Which Senator tried to scuttle our entire immigration system?

A strong charge indeed, but after reading "Hidden Bombs" I think it's highly justified:

...The Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders yesterday announced a compromise on an immigration bill - with some details still to be worked out. But details that may continue from the bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee should definitely be deal-breakers.

Like that surprise hidden on page 302 - which would replace the country's entire bench of experienced immigration judges with pro-immigration advocates.

With a few exceptions, today's immigration judges (who serve for life) are dedicated to enforcing the law, and they do a difficult job well. This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after serving seven years - and restricts replacements to attorneys with at least five years' experience practicing immigration law.

Virtually the only lawyers who'll meet that requirement are attorneys who represent aliens in the immigration courts - who tend to be some of the nation's most liberal lawyers, and who are certainly unlikely as a class to be fond of enforcing immigration laws.

It gets worse. Immigration judges are now appointed by the attorney general - whose job it is to see to it that laws are enforced. The Senate bill gives that power to a separate bureaucrat, albeit one directly appointed by the president, making immigration courts more susceptible to leftward polarization...

Someone really needs to find out exactly who put that language in there.

While I have no knowledge indicating that the American Immigration Lawyers Association was involved, note that in one prior case they not only donated to Chris Cannon's campaign, they helped him write legislation.

Immigration · Fri, 04/07/2006 - 09:24 · · Importance: 1