Boehner Supports A Boneheaded Boner

Border Control Must Improve, Boehner Says: House Leader Stresses Law Enforcement

I am almost ashamed to say that I once lived in the Great State of Ohio. Boehner, DeWine and a few other congress critters coming out of Ohio only seem to be able to go ultra-conservative in their way of thinking. DeWine dsiguises himself as a "moderate" but has yet to stand up for any principle. Boehner has demonstrated his own cowardice in backing off the idea of reform in terms of lobbyists, campaign finance and fund-raising efforts.

Now comes Boehner with the TRIED BUT UNTRUE "law and order only" stance on immigration and border control. Here's a hint, Boehner, old buddy... It's a big problem that requires real thinking and insight. It requires thinking outside the box and the ability to see the forest and the trees. Maybe you better leave it alone.

Plans supported by President Bush, and being weighed by the U.S. Senate, to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants are wrong-headed, and the nation should instead enforce tough border controls and crack down on people living illegally in the United States, House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said yesterday.

Even if the Senate were to combine a guest-worker program with increased border security -- a hard-fought compromise on such a measure collapsed Friday -- Boehner warned that such a plan would place "the cart before the horse."

"I'm for securing the borders and enforcing the laws," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week." "Until we do that, if you try to create a guest-worker program, all you're doing is inviting more illegal immigration."

The House has already passed a tough measure that basically calls for capturing and deporting millions of illegal immigrants -- a measure that has prompted nationwide protests from immigrant rights groups, including a gathering scheduled today in Washington that organizers expect could draw as many as 180,000 people.

The proposal by House Republicans has generated intense anger in many Hispanic, Asian and African communities, and has become a potent political issue in an election year, as politicians try to balance the growing influence of Hispanic voters in local and national politics with a possible conservative backlash.

The Senate will return to the issue in a couple of weeks and again try to craft a compromise, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said on "Fox News Sunday." Specter agreed that border security was important but said it was obvious the nation needed to deal with undocumented immigrants "in a rational way."

Besides the pressing need for change, Specter said the issue also carried "a real risk of significant political fallout," which he predicted would be a practical motivator for a bipartisan solution.

The Senate plan that collapsed Friday sought to divide undocumented workers into three groups, setting those who have been in the United States for a long time on a path to citizenship. The plan called for penalties on those who entered the country illegally, but Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a major proponent of tougher controls and sanctions, said yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation" that the penalties were trivial.

The question of whether to absorb some of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, or to deal harshly with them, has divided the Republican Party. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have called for bringing undocumented workers, predominantly Hispanics, out of the shadows, but House Republicans have warned that such a move would condone illegal behavior -- and would be tantamount to an amnesty, a term that proponents of such measures have strenuously avoided.