Tom Sowell points up a little-discussed aspect of the Senate proposal to amnesty illegal aliens: the affirmative action angle. Most of the people living here illegally — including all Central Americans, under the “Hispanic” label — be eligible for affirmative action programs and “diversity” quotas in hiring, contracting, college admissions, etc. They would thus go to the head of the line in many situations, in front of native-born U.S. citizens. And this would be true EVEN BEFORE THEY GOT CITIZENSHIP, as the quota and “diversity” rules kick in as soon as you are legally resident.
Native-born U.S. citizens, and people who entered the country lawfully would, unless they belonged to some preferred category of “historically disadvantaged” persons, be left, ah, living in the shadows.