Amnesty promises from yore

blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-

Tuesday the W$J editorialized with "Reagan on Immigration.''  It was an attempt to make people like me feel bad.  Plttt. ''... in November 1986 Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which included more money for border police and employer sanctions. The Gipper was a practical politician who bowed that year to one of the periodic anti-immigration uprisings from the GOP's nativist wing. But even as he signed that bill, he also insisted on a provision for legalizing immigrants already in the U.S. -- that is, he supported "amnesty." In his signing statement, Reagan declared that "We have consistently supported a legalization program which is both generous to the alien and fair to the countless thousands of people throughout the world who seek legally to come to America. The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans." What the editorial did not mention is that Reagan's 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act made certain promises.  Like, this would be end of the problem.  Like further illegal immigration from Mexico would be stopped.  Like businesses that hired these illegals would be  targeted.  Blah-blah-blah.  None of those promise were kept.  And guess what?  That wasn't the first time.  Via Annie the Benevolent I found this extraordinarily fine article, vintage 1992. Time to Rethink Immigration? by Peter Brimelow from National Review, June 22, 1992 Here's a smattering: Today, it is astonishing to read the categorical assurances given by supporters of the 1965 Immigration Act. "What the bill will not do," summarized Immigration Subcommittee chairman Senator Edward Kennedy: "First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same ... Secondly, the ethnic mix will not be upset . . . Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia . . ."  (Remember - these were 1965 promises) I urge you to read it.  As you do, bear in mind that later that same year (1992), Pat Buchanan was labeled a racist, a tag he has never fully shed, because he dared raise this issue at the Republican convention.  The plan  President Bush just proposed is more of the same.  It's Poop. The Senate's 365 mile fence, or whatever the hell it is - that will cost 50 billion dollars before its over (and not a single mile to be built in Texas- duh) - is eyewash .. It's poop.  This could be a flash point for something very ugly.  But, maybe very necessary.