In my years working on the issue of illegal immigration, never have I seen a more concerted—and successful—effort by the public to alter what was presented to them as an unalterable political certainty. That took a lot of phone calls, visits to congressional offices, and faxes. Staffers at NumbersUSA, with whom we (American National Council for Immigration Reform, ANCIR) worked closely on the issue, told me that they’ve sent over 700,000 faxes to congressman/senators since the bill began to take shape.
Further, many anti-amnesty groups in the Washington area and throughout the nation worked together to defeat the bill by combining their resources, the first time that has happened. It may also set a precedent to deal with similar bills in the future.
The willingness of many Republicans to break ranks also indicates the weakness of Bush’s presidency, for there are GOP office holders throughout the nation who believe that connections to Bush are a major liability in their seeking re-election. In the state of Virginia, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor, in an overwhelmingly GOP state, remained noticeably away from Bush during his campaign until the very end. But Bush will not be easily rebuffed, and I expect there will be a lot of senatorial arm twisting in the next several weeks to resuscitate the Black Death Immigration Bill.
Finally, most of your contributors understand that the failure to reach cloture is not the end of the game. Those who opposed the Black Death Immigration Bill may have won the battle, but the war is far from over. To believe that Reid and the Democrats, along with the usual suspect Republicans, have given up on passing an amnesty is delusional—they will take their time, but a bill similar in intent to SB 1348 will be resurrected.
On the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, I, along with my ANCIR colleagues, were at NumbersUSA’s Virginia Office, to call senators regarding cloture, when I heard Rosemary Jenks, NumbersUSA’s Director of Government Relations, mention that the bill “has to be killed;” that brought to my mind the Dracula analogy.
Like Dracula, the bill rests for the moment, but a similar bill will surely rise, and, under the cover of darkness, seek to achieve its objective: in this case, the death of the American nation. The only way to “kill it,” is by driving a stake through its heart, and the only way that will happen is if very strong anti-amnesty legislators are voted into power. But will that happen in ‘08?
My suggestion, then, is this: when voting in the next congressional/presidential race, think of what qualities the candidates brings with him, and then add this: will he drive a stake through the heart of Dracula?