Grave Dancing is Permissible

The immigrant bashers are dancing on the grave of the immigration reform bill, and they write me sarcastic letters because they expect me to be in mourning.

"All the Americans united to kill that stupid amnesty bill," one xenophobe wrote. "And we are going stay united, because those animals of Vicente Fox are not going to stay here. And are going to have to have to take their anchor (U.S.-born) babies also, because they are all illegals. Last night, when we heard the news, we had a celebration."

Me, too!

In fact, the bill that was before the U.S. Senate was so flawed — so filled with draconian measures to appease the hardliners — that I also felt like dancing upon learning of its demise.

A little salsa never hurts.

As it was, the bill was already going to cause more problems than it would solve. It was originally conceived as a plan to control the borders and create a path to legalization for some 12 million illegal immigrants who are already here, but a series of political compromises made the final draft quite unrealistic and unworkable.

It would have given illegal immigrants a very costly and long path to legalization, created a new underclass of workers and penalized legal immigrants by making them wait even longer for the relatives they are claiming to come here legally from abroad.

Yet conservative Republicans were not done with it. In fact, it seemed that they were determined to amend it to death.

After moving the bill through more than 40 amendments, by a 45-50 vote, the Senate rejected a motion that would have limited debate to a final 30 hours. Supporters of the effort to limit the debate need 60 votes.

That vote forced Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to do what he had promised if it became evident that Republicans were making a mockery out of the whole process.

He pulled the bill from the Senate floor and started a finger-pointing war — with Republicans and Democrats accusing each other of causing its downfall.

But there is no doubt about it; Reid was right.

Even Republicans like Sen.

Arlen Specter, R-Pa., acknowledged that "Democrats were wrong, but Republicans were wronger," explaining why he broke ranks with his own GOP leaders and voted for the motion to limit further debate and amendments.

Reid, who had sought amendments to improve the legislation, had to stop Republicans before they destroyed it.

"Senate Democrats have given Senate Republicans ample time to amend this bill, twice extending the timeline for debate," Reid said. "We have gone out of our way to make this process fair and equitable, moving through more than 40 amendments … Yet as much as they talk about the importance and urgency of immigration reform, a group of Senate Republicans has irresponsibly turned its back on border security and the 12 million people who are living in the shadows of our society."

But wait. Not so fast. There were 11 Democrats who voted with the Republican majority against limiting the Senate floor debate, which shows a failure by the Democratic leadership to rein in its troops.

It also shows that the frontline in the battle over immigration reform is not so clearly defined. Along with Specter, six other Republicans voted to limit the debate and amendments.

Who these senators are, on both sides of the aisle, and why they broke ranks with their party leaders is a subject for another column. Their motivations will be closely scrutinized by both sides of the immigration debate. Did they do it because they wanted to make the bill more compassionate or more draconian?

In the meantime, all they have done is kill a bill that was not worth saving — giving both sides an opportunity to dance on its grave.

To find out more about Miguel Perez, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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