Since the introduction of the Senate’s massive amnesty plan earlier this month, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has led an all out campaign to silence critics of a bill that will extend legal status to 12 million illegal aliens. Part of this effort is a series Myth vs. Fact releases on his official Senate website.
The Myth v. Fact pages amount to talking points developed by the Gang of Eight. The attestations essentially ignore what’s written in the bill and assume that people don’t have the time or knowledge to refute Sen. Rubio’s claims – having flashbacks to the healthcare debate?
Here’s is the first in a four-day series of some of the myths Sen. Rubio’s pushing on his website compared to the actual language and potential impact of the legislation Sen. Rubio and the Gang of Eight are ramming through the Senate.
No “Special Path” to Citizenship
Rubio Speak
No one gets amnesty. Unless we continue to do nothing, this bill will eliminate today’s status quo de facto amnesty in which we have 11 million undocumented immigrants here and don’t know who they are, what activities they’re engaged in or anything else about them. On day one, no undocumented immigrant is rewarded with anything.
The Truth about Rubio Amnesty
- An amnesty occurs when the penalty for committing a crime is waived. The penalty for being illegally present in the United States is deportation and a three or ten year bar from applying to reenter, depending on the length of time one was illegally present in the country.
- Illegal aliens who have committed identity theft or fraud, or have filed a false tax return will not be held accountable. Illegal aliens can have up to three misdemeanor convictions and still qualify. Even illegal aliens who have already been deported are eligible for amnesty.
Rubio Speak
What happens on day one is the clock starts running on meeting the mandatory security triggers – implementing an effective border security plan, mandatory employment verification for all businesses, and full implementation of an exit system.
The Truth about Rubio Amnesty
- Once the bill is passed, DHS has six months to come up with a plan to secure the border – a plan! DHS doesn’t have to actually accomplish any of these things before amnesty kicks in and it is unlikely that any of the so-called triggers will ever be met.
- The border was supposed to be secured after the 1986 amnesty.
- Legislation to establish a biometric entry/exit system was passed in 1996. This bill actually weakens existing provisions for an entry/exit system, failing to address serious national security concerns.
- Legislation to establish an electronic employment verification system was passed in 1996. Rubio’s bill repeals E-Verify and then creates a new system with loopholes for employers who hire “intermittent” workers and failing to require employers to check work authorization for existing employees.
Rubio Speak
Once the border security plan is in place, undocumented immigrants will be able to come forward, must submit to and pass background checks, be fingerprinted, pay fines, pay taxes, prove gainful employment, go to the back of the line, and prove they’ve had a physical presence in the U.S. since before 2012, among other measures. They won’t get any federal benefits. And if they meet all these requirements, they will earn a temporary status that allows them to work. If they don’t they will be deported.
The Truth about Rubio Amnesty
- Once Janet Napolitano submits a plan to secure the border maybe within ten years, illegal aliens get instant amnesty, but they don’t go to the back of line. The back of the line would be in their home countries, where millions of foreigners (about 4.7 million) are waiting to come to the United States.
- The cutoff date to receive amnesty is December 31, 2011. This is a stunning concession to amnesty proponents and signals Sen. Rubio’s intent to grant amnesty to virtually everyone, including those who have already been deported.
- There is no requirement that any documents submitted as part of the application for amnesty be verified by anyone other than the DHS adjudicator. DHS will be under political pressure to quickly process and approve almost all applications, as they were in 1986.