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It was an asinine Senate bipartisan agreement for which the term “lesser of two evils” was specifically coined. I refer, of course, to the nutty immigration bill, S. 744 that both Republicans and Democrats have apparently agreed to bring to a vote within a week or so to clear the “path to citizenship” for the roughly 11 million or so undocumented Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. As always it was the Democrats who caved to a clever ploy by the Republicans.

Senator John Cornyn, recently hit the hustings floating a proposal that the government would have to prove it was apprehending 90% of people crossing the border illegally before the green card process could even begin. Question; how are you going to have any idea of what percentage of illegals you’re grabbing? That could make for an open-ended time frame that could run to decades. The Cornyn amendment was voted down so what remains seems relatively harmless to naive Democrats.

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In its place is a program that is expensive as hell given the inclusion of a double-layered 700-mile southern border fence. Last Tuesday the Senate voted down another distasteful amendment by South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune that would have required the entire 700 miles of fence to be built before an undocumented immigrant could apply for citizenship.

Here’s what remains. Come 2029 at the earliest and likely a few years beyond, most undocumented Hispanics living in the U.S. will be able to call themselves bona fide Americans. That’s an estimated 10 years of putting the border security program in place, followed by a green card (a permanent resident who can’t vote) of five-year’s duration, then an N400 application for citizenship ($675), another 12 to 18 months for processing. That is if the 10-year timeline holds. Then there are $2,000 fines, possible back taxes, job requirements, processing fees, tests and interviews; in short a nightmare of right-wing roadblocks.

Here’s a site that shows how the process usually goes

S.744 is going to add 20,000 border patrol agents. Toss in that 700 miles of fencing and for good measure make use of the president’s favorite toy, unmanned drones for surveillance, not to mention an array of “fixed and mobile devices to maintain vigilance.”

See any Republican contradictions here? Let’s start with the price tag; $25 billion just for the additional border agents according to the NY Times. Over a ten-year span, cost overruns will double the fencing cost, whatever that is.

Would-be Republican presidential aspirant, Marco Rubio, one of the original Senate “Gang of Eight” (the gang that thwarted filibuster reform by the way) are co-sponsors of S. 744 introduced back in April. Rubio loves the latest version. He was initially concerned that border provisions wouldn’t be tough enough.

This latest bill is nothing more than buying well over a decade of time for Republicans.The House is about to consider the issue in a number of little niblets of legislation, all time-consuming. Republicans do not want any of the 11 million undocumented workers to become citizens no mater what’s in the legislation. That’s because citizens can vote; permanent residents cannot.

House Speaker John Boehner has been quoted as saying that the House plan “must have the confidence of the American people that Hispanics here illegally won’t get special treatment and hard-working taxpayers must be respected. Whatever the hell that palaver means.

Meanwhile, the nation’s Tea Party crowds have worked themselves into a lather over the issue. Their calling immigration reform “amnesty” and the sites I’ve visited hate the idea of what they consider a free pass for Hispanics. The Caldwell Tea Party is representative of all of their Tea Party and Patriot Brothers and sisters. Here’s the Caldwell exemplar I’m talking about. See for yourself!

A Senate vote is possible by the end of next week. How will the House delay true reform? Let me count the ways.