Surprise! Gang of Ocho immigration bill offers amnesty, not border security

thisistwitchy | 12:55 PM on April 17, 2013

The “Gang of Ocho” bill is finally here. As expected, it is very heavy on amnesty and very light on border security.

Illegal aliens will be eligible for “provisional legal status” just six months after the bill is signed into law.

According to Conn Carroll of the Washington Examiner, the only trigger the Obama administration will have to meet before then is the submission of two strategies to Congress:

180 days after the bill passes, the secretary of homeland security must submit two strategies to Congress before any “immigrant in undocumented status” can be granted “registered provision immigrant” legal status. One strategy must be titled “Comprehensive Southern Border Security Strategy” and must outline how DHS plans to spend $3 billion securing the southern border. Another strategy must be titled “Southern Border Fencing Strategy” and must outline how DHS plans to spend $1.5 billion building more fencing on the southern border.

Wow, DHS has to submit not one but two strategies! What a tough trigger!

In order for those with provisional legal status to subsequently become citizens, DHS must simply claim that the border is secure. Here’s Conn again:

There is no way for Congress or a private citizen to challenge a DHS claim that the border is secure. And even if DHS did admit the border was not secure, all that happens is the creation of a Border Commission whose only power is to issue a report on how DHS should spend another $2 billion. No actual border security, our border fence, must be achieved.