| There is a new school of thought emerging about what Bush will say tomorrow night about immigration. The theory is that Bush has been listening to his new spokesman, Tony Snow, and Snow has convinced Bush that the American people want strict border enforcement, and are largely against anything that looks like amnesty. Therefore, Bush will come out Monday and retract his proposal for a guest worker program, and announce a new direction that will feature increased border enforcement. As evidence of this new turnabout, pundits have cited the announcement by Bush that the National Guard will be sent to the border to help with enforcement.
I say that this school of thought is breathtakingly naïve. The Bush administration is doggedly determined to ram this immigration guest worker package down the throats of the American people, and they have hired Tony Snow to help with the ramming. There will be nothing in the speech tomorrow that indicates that Bush is retracting his push for open immigration.
Sending the National Guard to the border is nothing more than a prop in the charade. It is symbolic message to the American people in an attempt to satisfy their number one demand that the border be enforced before we even consider anything like a guest worker program. However, the National Guard on the border will not actually be used to prevent illegal entry. It will not be a tool to control illegal immigration. It will be a tool to change the beliefs of the American people by creating a phony show that the government is getting tough on border enforcement. | |
