Immigration bill takes another step towards the “North American Union”

 

June 18, 2007 – On Tuesday, June 12, 2007 President Bush made a rare visit to the Capitol to ask senate republicans to support S.1348 – The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sidelined S.1348 on June 7^th when a motion to cut off debate about the controversial immigration bill failed.  S.1348 currently has 45 supporters in the U.S. Senate – 38 Democrats and 7 Republicans.  It will require 60 senate votes to overcome a filibuster expected by those senators adamantly and rightly opposed to S.1348. 

 

Some republican senators have expressed concern about the funding to “secure” the border between Mexico and the United States.  They fear that if S.1348 is passed, the funding for building a fence, hiring additional Border Patrol Agents, and installing sensors, radar, and cameras will not be delivered in a timely and meaningful manner.  To win over a few of these senators, on Thursday, June 14, 2007 President Bush called for $4.4 billion in accelerated funding for “securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site.”  Every vote counts and by making this proposal, Bush moved S.1348 closer to becoming law.  Responding to the anticipated votes the accelerated funding will generate on the republican side of the isle in the U.S. Senate, late Thursday night senate leaders announced that S.1348 would be revived perhaps as early as next week. 

 

Most Americans that have an opinion on the immigration bill are concerned about the proposed plan that will apply to the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants that are currently living in the United States.  The majority seem to favor deportation and providing for an actual secure border in which no person could cross illegally.  Deportation and preventing reentry is what many people want.  Anything else proposed is considered amnesty.

 

The Bush Administration and many in the U.S. Congress insist that rounding up 12 to 20 million people and deporting them is not a viable plan.  Attempting to soften the position of some of his republican critics and those Americans that favor deportation, Bush said while speaking at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast held on Friday, June 15, 2007, “We must meet our moral obligation to treat newcomers with decency and show compassion to the vulnerable and exploited, because we’re called to answer both the demands of justice and the call for mercy.”  No doubt, most attendees of the Hispanic Prayer Breakfast are not in favor of mass deportation.  If Bush / Cheney does anything right – it’s staging their audiences carefully. 

 

According to South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a key republican supporter of S.1438, the bill does not provide amnesty because it will require illegal immigrants to enter a probationary status, pass a background check, remain employed, and maintain a clean criminal record.  After fulfilling their probationary requirements, illegal immigrants will be able to apply for a Z Card, pay a $1000 fine, meet accelerated English and civics requirements, remain employed and renew their visa every four years. Z Card holders will then have the opportunity to apply for a green card, but only after paying a $4000 fine, applying at the back of the line and waiting until the current backlog is cleared, returning to their home country to file their green card application, and demonstrating merit under the merit-based system as outlined in S.1348. 

 

Graham, along with nearly half of the U.S. Senate, also supports the enactment of the Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) as expressed in S.1348: The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.  Graham explains, “We establish a new comprehensive employment verification system – for all workers including Americans – to ensure that people are in the country legally and eligible to work.”  “For all workers including Americans” means that you and every other American will be required to prove to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that each is in the United States legally, and eligible to work.  This intrusive and potentially oppressive provision is found in Title III of S.1348. 

 

What Senator Graham fails to amplify is the fact that he also supports Section 274A of Title III that defines Identification Documents.  Section 274A reads:  In the case of an individual who is a national of the United States; a driver’s license or identity card issued by a State, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or an outlying possession of the United States that satisfies the requirements of division B of Public Law 109-13 (119 Stat. 302) – this is the type of identification you and I will have to obtain and present to the DHS if we hope to continue working legally in the United States.

 

What is division B of Public Law 109-13 (119 Stat. 302)?  Public Law 109-13 is the REAL ID Act.  On Wednesday, June 13, 2007 South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford signed a resolution declaring that South Carolina will not participate in the implementation of the REAL ID Act.  South Carolina joined 32 other states that have either opted out of the REAL ID Act or have bills pending.

 

By defying the will of his constituents in South Carolina – by supporting REAL ID provisions in S.1348 while the state he represents has rejected REAL ID, Senator Graham is making a strong case for why its time to demand the repeal of the 17^th Amendment.  Prior to the 17^th Amendment, U.S. Senators were elected by statehouses. 

