Immigration: If the Bill Passes

[Geee]

National Review:

There are lots of reasons to believe that most of what is promised in the current so-called comprehensive immigration-reform bill won’t be honored if it is passed by the full Congress and signed by the president.

First, this administration does not have a reliable record of living up to its policy promises. Obamacare — a similarly huge bill that few had read — was sold to Congress and the public on the assurance that its enactment would lower insurance premiums. As it begins to take effect, even its principal architect, Senator Max Baucus, has called the program a “train wreck.” Most neutral observers believe that insurance costs will escalate rather than dive; indeed, they are already doing so in anticipation of the bill’s full implementation. One of the selling points of the $831 billion stimulus bill of 2009 was that, according to administration economic advisers, unemployment would exceed 8.5 percent without it. Of course, after its passage the jobless rate soared over 9 percent, eventually reaching 10 percent. But if the stimulus did little for most Americans, special interests cashed in. The president’s expansionary budget policies were supposed to halve the deficit by the end of his first term; instead, the deficit doubled over those four years. Abroad, five deadlines for Iran to cease and desist its nuclear project were accompanied by the expansion of its centrifuges. Syria’s Bashar Assad has been ordered by President Obama to step down and leave — about as often as his employment of WMD represents a red line that cannot be crossed. In other words, if the past is any guide, do not expect facts to follow rhetorical promises. Instead, expect more illegal immigrants, without much worry, and without even any memory that the bill was sold on false premises.