Everyone knows he's just a lackey saying what he's told to say, but just for completeness' sake, DHS head Michael Chertoff testified before a House committee yesterday:

...Chertoff noted that other alternatives [to the Senate amnesty scheme] - such as jailing 10 percent of illegal immigrants already in the country - could cost up to $10 billion a year.

"The round 'em up and detain 'em method is astronomically expensive," Chertoff said. Comparatively, the worker program, "while not cheap and absolutely requires some time to build and plan and deploy, is ultimately successful if we make sure we continue to enforce the law."

Of course, Chertoff is only selectively enforcing the law right now, so the last bit is highly misleading. And, that "10%" would be a constantly replenished figure that would actually consist of fewer and fewer people as almost all are sent home and most prospective illegal aliens realize that coming here is a losing proposition.

And, there's the issue that trying to jail even a small number of the illegal aliens here now would result in massive civil disturbances; in other words, George Bush has put the U.S. at tremendous risk.

And, from this:

Though Chertoff stopped short of endorsing a new immigration proposal outlined this week by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, he did offer support for a key part of her plan: turning aspects of the guest worker program over to private employment agencies. The private sector, he said, can be more efficient than government at collecting applicants' data, fingerprints, health information and other records.

Last August, George Bush formed the "Americans for Border and Economic Security" which was fronted by Ed Gillespie and Dick Armey. They were trying to raise $3 million from corporations in order to spread pro-"guest" worker propaganda. That exact plan might not have taken off, but Gillespie and Armey are still promoting massive immigration. By getting the private sector involved, Bush might be trying to give (another set of) businesses an incentive to open their wallets and begin spreading lies.

But Chertoff warned Congress that it would take some time for the government to implement any temporary worker program or plan to legalize millions of illegal immigrants.

"I don't think we could open for business the day after Congress passed it," he told reporters after the hearing. "We would need months."

Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, argued that the government is far from ready to handle any increased workload caused by a sweeping guest worker program. "I personally think none of those areas are even close to ready," he said...

Of course, in those months between it being passed and it being implemented, hundreds of thousands (or more) of illegal aliens could come here to take advantage of the scheme. In that time, they'd get all their fake paperwork together showing they've been working here for years.

And, of course, once it's implemented we'd see that wonderful Bush administration technical competence we saw during Katrina, in the flu vaccine shortage, in Iraq, and pretty much in everything else they've tried.

From 10/05: Chertoff promotes "Temporary Worker Program" at Senate meeting

If you too think The Skull is worthy of nothing more than ridicule, see: "Michael Chertoff apologizes for latest Rex-related deaths".