 

United States Constitution, Article I, Section 3

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.    

 

Amendment XVII

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

 

When elected by the state legislature, a U.S. Senator could be recalled.  In this instance, South Carolina voters could demand that their state representatives and senators take action against Senator Graham immediately for his support of REAL ID act provisions found within S.1348. Graham supporting a pathway to citizenship for “illegal” immigrants already angers many South Carolina voters.   If they knew about his support for EEVS and the REAL ID component, we the people could actually witness a grassroots effort in the Palmetto State to repeal the 17^th Amendment.  The fact that Graham is up for reelection in 2008 might be the only thing that tempers such a movement. 

 

Rightfully, many informed Americans are up in arms over EEVS and the REAL ID Act.  The fact that the DHS will be empowered to approve your inalienable right as an American to labor, and therefore grants the federal government the power to potentially impede or delay your enjoyment of the fruits thereof, should push even apathetic Americans to lock, load, and fire for effect.  But it gets worse.

 

Enter the North American Union.  The concept of a North American Union originated within the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  Founded in 1921 by bankers and industrialists, the CFR is the invisible government of the global money power.  In its mission statement, the CFR refers to its influence as its legendary convening power. 

 

The Atlanta Roundtable, a CFR – North American Union working group, held its second session on October 17, 2001 to discuss the future of North American integration in the wake of September 11^th 2001.  Gordan D. Giffin and Robert A. Pastor led the discussion. The transcript of this meeting reveals that Mexican President Vicente Fox met with President Bush on September 4, 2001 and proposed the legalizing of anywhere from three to seven million Mexican illegal immigrants in the United States.  Based on 2001 estimates of Mexican illegal immigrants living in the United States, the seven million represented all of them.  Today the number of illegal Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. is estimated at twelve to twenty million.  The goal of the North American Union is to legalize all of them.  Most prominent lawmakers and powerbrokers in Washington DC, democrat and republican alike, are either members or associates of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

 

At the October 17, 2001 Atlanta Roundtable, Pastor recommended:

 

• A single North American parliamentary group to provide oversight and governance for Canada, Mexico, and the United States
• A customs union that establishes a common external tariff and removes customs requirement between the countries
• A perimeter formula that would put together a North American core of immigration and customs law enforcement officers
• A North American Development Fund so that all three countries contribute a proportion of their wealth to help with education and building infrastructure in Mexico

   

Giffin recommended:

 

• Enhance the movement of a legitimate person so that more time can be spent on the illegitimate person.  We need to document people and goods so that they move more quickly, i.e. a North American Pass that requires a cursory background check.

Remember, these Atlanta Roundtable recommendations were made on October 17, 2001 - almost six years ago.  What has transpired since that time?  In the SPPNA joint statement released by Bush, Fox, and Martin on March 23, 2005, the three trilateralist leaders stated:

 

• Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. must develop new avenues of cooperation that will make our open societies safer and more secure
• A trilateral effort to increase the security, prosperity, and quality of life of our citizens is needed
• Security and prosperity are mutually dependent
• Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. must consolidate our efforts within a North American framework
• Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. must reduce regional disparities and increase opportunity for all. 
• Streamline the secure and efficient movement of legitimate, low-risk traffic across our shared borders
• Establish working parties led by our ministers and secretaries that will consult with stakeholders in our respective countries

 

Here’s what Robert A. Pastor had to say while testifying before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 9, 2005:

 

• The best way to assure security is not at our borders with Canada and Mexico and not by defining “security” in conventional and narrow terms
• What we need to do now is forge a North American Community, based on the premise that each member benefits from its neighbor’s success and is diminished by its problems
• Instead of stopping North Americans (Americans, Canadians, Mexicans) on the borders, we ought to provide them with secure, biometric Border Pass that would ease transit across the border like an E-Z pass permits our cars to speed through toll booths
• NAFTA has failed to create partnership because North American governments have not changed the way they deal with one another.  Dual bilateralism, driven by U.S. power, continues to govern and irritate.  Adding a third party to bilateral disputes vastly increases the chances that rules, not power, will resolve problems

