Jack Kemp, Sheila Jackson Lee aligned on 1986 amnesty talking points

Jack Kemp offers "Immigration Reform Will Help Keep This Nation Strong". It's the usual song and dance supporting "comprehensive" immigration "reform", and it doesn't merit much of a response.

However, let's take a look at this talking point:

Some counsel that Congress should start with tougher enforcement and border security but wait to create a guest-worker program or address the illegal population. Only in that way, it is said, can we avoid the mistakes of the failed 1986 immigration reform.

In fact, the lesson of 1986 is that only a comprehensive solution will fix our broken immigration system. The 1986 legislation combined amnesty for 3 million illegal immigrants with a promise of tougher enforcement, particularly in the workplace. But the law did not recognize the need for future immigration to meet the demands of a growing economy, and the new enforcement never materialized.

Now, over to Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Neptune):

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas, ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said the reason the 1986 bill did not work is that it was not "comprehensive" enough, a criticism she also leveled at the enforcement-only bill approved by the House last year.

"Although IRCA had legalization programs and new enforcement measures, it did not address all of the essential issues," she said. "For instance, it failed to provide enough legal visas to meet future immigration needs."

Did they think this up completely independently? Or, did Kemp get it from Lee? Or, did they get it from someone else? If the latter, who could it be? Howard Dean? Vicente Fox? Karl Rove? Frank Sharry?

Immigration · Thu, 07/20/2006 - 08:34 · · Importance: 1