An agreement over a sweeping overhaul of immigration law reached by a bipartisan group of leading senators has quickly drawn its critics.
The outline of the plan covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.
The deal, expected to be announced later this afternoon, has a long way to go before the thorny details are worked out. But the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.
It is already drawing critics who say it will add an incalculable financial toll on America.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, tells Newsmax that the agreement is no different than existing law that the federal government repeatedly fails to implement.
“It’s almost like being Bill Murray in ‘Groundhog Day,’” he said. “It’s like I’m hearing ‘I Got You Babe’ every morning over and over again. It’s immediate amnesty for all illegal immigrants, and effectively unlimited future illegal immigration.”
“How many times can you promise the same thing to people and not carry through before they stop believing you?”
He argues in favor of properly enforcing laws already on the books such as those that require foreign visitors to check in and check out when they enter and exit the country “so we know who is here.”
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican from Texas, criticized the proposal as well, saying that “No one should be surprised that individuals who have supported amnesty in the past still support amnesty.”
Smith is the former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and currently serves on its Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee.
“When you legalize those who are in the country illegally, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars, costs American workers thousands of jobs and encourages more illegal immigration,” he said. “By granting amnesty, the Senate proposal actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration.”
President Barack Obama will make an announcement on immigration reform during a trip to Las Vegas on Tuesday.
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