Immigration Debate: Republicans Thinks Illegals Are 'Scourge'; Ted Kennedy Agrees With Bush

Rep. Tom Tancredo said illegal immigrants are "a scourge that threatens the very future of our nation".

That should tell you all need to know about the level of the debate on this issue.

Meanwhile, the AP has a story on how the debate is heating up in the Senate-

Founded by immigrants and praised as a haven for the oppressed, the United States now is struggling to decide the fate of as many as 12 million people living in the country illegally.

The Senate takes up the emotional debate on the heels of weekend rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people protesting attempts to toughen laws against immigrants...

...Democrats have said they will do everything they can to block Frist's bill. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Sunday that legislation creating tougher enforcement does not do enough.

"We have spent $20 billion on chains and fences and border guards and dogs in the southern border over the last 10 years," Kennedy said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "And it doesn't work. What we need is a comprehensive approach. I think President Bush understands it."

IT'S THE APOCALYPSE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

All kidding aside, here's the bottom line for me- While I by no means condone people coming here through illegal means, this current debate is less about the importance of addressing immigration problems and more about politics. Right-wing nasty election-year politics. One issue that the President's base has always disagreed with him on is immigration. The conservative base hates immigration. And not just illegal immigration. They'd prefer not to admit it, but they hate immigration in general. Border's closed. We're full up. Ellis Island is closed. No more foreigners, please, we're building a big fucking wall across the whole damn border... One could say, in fact, that a large chunk of the conservative base is a bit racist and/or xenophobic.

It is to this base that these Republican politicians are playing to now as a way of a) appeasing their (xenophobic) concerns, and b) distancing themselves from an unpopular President of their own party. Of course, Republicans have zero issue with illegal immigrants when they're mowing their lawns or working the night-shift for slave wages at Walmart.

And that's where the President comes in. He's the voice of moderation on the issue. He wants to encourage immigration and even help those who came here illegally to get jobs and eventually become legitimate citizens. Of course, this doesn't mean that ol' Bushie's gone liberal on us. He just knows that his top base- BIG BUSINESS- wants these cheap, illegal workers and the President shall not deny them it.

Both sides of the conservative divide on the issue are pretty nasty to look at.

Of course, the main issue is that we currently have immigration laws in this country. Good, solid laws. The problem is that these laws are simply not enforced. People- just enforce the existing laws and knock this lunacy off. Why pass draconian new laws when we don't enforce the sane laws we have now? Let's stop this "build a wall" BS and have a real, grownup discussion on how to make the existing laws work to keep the level of illegal entries down while respecting the importance of America's rich history of immigration.

Can we please be grownups here? Thank you.