Presidential Myth Busters #1

Since Senate Bill 1348 was introduced, there has been a lot of feedback from both the conservatives and the liberals on how bad this bill is. I have heard some people foolishly use the thoughts that because both sides were complaining, that it meant that this was a good compromise agreement that screwed both sides equally.

Over the next few days, I’ll provide some myths about this bill, and some of the “facts” that President Bush has released to address these myths. I’ll also present some “facts” that the President has conveniently failed to disclose in trying to disprove the “myth”.

“1. MYTH: This is amnesty. ”

Presidential “FACT: Amnesty is the forgiveness of an offense without penalty. This proposal is not amnesty because illegal workers must acknowledge that they broke the law, pay a $1,000 fine, and undergo criminal background checks to obtain a Z visa granting temporary legal status. ”

Presidential “FACT: To apply for a green card at a date years into the future, Z visa workers must wait in line behind those who applied lawfully, pay an additional $4,000 fine, complete accelerated English requirements, leave the U.S. and file their application in their home country, and demonstrate merit based on the skills and attributes they will bring to the United States.”

Presidential “FACT: Workers approved for Z visas will be given a temporary legal status, but they will not enjoy the full privileges of citizens or Legal

Permanent Residents, such as welfare benefits and the ability to sponsor relatives abroad as immigrants.”

RESPONSE:

The truth behind the facts, as discovered in actually reading SB 1348:

A $1000 fine in this case, is described in the bill itself as a filing fee.‘‘(2) FINE.—An alien who files an application under this section shall pay a fine commensurate with levels charged by the Department of Homeland Security for other applications for adjustment of status." – SB 1348, Page 477

‘‘(j) APPLICATION FEE.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An alien seeking a grant of Deferred Mandatory Departure status shall submit, in addition to any other fees authorized by law, an application fee of $1,000." – SB 1348, Page 499,

Though called a “fine” or, as our President says, a “penalty”, even inside of the bill itself, it states that it should be commensurate with the fees charged for “applications for adjustment of status” while later calling it an “application fee”.

You be the judge? Fee? Or Penalty?

Additionally, the President states that a worker must pay an additional $4,000 fine. As of yet, I have found no $4,000 fines in this bill other than the fines for employers that are found guilty of utilizing persons unauthorized to work.

On the last note, the President wishes to emphasize that persons provided the “Z” Visa will not be eligible for welfare benefits or to sponsor relatives to enter the US, however, what he fails to indicate is that those persons who have US born children will continue to be eligible (as they are now) to receive welfare benefits based upon the citizenship of their child(ren).

Is this an amnesty? So far, it seems so to me. Those who are here illegally are being asked to pay the appropriate application fee, nothing more, nothing less. Simply because you call it a “fine” does not make it one when you also refer to it as an “application fee”.

Is the President trying to mislead us on this bill? I think he may be getting some bad information from people who have not yet read the bill. You would think that at least they could find SOMEONE on his staff who could have read the bill for some accurate information.

Tomorrow… (or maybe even later today), I’ll cover President Bush’s next “myth buster” fallacies and mistruths.

You can email Alan at alan@alanfernald.com twenty-four hours a day.