"Enforcement Triggers" Not Triggered By Actual Enforcement

Smart, tough. Just what I expect from the government.

Kaus notes the "triggers," which really could be entirely ignored by a president determined to build a legacy on amnesty anyway, aren't even of the results type. They're of the attempt sort. The triggers are pulled when so many border agents are hired and so many border-patrol vehicles are bought -- not when it's demonstrated those men and vehicles are actually deterring, detaining, and deporting illegals. Inputs -- how much we throw at this -- rather than outputs -- how much we actually accomplish.

There's Bush's conservative principles in action again -- "Judge me by my intentions!"

And even the inputs are meager.

He also catches Michael Chertoff already announcing his delight at beigg empowered to take ICE agents off illegal immigrant duty -- in other words, while the amnesty proponents are promising tough new enforcement of immigration laws, they're simultaneously promising they'll be more effective in catching drug-dealers because they no longer will be devoting precious manpower enforcing mere immigration laws.

Ah, I see now. I guess I missed Section 4, pararaph 5 of the bill which states that "To the extent it complies with the US Constitution and state laws, the fallacy of reductio ad absurdum is deemed suspended as it may apply to this bill."

posted by Ace at 05:00 PM

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