U.S. citizens suffer more severe penalties for crimes than illegal aliens

Sunday, August 18, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: amnesty, immigration reform, illegal aliens

(NaturalNews) America is "a nation of laws," we are often told by our exalted leaders, but as most of us know, the laws are not applied uniformly. Some people seem to get away with more than others, and that is especially true if you happen to be in America illegally.

Though so-called "Gang of Eight" senators, especially John McCain of Arizona, who crafted the 1,200-plus page "immigration reform" measure have been saying that criminal aliens won't be able to attain legal resident status under the bill, that's not the case at all. In fact, aliens who have committed multiple crimes will still be able to remain in the country.

"Anyone who has committed crimes in this country is going to be deported," McCain, whose home state deals with the most illegal border crossings of the four southwest border states, said recently on the Senate floor.

However, according to Washington Examiner columnist Byron York, "the bottom line is an immigrant could have more than three misdemeanor convictions in his background check and still qualify for legalization."

So much for McCain's claim.

Do the crime, don't do the time

In addition, the paper cited a chart published June 21 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a non-profit organization opposing amnesty and similar schemes, which "compares the consequences for an array of crimes and discovered that while illegal immigrants might be exonerated and legalized, U.S. citizens and legal immigrants face years of incarceration or temporary expulsion from the country."

According to the chart, illegals who commit certain crimes such as obtaining a Social Security card under false pretenses or using phony information would be eligible to have that crime waived by the federal government; Americans who obtain cards under false pretenses could be charged with a felony which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Per the Washington Examiner:

The Gang of Eight's bill would allow illegal immigrants who entered the country before Dec. 31, 2011, and committed up to three misdemeanor offenses including but not limited to assault, battery, identity or document fraud, tax evasion, to remain eligible for Registered Provisional Status. Meanwhile, U.S. citizens and persons who entered the country legally could incur up to $100,000 in fines,15 years of imprisonment, or be prohibited to reenter the country for up to 10 years.

"What it [the Gang of Eight bill] indicates is this is more than just an amnesty, it's an amnesty for all kinds of violations," FAIR's media director, Ira Mehlman, said. "We say nobody is above the law, but apparently illegal immigrants are."

No matter to the Gang of Eight, however, and - according to reports - the majority of U.S. Senators. The measure, which hasn't even been read by many of them, is set to pass at least the Senate. It's fate in the House is less known.

What is known, however, is that this bill is supported by a broad and powerful coalition of special interests with selfish, self-centered motivations. Democrats are supporting the bill because it means more future voters. Republicans are supporting the bill because their corporate and business masters want more cheap labor.

Them vs. Us on immigration 'reform'

Who suffers? American citizens already wracked by stagnant wages, sustained high unemployment and low economic growth.

"When incomes are adjusted for inflation, the median American worker earns less per week now than he or she did 10 years ago. The employment-to-population ratio has not been lower in decades. Unemployment remains very high," writes Fred Bauer at National Review. "The Economic Policy Institute has argued that 'the main problem in the labor market is a broad-based lack of demand for workers - and not, as is often claimed, available workers lacking the skills needed for the sectors with job openings.' And still the Gang of Eight's immigration bill insists that one of our principal problems is too few workers - or too few workers with the right skills, or too few workers willing to work for too little. Much of the evidence seems to suggest that we have a very slack labor market, not a very tight one."

According to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, two-thirds of all Americans oppose providing illegal aliens a "path to citizenship" - or, amnesty, by any other measure.

So why are our elected leaders supporting this bill? You should ask yours.

Sources for this article include:

http://washingtonexaminer.com

http://www.mcall.com

http://www.nationalreview.com