Phil Kent, the national spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control, a veteran Georgia journalist, author of “The Dark Side of Liberalism”, former president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, and a Sunday panelist on WAGA-TV’s “The Georgia Gang”, spoke on: The U. S. Senate’s illegal alien amnesty bill is a Trojan horse.
The U. S. Senate’s illegal alien amnesty bill is a Trojan horse says Phil Kent, the speaker at the Madison Forum’s breakfast meeting Saturday, June 24th.
Phil Kent of Atlanta is the national spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control, a veteran Georgia journalist, author of “The Dark Side of Liberalism”, former president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, and a Sunday panelist on WAGA-TV’s “The Georgia Gang”.
Mr. Kent says the good news is that we are winning. As recently as three months ago, the open borders and multicultural crowd were winning, but because of citizen pressure on our elected members of Congress, both in the House and the Senate, we have turned the whole debate around. A top Republican staffer reported that at a recent House Republican Conference Meeting, Speaker Dennis Hastert opened the meeting with a long speech about how he had been in his district and everything he had heard at his town meeting was how we are being invaded, low wage people are taking jobs, welfare is up, our language is changing, our culture is changing, and on and on. Hastert said it is a 50-state problem, something most voters already knew. Also, John Boehner, the new House Majority Leader, is getting the message. Senator Johnny Isakson has become a leader on the issue of border enforcement only legislation which recently garnered 40 votes in the Senate. This is a benchmark of what we can do.
Mr. Kent gave the opinion that the House of Representatives will kill the Senate’s amnesty bill, because Speaker Hastert also said, at that House Republican caucus, that they were going to hold field hearings around the country about the immigration legislation, which drives the knife right into this Trojan Horse Senate plan. He said he thinks the Senate had a bout of temporary insanity when they passed the bill and mentioned that Senator Richard Lugar, who has been in the Senate for 35 years or more, actually said, “You know, I really didn’t read this bill”.
Senate and House staff people are supposed to be telling their bosses what is in various bills. They pay attention to the messages sent to the Capital, so we should call and speak to the staffer in charge of immigration questions to complain and to praise. Mr. Kent said don’t send a letter; e-mail, phone, or fax.
Mr. Kent reiterated the differences between the bills. The House bill has a border enforcement only plan. The Senate bill has virtually no enforcement whatsoever. And what, he says, is so maddening and a slap in the face of everyone who plays by the rules, is that the President, and Senators John McCain, John Kerry, Teddy Kennedy, and Joe Biden are a bi-partisan cabal that got the idea of giving the people who snuck in illegally a path to citizenship. He said we should not be giving something as precious as citizenship to people who have committed multiple felonies by sneaking in here, many of them women who are having babies who become automatic citizens.
He went on to say that this issue is not a Liberal or Conservative issue. All polls show that every political and/or ethnic group in America is opposed to illegal immigration. Over 80% of all groups polled oppose illegal immigration, and over 90% want the American military on our borders. He also mentioned several Senators who have been strong opponents of anything that smacks of amnesty.
Mr. Kent mentioned that the fence on our southern border has virtually stopped illegal immigration in southern California as well as improving the environment. He also said that at the last minute the Senate agreed verbally to consult with Mexico on building the fence.
Mr. Kent quoted Robert Recter of The Heritage Foundation who said that the estimate of 12 – 20 million illegal immigrants in the country should be doubled, because the Senate bill allows all family members to come in under chain migration, and added that in a 10-year period it would cost our government $60 billion in services for these immigrants. In addition, says Mr. Kent, in the Senate bill, all illegal aliens who worked here would be allowed to come back and collect Social Security. Also, at this time, of the 140,000 green cards issued each year to legal immigrants, about 10% are reserved for unskilled labor with the rest used for skilled professionals. The Senate bill switches the legal immigrant formula to 10% for professionals and 90% for unskilled workers.
Questions covered a wide range, from our chances of banning dual citizenship, to ballot access, to how the NAFTA/CAFTA Super Highway funding got into the Highway Bill without allowing input from the voters.
Websites mentioned are www.immigrationcontrol.com , www.numbersusa.com, and www.philkent.com The Capital Hill Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.