank Pat S. for providing the juxtaposition of the the details of the Cornyn and Kennedy amendments.

No Felon Left Behind. Indeed.

The Cornyn/Kennedy Criminal Aliens Amendments Comparison

Gangs

Cornyn: Bars alien gang members
Kennedy: Deny admission and to ensure deportation of any gang members engaging in felony drug offenses, drug trafficking, witness intimidation, child pornography, alien smuggling or any crime of violence, including murder, kidnapping, arson, bank robbery, etc.
[Well, courtesy of Teddy, being a member of gang who commits non-felony crimes is just fine. And if if you're a gang member who's never been caught or seen "engaging" in any of his specified crimes, Welcome to America! Because after all, just because you're a member of a criminal illegal alien gang doesn't mean you're not a good person. This rips the guts out of barring gang members, plain and simple.]

Sex Offenders

C: Aliens who fail to register as sex offenders
K: Any convicted sex offender will be inadmissible and deportable.
[The difference here is subtle but important. You can plead 'guilty' or 'no contest' to a sex offense charge, or plead in some other manner that would require you to register as a sex offender, allowing the argument that you are technically not a "convicted" sex offender. Certain jurisdictions may also choose to register non-convicted offenders, such as those acquitted on grounds of insanity. Cornyn's wording caught every sex offender, regardless of why they have to register; Kennedy lets off the hooks thousands of sex offenders who played the system.]

Domestic Violence, Stalking, Child Abuse

C: Aliens convicted of domestic violence, stalking, crimes against children, or violation of protection orders.
K: Bar any immigrant convicted of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment for which the immigrant served a year in jail. The amendment also establishes new bars for individuals who have violated a protective order issued by a court.
[Both Cornyn and Kennedy are weak here. The issue of barring those who violated a protection order as opposed to those who have done something serious enough that a court issued a restraining order against them, is ridiculous. Of course, Kennedy's bill also welcomes with open arms untold thousands of wife beaters, child abusers, and stalkers, as long as they didn't serve a year in jail. Remember, in our world of the death of right and wrong, getting sentenced to a year in jail for those crimes is rare, let alone serving your full term. Kennedy knew he was welcoming this scum with open arms into our nation.]

Drunk Driving

C: aliens convicted of at least three DUIs
K: Inadmissible or deportable any immigrant who has been convicted of one felony for driving under the influence and sentenced to more than a year in prison.

[Should any of us be surprised that Kennedy, a man famous for his drinking, and has a historic moment of driving off a bridge leaving a young woman to die in the car, took the teeth out of this provision too?]

Enhanced Penalties for Illegal Entry

C: Absconders (i.e., aliens already ordered deported);
aliens deemed inadmissible or deportable as security risks (e.g., terrorists);
K: This section establishes new criminal penalties for any immigrant who enters the United States illegally. The new penalties range from 6 months imprisonment for a first offense to up to 10 years if the immigrant has previously been convicted of a felony and up to 20 years if the immigrant has previously been convicted of a felony and sentenced to a 60 month term.
[This change completely guts the original intention of Cornyn's bill. C deals with illegal aliens currently in the U.S. who will benefit from the amnesty bill, but are only still here because they have ignored a federal order to leave. Kennedy completely eliminates that aspect by using the phrase "who enters the United States..." In other words, using the future-tense, not past. Kennedy, in the debate on the floor. referred to those who ignored the federal order to leave as a "garden variety" offense. Of course, these "new" penalties for illegal aliens will never be implemented. It means absolutely nothing, with the exception of giving cover to Senate Monkeys who want it to appear as thought they're dealing with the problem.]

Perjury and False Statements

C: Not addressed. CORRECTED: Yes, it was. Here's Cornyn's text: (F) CRIMINAL OFFENSES INVOLVING IDENTIFICATION.--An alien shall be considered to be deportable if the alien has been convicted of a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) an offense described in section 208 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408) (relating to social security account numbers or social security cards) or section 1028 of title 18, United States Code (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with identification).''.
K: This provision states that a person who willfully submits materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statements related to an application for benefits under immigration law is subject to prosecution for
perjury and making false statements
{I thought Cornyn's bill addressed the issue of aliens using forged federal documents as a bar, but apparently not. [UPDATE: Cornyn's amendment did address forged papers and aliens who took part in identity theft. See the end of the post for an update on this aspect and more] The Kennedy amendment has a lot of tunnels that aliens can use to protect themselves. Words like "willfully" and "materially false" as well as the specificity of applying for "benefits" not necessary the temporary permanent visa or the Z-visa. What Kennedy's amendment also arguably does is protect aliens from prosecution for using false documents while they're here by setting a standard for perjury (after those other extreme standards are applied) only after the amnesty bill passes, and only in regard to applying for benefits under immigration law. ]

Increased Penalties for Firearms Offenses

C: Aliens convicted of certain firearms offenses;
K: This provision expands current federal law to enhance the penalties for any immigrant who is convicted of alien smuggling and carries a firearm. The bill also makes conviction for a broad range of gun related crimes grounds for inadmissibility.
[Notice the Kennedy provision only allows the barring of a human smuggler if they carried a firearm. You can still get the benefits of American hospitality and citizenship of you traffic in human beings, but perhaps use a machete to subdue people instead of a gun. And without the details of which "broad range" of gun related crimes, it's hard to make a distinction here.]

