All is not well with the immigration bill. Senator Vitter (R., Ala.) told Laura Ingraham today that Marco Rubio’s characterization of the proposal as a Republican idea to which Democrats have come around is incorrect:
“No I don’t agree with that. I think they started, first of all, at more or less the same place…I think both sides changed some positions on some minor issues, but they started in a very similar place, which was the same old combination…of an immediate amnesty with the promises of enforcement. . .And, of course, that never seems to work out because the amnesty kicks-in the millisecond the bill is signed into law. The promises of enforcement never quite materialize.”
Vitter refuted Rubio’s claim that border security will be fixed before illegal immigrants are given amnesty:
“What Marco is saying and admitting is that we are going to give them a new legal status on the front end before any of these promises of enforcement play out one way or another… that is the big mistake that was made before. We cannot make it again.”
Given the rate at which this bill is moving, the Gang of Eight appears to disagree.