The Immigration Bill is Dust

From Wapo:

"A tenuous compromise to overhaul the nation's immigration laws collapsed last night when senators from both parties refused to cut off debate and move to a final vote, handing the unlikely alliance of Democratic leaders and President Bush a setback on a major domestic priority.


"The defeat came after months of painstaking negotiations and weeks of debate as a 45 to 50 procedural vote fell well short of the 60 votes needed to break the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) then pulled the bill from the floor, while holding out hope that the Senate could resurrect the measure within weeks."

Americablog wants to blame it on Bush, but the real blame is alot closer. In fact its the same people who want us to be more energy efficient but don't want to pay for it either in government subsidies or gas taxes. The culprits? You and I, but mostly you. (Yeah, yeah, I'm drinking my coffee as we speak). This "immigration problem" we claim to have is the same deal. First, separate border security from the economic problems of illegal immigration and you discover that they are two totally separate issues, and should be treated as such. The first needs a protocol and the second has one. There are laws on the books that when enforced would deal with this issue. But the fact is, the laws which would penalize businesses who hire illegal immigrants aren't enforced. And their savings get passed on as hush money to the American public in the form of low prices on produce. We're all involved in the failure of any reasonable immigration policy, and until we're ready to face up to that we might as well not even bring up the issue.