Bureaucracy Bursting Immigration Reform

Well, Representative Scott Garrett has found an illegal immigration bill he likes enough to sign a discharge petition to force a floor vote without it going through the committee process. The reason process is important is because sometimes you get a bill with some REALLY bad provisions.

I took the time to read Rep. Shuler's HR 4088, and here are a few things I noticed right off the bat:

In a loophole big enough to float Noah's Ark through, individuals seeking to skirt the law could either use an established religious institution or create one, and bring in as many "missionaries" as they wanted without fear of prosecution. All they have to do is show their missionary has been part of the church for a year. As long as they aren't paid, there is no limitation on what the "missionaries" could do once here.

My guess is there would likely be lots of new churches, mosques and temples "helping" their neighbor with home construction, landscaping, car washes, and tons of other "fundraisers" to support their "mission"; which may provide them housing, food, clothing, etc. Indentured servitude, anyone? [Title I Subtitle E. Sec. 141 (b)(1)(C)(5)(2)(C) or page 37];

Foreign companies are able to win contracts to run the programs and Congress doesn't need to be notified until 60 days after they start working, and there's no guarantee they have to hire Americans to perform their tasks. [Title I Sec. 112(b)(1)];

Any employer who has an employee with a problem with their Social Security number will have to terminate employees 10 business days after the employer is notified of the issue if it is not resolved. I know people who have been trying for years to fix such problems, but there is no provision for continued employment if the process has begun but is unresolved. [Title II Subpart A Sec. 202(a)];

There were at least 7.6 million people working two jobs in January of this year, all of which would have to either go to a social security office or electronically submit their paystubs to the government to prove they really are having to work two jobs. Apparently, this has to be done before any of their payments into the system are credited. Get a different part time job, back to the Social Security office.

The passport backlog was blamed on a surge of roughly 8 million applicants. Somehow, I doubt Social Security will have much more success in dealing with a crush of people roughly the same size just when more baby boomers are set to retire. [Title II Subpart A Sec. 202(b)];

Another thing I noticed, while the bill appropriates $200 million to the Department of Homeland Security for new equipment, there is no appropriation to Social Security for the increased work load. It seems to be a bit of a blank check.

I'm surprised Garrett would want to fight for a bill that has an open ended funding commitment and would explode the size of several bureaucracies within Washington. He's not usually the type to be so hot and bothered to pick a fight on a bill that spends money we don't have and grows the size of government exponentially.

It's not that the bill doesn't have some very common sense approaches to dealing with illegal immigration that should be considered. It's just sometimes the process is there for a reason, and the reasons listed above are just a few examples of what's wrong with this bill.