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Abstract

The House Republican leadership recently released its Standards for Immigration Reform, which amount to little more than a repackaging of the flawed and harmful Senate bill. The principles of the House leadership match up almost exactly with the framework laid out by the Senates Gang of Eight for the Senate bill. Both chambers promise new enforcement, border security, and visa reforms in exchange for amnestya costly, unfair, and unworkable policy that didnt work in 1986 and wont work now. Congress should reject dangerous policies that do not fix the problems of the U.S. immigration system but only make it worse. Rather than repeat the mistake of 1986, the House leadership should focus on how it can encourage President Obama to enforce existing law.

The House Republican leadership recently released its Standards for Immigration Reform.[1]Regrettably, these standards amount to little more than a repackaging of the flawed and harmful Senate bill. The principles of the House leadership match up almost exactly with the framework laid out by the Senates Gang of Eight for the Senate bill.[2 ]

The House. It is the fundamental duty of any government to secure its borders, and the United States is failing in this mission. We must secure our borders now and verify that they are secure. In addition, we must ensure now that when immigration reform is enacted, there will be a zero tolerance policy for those who cross the border illegally.[3]

The Senate. To fulfill the basic governmental function of securing our borders, we will continue the increased efforts of the Border Patrol by providing them with the latest technology, infrastructure, and personnel needed to prevent, detect, and apprehend every unauthorized entrant.[4]

Analysis. There is next to no difference between the Senate bill and the House principles. It is well known that the Senate bill directs billions of dollars to border security and uses flawed metrics that do not effectively measure how many immigrants are still illegally entering the U.S. every year.[5] The Houses Border Security Results Act sets up similarly misguided metrics and requires at least 10 additional reports for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to give to Congress, half of which are recurring.[6] While the proper metrics can be important, ultimately what is needed are actual results, which neither the House principles nor the Senate bill can ensure.

The House. There will be a zero tolerance policy for those who cross the border illegally or overstay their visas in the future. Faced with a consistent pattern of administrations of both parties only selectively enforcing our nations immigration laws, we must enact reform that ensures that a President cannot unilaterally stop immigration enforcement.[7]

The Senate. We will demonstrate our commitment to securing our borders and combating visa overstays by requiring our proposed enforcement measures be complete before any immigrant on probationary status can earn a green card.[8]

Analysis. While the two are very similar, here the Senate bill actually makes enforcement more difficult by providing the executive branch with additional discretion and waivers.[9] What the House principles and the Senate bill have in common on this point is that neither the House nor the Senate has a way of ensuring that the President will actually enforce the law. The House may claim that it does, but, if the President already disregards current laws, how can the House really ensure that President Obamaor a future Presidentwill respect a new immigration law?[10] Ultimately, both the Senate and House promise more enforcement, but neither can actually deliver it.

The House. A fully functioning Entry-Exit system has been mandated by eight separate statutes over the last 17 years. At least three of these laws call for this system to be biometric, using technology to verify identity and prevent fraud. We must implement this system so we can identify and track down visitors who abuse our laws.[11]

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House Standards for Immigration Reform Nearly Identical to Flawed Senate Bill