re: "Moving Immigration Reform To The Right"

Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters gives an update on immigration reform.

Money quote(s):

"(S)ubsequent briefings by White House officials shows a plan that would put more hurdles in place for citizenship and limiting access to workers only, a move that will lose some of his support from the Left"

"Immigrants can get their families into the country on special visas once they have established themselves in the US. Republicans want that ended or curtailed when it comes to normalizing illegals currently in the US, and want a policy that focuses on the labor needs of the US rather than the family needs of the immigrants. Democrats will almost certainly object to that kind of policy change, which would make passage -- or even a floor vote -- a more remote possibility."

&

"(W)e have to start taking steps to resolve at least the national-security aspects of the problem. That means closing the border first, which Bush says has already started to happen. Crossings have dropped and surveillance has increased via high-tech systems designed to discover and track border crossings.

Once we have confidence in our border security, we have to identify those illegals in the country and determine whether they are a threat. That becomes a lot easier if we have a system in place for illegals to self-report and normalize. In order for that to happen in a short time frame, we have to be willing to incentivize it through some kind of legal residency, using a process that acknowledges their illegal status and paying a penalty for it. If we can make that happen, then finding the few who really represent a threat to the US will be much easier and would make much more efficient use of law-enforcement resources, without threatening the civil liberties of citizens and legal residents."