 

Pastor continues:

 

• This trilateral approach should be institutionalized in a new North American Advisory Council
• The Commission or Council should be lean, independent, and advisory, composed of 15 distinguished individuals – 5 from each nation
• Its principal purpose should be to prepare a North American agenda
• It should evaluate ways to facilitate economic integration, producing specific proposals on continental issues such as harmonizing environmental and labor standards and forging a competition policy

Pay particular attention to the biometric Border Pass for North Americans – Americans, Mexicans, and Canadians - that would ease transit across the border like an E-Z pass permits our cars to speed through tollbooths.  Does that sound like securing the border to you?  To the contrary, the CFR proposes opening up the borders between Canada, Mexico, and the United States by implementing a trilateral identification database for 440 million people living in the three countries. 

 

Is language that supports the CFR plan for a North American Union found in S.1348 - The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007?  In some sections, it’s almost word for word. 

 

Section 113 of S.1348 is titled Reports on Improving the Exchange of Information on North American Security.  When speaking of securing North America, the architects are referring to securing Canada, Mexico, and the United States. 

 

Recall that at the 2001 CFR Atlanta Roundtable the idea of a perimeter formula to secure North America was presented.  And while testifying before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 9, 2005, Robert A. Pastor said, “The best way to assure security is not at our borders with Canada and Mexico and not by defining “security” in conventional and narrow terms.” 

 

In Sec. 113 (b)(1) of S.1348 it clearly outlines the goal to develop common enrollment, security, technical, and biometric standards for the issuance, authentication, validation, and repudiation of secure documents, including travel documents such as passports, visas, and permanent resident cards.  This goal applies to Canada, Mexico, and the United States – North America – trilaterally.

 

Later in Sec. 113 of The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, it is expressed that the United States will explore methods for Canada, Mexico, and the United States to waive visa requirements for nationals and citizens of the same foreign countries.  Sound familiar? 

 

• Instead of stopping North Americans (Americans, Canadians, Mexicans) on the borders, we ought to provide them with secure, biometric Border Pass that would ease transit across the border like an E-Z pass permits our cars to speed through toll booths (Robert Pastor – Council on Foreign Relations) 

 

And then there’s Sec. 113 (3): VISA POLICY COORDINATION AND IMMIGRATION SECURITY – The progress made by Canada, Mexico, and the United States to enhance the security of North America by cooperating on a visa policy and identifying best practices regarding immigration security including the progress made--

 

• Developing and implementing an immigration security strategy for North America that works towards the development of a common security perimeter by enhancing technical assistance for programs and systems to support advance automated reporting and risk targeting of international passengers
• Sharing information on lost and stolen passports on a real-time basis among immigration or law enforcement officials of Canada, Mexico, and the United States

 

As demonstrated, much of the language found in Section 113 mirrors the goals of a North American Union as expressed by the Council on Foreign Relations.  Section 114 removes any doubt as to whether the Council on Foreign Relations is in the process of furthering its North American Union goals, which will be to the detriment of the American people.

 

Section 114 of S.1348 is titled, Improving the Security of Mexico’s Southern Border.  Now why would the President of the United States and nearly half the U.S. Senate be pushing an immigration bill that calls for the improving of the security of Mexico’s southern border?  That’s the border between Mexico and Guatemala and Belize! Isn’t that border out of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Senate?  Isn’t that border out of the jurisdiction of Bush / Cheney?  If what the politicians like Senator Lindsey are telling the American people were true – that S.1348 will actually secure the border between the United States and Mexico – then why would there be any need for concern regarding Mexico’s southern border?   Mexico’s southern border is Mexico’s problem – not the problem of the United States, unless the border between the United States and Mexico will not be secured. 

 

• Instead of stopping North Americans (Americans, Canadians, Mexicans) on the borders, we ought to provide them with secure, biometric Border Pass that would ease transit across the border like an E-Z pass permits our cars to speed through toll booths (Robert Pastor – Council on Foreign Relations) 

If S.1348 passes – welcome to the North American Union.  DHS issued papers please.