What we have learned through this comparison, is the Kennedy amendment means nothing, guts Cornyn's intentions, and opens the door wide for innumerable criminals to be officially legal in this country and continue to ruin lives and continue to do irreparable damage.

All so politicians can get more votes, businesses get cheap labor, and so the bankrupt social security system will get more taxes to prop it up after having been drained by big-spending, corrupt politicians,

Michelle Malkin has the list of how the Senate Monkey voted on both amendments. Knowing these differences, how people voted is a true education about the decency (or indecency) of each of these people.

UPDATE: 7:30pm PT:

While I will not link to the New York Times, they have a quite from Cornyn, about his failed amendment, which you should see.

Senate Rejects Most Changes to Immigration Bill

By a vote of 51 to 46, the Senate on Wednesday rejected an amendment proposed by Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, that could have made hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants ineligible for legal status.

Under Mr. Cornyn’s proposal, gang members, terrorists and other convicted felons would have been permanently barred from the United States and denied immigration benefits. Most significant, the amendment would have denied legal status to illegal immigrants who had flouted deportation orders or been convicted of identity theft or fraudulent use of identification documents.

Mr. Cornyn said his purpose was not to cater to “racists, nativists or know-nothings,” but to exclude “felons who have shown contempt for American law.” But Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Mr. Cornyn’s amendment would “gut the bill.” And Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the chief Democratic architect of the bill, said: “Almost every hard-working immigrant in this country has been forced, at one time or another, to use false documents to get a job.”

So the senate officially feels that illegal aliens who have forged state and federal documents, have stolen your identity and ruined your credit history, forcing some onto months or years of work to try to fix the damage that was done, should be rewarded with amnesty and American citizenship.

And then there is the absconder issue--even those who have ignored a court order to leave this country will be rewarded with amnesty. No wonder so many of these people hold our country in such contempt. Why should they follow the laws when they get this sort of benefit when they don't?

Also, we have a link to the actual Cornyn amendment.

Posted by Tammy · June 6, 2007 01:57 PM · Permalink
Big Government | Corruption | Death of Right and Wrong | Fed Incompetence | Immigration

Comments

Do any of Cornyn's amendments matter anyway?

KILL the bill
BUILD the fence
ENFORCE the laws

(And by the way, distinguished Senators, you can't legislate enforcement because you choose not to enforce legislation. It doesn't work that way.)

Posted by: ashleymatt at June 6, 2007 03:32 PM

What do they want, vigilantiism for real? If they don't take the country's demands seriously, they may just get them anyway.

Posted by: Ellen at June 6, 2007 04:21 PM

The purpose of these dueling amendments was to see if there was still enough Republican support for the bill in total. If Cornyn's amendment won, the bill would be dead. The imperious Senate Republicans are convinced we have no choice but to get slapped around by them because we have nowhere else to turn. Hopefully, it will be different in the House. If the bill does pass, none of the enforcement provisions are worth the paper they're written on. That's what the American people are trying to scream out to these arrogant autocrats--first border security and then we talk about what to do with the illegals who are here.

As I write this the whale from Massachusetts is bloviating against the Sessions amendment barring temporary guest workers from collecting the Earned Income Tax Credit. Oh, the poor children how can we be so cruel! This is a complete outrage!

Posted by: pat_s at June 6, 2007 04:42 PM

Tammy! Shame on you calling our senators "clowns". Everyone knows that it takes actual training and SKILLS to be a clown, but it only takes drinking a fifth-of-scotch to be recognized as a senator.

Posted by: Sparky at June 6, 2007 05:13 PM

This just makes me ill. I will work to get Specter, Lindsay Graham and the rest of these RINOS tossed out during their next primary

Posted by: Airdale at June 6, 2007 05:39 PM

You realize, Airdale, that tossing these people out during the primaries means we have to find someone to run against them. Come to think of it... Hey Tammy, how'd you like to be a Senator? I'd vote for you!

Posted by: N_Campbell at June 7, 2007 07:10 AM

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