Bury the Bill

Bury the bill. This was the message delivered directly to the multi-million dollar mansion of Senator Dianne Feinstein this foggy, cold Saturday morning in San Francisco. To the surprise of the immigrant rights activists who showed up, Feinstein herself came out to meet them. Originally her husband came out saying Dianne was still sleeping. But the assembled activists wanted to send their message directly to the Senator, and eventually (to her credit) she did come out.

But her message was unyielding. She insisted the activists on her doorstep must not understand the bill or have the wrong facts. This bill does provide a path to citizenship and the raids will stop as soon as the bill is law, she insisted. She reminded us that she represented all of California, not just San Francisco, and that most of her letters and calls about the bill have been from the "right wing."

Fine Senator - this Saturday you are hearing from the left wing then. We don't always send letters; sometimes we just show up at your door. And we aren't as ignorant as the right-wingers.

We know that the "path" to citizenship is more like a steep trail, full of land mines, brick walls, and other obstacles and hazards. Assuming all the conditions are met - including further militarization and fortification of the border - and you have a completely clean record and several thousand dollars; and assuming you can return to your home country and wait for months if not years; you may be granted citizenship. Meanwhile more detention center will be built (your welcome again Halliburton), more fence, censors, cameras, etc. will be added to our border, and more border patrol agents will be hired. Meanwhile a guest worker program will bring in just enough workers to satisfy corporate America - but those folks can't really stay. We just need them to come, work, help build this country and our economy, and then we want them to leave.

And there is NO guarantee that the raids will stop. The vast majority of immigrants without documentation will not utilize the new process because they won't be able to afford it and will probably be unwilling to do it (it is ridiculous after all). So Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers can still go after these folks, and since the new bill increases employer sanctions - they will still have plenty of workplaces to raid.

Senator Feinstein said it was hard for her to believe that anyone could describe living in San Francisco as living in a "police state." Certainly not in her Pac Heights paradise, but the immigration raids have gone on all over the Bay Area. As she returned to her mansion, you could see some of her hired help inside. It would be so much easier to keep her place clean if she could just get that Z Visa thing passed.

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