Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is proposing a border security plan that sounds very similar to Hillary's. I don't know which politician decided to go this route first, and I don't care, but I like the general thrust of the idea: border security first, and then deal with the existing 12 million plus illegal immigrants second. I'd be much more amenable to a path towards legalization for the illegal immigrants who are already here if I were confident that there weren't another dozen million waiting in the wings. As it is, I trust Hillary zero and Bill Frist only a little more, but at least they're making the right noises.
When it takes up the immigration reform, the Senate must address border security, worksite enforcement, and the status of the 12 million people who are currently here illegally. But to build confidence among Americans and Congress that the government takes border security seriously, we have to act to help get the border under control right now.By Memorial Day, the president plans to sign an emergency-spending measure, which we will use to fund this next step in border security. Democrat obstructionism on the larger immigration bill, I hope, will end before that. So far it has not: Minority Leader Harry Reid has acted to block the Senate from even voting on proposals like a ban on convicted felons taking part in temporary-worker programs.
Under any circumstances, security has to come first. We don't know how many criminals, gang members, and terrorists might have snuck across in the 20 years since Congress last made serious reforms to our immigration system. We need to know who is in our country, and why. A comprehensive immigration bill will allow all levels of law enforcement to focus on those who threaten to do us harm.
(HT: Glenn Reynolds.)
Senator Frist has been talking about the Security First Border bill for many months on his web site, long before Hillary got involved.