Republicans Still Don't Get It on Immigration

(Cross-posted at The Liberal OC)

Oh my! I just looked in The Register this morning, and found this little something about what happened in the Senate yesterday. Apparently, the Republicans wanted to bring up immigration again. And once again, the Republicans had their behinds handed to them.

So what happened? Since Democrats like border security, but NOT impractical “security” measures that don’t do anything, Majority Leader Harry Reid moved to amend the amendment. He proposed adding the “Ag Jobs” provision that would allow migrant workers to work on the farms. But alas, the Reeps couldn’t have anything practical alongside their “punish the immigrants” stunt move. Nothing ultimately passed, and there’s still nothing to show for all the time the US Senate has spent this year on immigration.

So why can’t Republicans understand that a complicated problem like immigration needs a comprehensive solution? Punishing the immigrants and deporting them en masse won’t do anything to solve this problem. Doing something about the corporate employers that illegally hire these people will. And so will fixing the trade policies that have weakened Latin American economies, leading these poor people to flee north out of desperation. But of course, this would mean that all those huge corporate donors to the GOP wouldn’t have cheap labor to exploit both down south and up here. Now could we ever allow for THAT?

So let’s just tell it like it is. The Republicans don’t get it on immigration. They will blame the immigrants for everything, but not actually do something about the corporations causing this crisis. Lame.