It looks like the 1200-page immigration bill is an inevitability in the Senate. Enough Republicans joined the Democrats to vote in favor of invoking cloture on an amendment that proponents claim will boost border security.

There is no guarantee that any new set of immigration laws will ever be enforced. There are laws on the books right now that are not enforced.

It is illegal to be an illegal alien. There are laws that specify what constitutes an illegal alien and what should be done to restrict and prosecute. Even so, there are tens of millions of illegal aliens in the United States.

Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)

What makes any of us think that any new law will be followed or enforced? There are so many legal loopholes and caveats that we will never see any enforcement.

We’re becoming a third-world country where, quoting Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), “there is no good faith. . . . Treaties are scraps of paper; constitutions, printed matter; elections, battles; freedom, anarchy; and life a torment.”1

All 52 of the Democrat senators who voted were joined by 15 Republicans to invoke cloture which moves the bill one step closer to passage:

• Lamar Alexander
• Kelly Ayotte
• Jeffrey Chiesa
• Susan Collins
• Bob Corker
• Jeff Flake
• Lindsey Graham
• Orrin Hatch
• Dean Heller
• John Hoeven
• Mark Kirk
• John McCain
• Lisa Murkowski
• Marco Rubio
• Roger Wicker

Make note of these votes for 2014 and beyond. I’ve heard that recall elections are being planned for Flake and McCain.

1. Quoted in Edward Coleson, “The American Revolution: Typical or Unique?,” The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Symposium on Christianity and the American Revolution, ed. Gary North, 3:1 (Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon, 1976), 177. [↩]