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As usual with President Bush lately, what he says is the case is quite the opposite. Skeletor (aka Homeland Security sec Chertoff) and Commerce Sec Carlos Gutierrez announced what is being touted as a “crackdown” on illegal immigration, but in fact is amnesty and an expansion of the so-called Guest Worker programs already in existence. You didn’t know we have about 18 of them, did you?

I’ve been especially struck with the uniform reporting of this Amnesty/Guest Worker plan as a “crackdown” or “enforcement.” If you simply read the thing, it becomes quite clear that it’s neither. The EM, of course, also wants amnesty and open borders, so they’re more than happy to help perpetuate the Bush lie that his admin is actually doing something about the continuing scourge. The insult here is not only is that not true, he’s doing the opposite.

This is one of my favorite headlines. You have to get 12 paragraphs down to get the real story.

Government goes after identity fakers

Under the new employer regulations — which go into effect in one month — employers who receive so-called “no-match” letters that identify discrepancies in a worker’s tax records will have 90 days to resolve the problem.

The reason could be a clerical error or a name change because of marriage, but such irregularities often suggest the employees may be using a phony Social Security number to qualify for work.

If legal status can’t be confirmed within 90 days, the employee must be fired.

Gee, I wonder if we, after committing the federal crime of falsifying federal documents or another crime of using a stolen identity, would get a letter simply telling us we have 90 days to get our act together? And what is the option for those who have used false documents? Why, get hooked up with the existing Guest Worker program, of course. And rules are being ‘streamlined’ to help make that happen. Yes, this is called “amnesty” attached to a “Guest Worker” program.

Gutierrez also said that to lessen the impact on businesses, the administration would streamline and improve temporary visa programs that allow foreign workers to come to the United States for agricultural and other seasonal jobs.

Yeah. I’m sure. Bully for you.

Here’s a summary of the highlights of the bill, none of which, by the way, has been funded. So essentially it’s meaningless, but they will implement the easing of the rules for the existing GW programs I’m sure. And the other thing we have to keep an eye on, is for the Fed to come back and say, after having this sham around for a few months, that now they’ve implemented “enforcement” let’s get that amnesty bill back on track!

Mark my words, that is their plan. Here, courtesy of the San Jose Mercury News, are the ‘highlights’ of their sham:

—Hold employers liable for employing workers who have been notified of problems with their Social Security information and have not resolved those problems in 90 days. [Amnesty]

—Reduce the number of documents employers can accept to verify a worker’s eligibility. [Meaningless]

—Raise civil fines imposed on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by about 25 percent. [Meaningless. They always argue they don’t know, and the Feds have to pursue this which they won’t.]

—Prevent illegal immigrants who have agreed to leave the country from remaining in the country through legal maneuvers by making them subject to deportation if arrested and fining them $3,000. [Meaningless. And which illegal aliens ‘agree’ to leave? Those already convicted of crimes? And note the wobbly language, ‘subject to’ and ‘if.’ Doesn’t mean either will ever happen.]

—Direct the Labor Department to make changes to the H2A agricultural seasonal worker program so it is easier for farmers to use, provides them workers on time and protects workers’ rights. [Crackdown on illegal immigration? This is the expansion of an existing Guest Worker program]

—Correct processing delays in the H2B program for hiring seasonal workers for the landscaping, hospitality and other industries. [More expansion, to help all those identity thieves and SSN card forgers who need to be assimilated into the system after their amnesty]

—Extend from one year to three the duration of a visa for hiring professional workers from Canada and Mexico to attract more such workers to the U.S. [Guest worker expansion, open border facilitation.]

—Spend more money to speed up background checks on immigrants. [Not more comprehensive background checks, let’s just cut the the stupid, irrelevant one-day thing we do now to an hour or two, opening the borders and working in those illegals who’ve been caught via the ‘crackdown’ on identity theft]

—Require the Social Security administration and Department of Homeland Security to devise a way to prevent undocumented workers from earning credit in the Social Security system for work they’ve done while in the country illegally. [Meaningless. ‘Devise a way’? How long? When? What’s their deadline? Absolutely meaningless pandering]

—Expand lists of organized gangs from other nations whose members are barred from automatic entry to the United States. [Expands lists. Great. That’ll stop illegal aliens. And gang members. More lists. Terrific. And meaningless]

—Continue to work on creating a system that will record the exit of foreigners from the country for air, land and sea ports. [Yea, we found out we don’t have one during the amnesty debate. Genius. But how about this–how about ‘continuing to work on a system that will record THE ENTRY of foreigners INTO” this country??]

—By Jan. 31, 2008, begin phasing in requirements for U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean to carry passports to re-enter the country at sea and land ports. [Great. This is the already existing passport requirement that we tried to implement this year and couldn’t because the passport people got too overwhelmed.]

—Homeland Security Department will deliver “state of the border” reports regularly. [Ooh, well, that’ll make all the difference. Not.]