President Bush: Immigration Reform Is Not Amnesty

Mary Benoit
JBS
Saturday June 2, 2007 

Just days before the Senate reconvenes, President Bush gave another press briefing in which he addressed the importance of passing a comprehensive immigration bill. (To view the video of Bush's speech, click here.)

President Bush centered his press briefing on some of the main concerns in the Senate immigration bill — amnesty being the main concern. In his briefing President Bush said:

If you want to kill a bill, then you just go around America saying, this is amnesty. In other words, there are some words that illicit strong reactions from our fellow citizens. Amnesty is when a person breaks the law and is completely forgiven for having done so. This bill isn't amnesty. For those who call it amnesty, they're just trying to, in my judgment, frighten people about the bill.

But Americans should be frightened. In 1986 Congress passed, and the President signed, the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The law which was supposed to place closure on America's immigration crisis only worsened the problem. Since 1986 many more illegal immigrants have flooded into our country illegally, in hopes of taking part in the next amnesty program. It is only logical to conclude that a similar bill would produce similar results.

After President Bush insisted that the proposed immigration legislation is not an amnesty, he continued by saying:

This bill is not amnesty, but it recognizes that it is impossible for this country to rout people out of our society and "send them home." It's just not going to happen.

How is that for double-speak?

According to Webster's Online Dictionary, the word "amnesty" is defined as follows:

1. A period during which offenders are exempt from punishment.
2. A warrant granting release from punishment for an offense.
3. The formal act of liberating someone.

In the end, millions illegal immigrants would be in the United States on a legal basis. Though writers of this bill cleverly disguised amnesty with certain restrictions — such as monetary fees for illegal entrance into this country, or lengthy citizenship requirements — providing legal status to lawbreakers is nothing short of an amnesty program.

The Senate is scheduled to reconvene on June 4. The immigration debate is at the top of the agenda and many lawmakers are desperate to get it passed before the presidential campaigns go into full swing. Don't let your representative, your congressman, or even your president use sensational arguments to sugar-coat the disastrous amnesty proposals currently being debated in Congress.

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