Arlen’s full of it

Strange as it may seem, there appears to be some dispute by Senator Arlen Spector as to what amnesty for illegal immigrants means. While many in the GOP oppose the immigration bill that recently passed the Senate Judiciary committee because of the amnesty provision, Spector claims that the bill does not provide for amnesty at all.

Moments later, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, bluntly rebutted his fellow Republican. “I want to disagree with him head on. It is not amnesty,” he said. Specter said illegal residents would have to be current on their taxes, undergo background checks and clear other obstacles before gaining a place on a “citizenship track.”

Well, that’s a creative way to look at it, I’d say. Let’s take a look at what Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary says the meaning of the word “amnesty” is.

One entry found for amnesty. Main Entry: am·nes·ty Pronunciation: ‘am-n&-stE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ties Etymology: Greek amnEstia forgetfulness, from amnEstos forgotten, from a- + mnasthai to remember — more at MIND : the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals - amnesty transitive verb

So, clearly the fact that the bill states illegals must be current on their taxes, have background checks etc. doesn’t change the fact that under the bill the government will be granting a pardon to millions of people who entered this country illegally. But besides the semantics involved, does anyone really think that these illegal immigrants will really be held to those criteria? And, what happens if they aren’t? I find it highly doubtful that the people who don’t meet these standards  will be deported.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 6:29 am and is filed under Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | 19 views | Trackback | Print this page |

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