Sunday, May 20, 2007

The Full Immigration Bill Is Now Available, With a Table of Contents

Here. Much of the bill is stuff like this, which requires an enormous amount of searching of the current U.S. Code to really figure out what it means:
SEC. 213. PROHIBITION OF THE SALE OF FIREARMS TO, OR THE POSSESSION OF FIREARMS BY CERTAIN ALIENS.

Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(a) in subsection (d)(5)--
in subparagraph (B), by striking `(y)(2)' and all that follows and inserting `(y), is in the United States not as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence';
Huh? Well, if you go to 18 USC 922(d)(5), and do the striking and insertion this:
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person -
...
(5) who, being an alien -
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(26)));
becomes:
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise
dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person -
...
(5) who, being an alien -
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y), is in the United States not as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence;
I'm still not exactly sure if this makes any real difference or not. It appears to be a housecleaning measure because 8 USC 101(a)(26) has changed, but that would require tracking down what those changes were. At first glance, it does not appear to have made any real change--but I really can't be sure without spending a lot of time analyzing it--and who has time to do this for hundreds of pages of changes like this?

Here's a concept: Congress passes a bill that says this:

1. Build a wall.

2. Aggressively prosecute the existing laws against unlawful entry.

3. Aggressively prosecute the existing laws against employing illegal aliens.

It would be about three or four pages long (if that), and would do what the majority of Americans want.

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