Everything You Needed to Know About Your Senator's Respect for the Rule of Law, via This Vote on the Shamnesty Bill of 2007

Alrighty, so during the debate over the amnesty bill currently dying (I pray) in the Senate, a bill which would destroy America as we know it within a generation or two by turning us into a bigger version of the corrupt Third World craphole that is Mexico, an amendment was offered by Senator Tom Coburn (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin) which would mandate enforcement of all major illegal immigration laws ALREADY DULY PASSED AND ON THE BOOKS prior to offering any sort of amnesty/guest worker/destroy America program currently being debated. Not that I'm shocked, but that amendment was defeated, with John "Traitor" McCain not even bothering to cast a vote and better than a dozen GOP senators voting against it. How sad and pathetic that 54 of the (allegedly) smartest, most sophisticated people in the world want to hand out citizenship like candy to a bunch of illegal immigrant criminals (redundant, I know) WITHOUT EVEN BOTHERING TO KEEP OUT FELONS, INCLUDING SEX OFFENDERS AND THOSE WHO HAVE DEFIED DEPORTATION ORDERS! Sorry for the caps, but this makes me crazy to even think about. At least TN's 2 senators got this one right, although Bob Corker is the one whose voted right on this issue every time so far. I have no confidence in Lamar Alexander due to his mealy-mouth, wishy-washy vacillation between supporting and voting against this monstrosity of a bill. If there's a superior GOP candidate in the '08 primary, he has my vote already, because Alexander looks to be losing his mind and the ability to hear his constituents. And if you need more reasons why this bill would be such an unmitigated disaster, check out Joe Mariani's great column on the subject, right here. I'm with Emperor Misha..."Rope, tree, politician...some assembly required."

"These are the existing laws that the opponents of the Coburn amendment do not want fully enforced:

EXISTING LAW.--The following provisions of existing law shall be fully implemented, as previously directed by the Congress, prior to the certification set forth in paragraph (1):

(A) The Department has achieved and maintained operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States as required under the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-367)

(B) The total miles of fence required under such Act have been constructed.

(C) All databases maintained by the Department which contain information on aliens shall be fully integrated as required by section 202 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (8 U.S.C. 1722).

(D) The Department shall have implemented a system to record the departure of every alien departing the United States and of matching records of departure with the records of arrivals in the United States through the US-VISIT program as required by section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1221 note).

(E) The provision of law that prevents States and localities from adopting ``sanctuary'' policies or that prevents State and local employees from communicating with the Department are fully enforced as required by section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1373).

(F) The Department employs fully operational equipment at each port of entry and uses such equipment in a manner that allows unique biometric identifiers to be compared and visas, travel documents, passports, and other documents authenticated in accordance with section 303 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (8 U.S.C. 1732).

(G) An alien with a border crossing card is prevented from entering the United States until the biometric identifier on the border crossing card is matched against the alien as required by section 101(a)(6) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(6)).

(H) Any alien who is likely to become a public charge is denied entry into the United States pursuant to section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(4)).

Telling, very telling."