{"id":17814,"date":"2021-01-20T19:59:32","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T01:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=17814"},"modified":"2021-01-20T20:11:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T02:11:17","slug":"in-which-we-learn-that-biden-isnt-a-moderate-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2021\/01\/in-which-we-learn-that-biden-isnt-a-moderate-after-all.html","title":{"rendered":"In which we learn that Biden isn’t a moderate after all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3A100203houston_lg.jpg; By U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), www.ice.gov. Please credit by saying \u201cPhoto Courtesy of ICE\u201d. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>Let\u2019s start with immigration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember the \u201cpath to citizenship\u201d and \u201cearned legalization\u201d promises? \u2014 that is, the claim that a mass legalization program would not be \u201camnesty\u201d because there would be hoops to jump through rather than an automatic process and because the prospective new citizens would have to prove their worthiness?<\/p>\n

Turns out, the requirements for future residents will be few in the new Biden proposal. According to the Biden website<\/a>, the only requirement for \u201cundocumented individuals\u201d to apply for temporary legal status is to have been present in the United States before January 1, 2021 (or to have one\u2019s claim be accepted \u2014 one wonders what standards of proof there will be for newly-arrived individuals working under the table) or to have been deported during Trump\u2019s presidency after having lived here for three years.\u00a0 After five years, such individuals can apply for green cards if they \u201cpass criminal and national security background checks and pay their taxes\u201d which the document calls \u201can earned roadmap to citizenship\u201d but \u2014 I\u2019m sorry, in what world does \u201cpassing a background check\u201d (that is, not committing crimes severe enough to be deemed disqualifying) and \u201cpaying taxes\u201d (which will, generally speaking, for the income levels of poor immigrants, really mean receiving tax refunds from the EITC and child tax credits, or cash back from withholding because they hadn\u2019t filed taxes in the past, or be irrelevant if they\u2019d been working under the table and claim to have had no income) constitute \u201cearning\u201d anything?\u00a0 \u00a0In any case, as they will have already been given temporary status and, since Biden has repeatedly pledged not to deport anyone, nor to take away anyone\u2019s temporary status, one presumes individuals who wouldn\u2019t pass the background check or would have a real tax liability simply wouldn\u2019t bother with next steps, nor would they need to.\u00a0 In any event, the last step to \u201cearning\u201d citizenship would be the standard requirements for citizenship, but, unlike the usual requirement of five years\u2019 residence as a permanent resident<\/a>, these newly legalized people would need only three years of green-card status.<\/p>\n

At least versions of the \u201cDREAMERS\u201d proposals required a GED.<\/p>\n

What else does his legislative proposal include?\u00a0 It eliminate the \u201c3 and 10-year bars\u201d which prevent people who have been deported once already from seeking legal status after they re-enter.\u00a0 It allows immigrants who are being sponsored by their family members (that is, adult siblings and extended family) to come immediately rather than waiting on a wait list (again, this is claimed to be \u201ctemporary\u201d but that\u2019s meaningless).\u00a0 It \u201cclears employment-based visa backlogs\u201d \u2014 meaning that anyone who wants a foreign worker can get one.\u00a0 It \u201cimproves access to green cards for workers in lower-wage sectors\u201d (what this means is unclear), gives H-1B workers\u2019 dependents work authorization and seemingly gives their children permanent residence (prevents them from \u201caging out\u201d).\u00a0 It \u201cincentivizes higher wages for non-immigrant, high-skilled visas to prevent unfair competition to American workers\u201d \u2014 which makes no sense in light of prior statements that visa backlogs would be cleared.<\/p>\n

As to border enforcement, it is solely concerned with preventing narcotics\/contraband, not the illegal crossing of persons; with respect to the latter, its concern is solely with their welfare through additional aid beacons.<\/p>\n

And what about enforcement?\u00a0 \u201d The bill requires that DHS and the Department of Labor establish a commission involving labor, employer, and civil rights organizations to make recommendations for improving the employment verification process.\u201d\u00a0 This does not suggest an intent to increase the degree to which \u201cemployment verification\u201d prevents illegal immigrants from presenting false or stolen identification in order to work.\u00a0 Involving \u201clabor, employer, and civil rights organizations\u201d suggests instead that \u201cimprovement\u201d is intended to mean \u201cless effective,\u201d not more, based on complaints that there are occasional issues of hiring being delayed due to mix-ups.<\/p>\n

Now, maybe this is Biden\u2019s opening bid, and his strategy is simply to stake out these demands and then make concessions to allow for greater enforcement.\u00a0 But as a statement of principles, this bodes ill.\u00a0 No enforcement along the border, no enforcement at the point of employment, no enforcement with respect to crimes of identity theft:\u00a0 all of this promotes exactly what is already the perception of illegal immigrants anyway, \u201cit\u2019s inconvenient to work under the table or with false IDs but there\u2019s nothing actually wrong with it.\u201d\u00a0 And if someone here on January 1st, 2021 gets legalization, what about the next generation, after their sad stories are in the news, when they aren\u2019t eligible for Social Security benefits or food stamps, or the \u201cDREAMERs\u201d who arrived as children on January 2nd, 2021?<\/p>\n

And in the same way as Bush\u2019s plan in 2006 claimed to \u201csolve\u201d illegal immigration by simply giving visas to anyone who wanted one (the \u201cBlue Card\u201d in which employers could pay minimum wage to any jobseeker in the world, regardless of whether the market wage for that job was higher), so that enforcement would be unnecessary, Biden\u2019s plan claims to solve illegal immigration by reducing poverty in Central America.\u00a0 But it\u2019s preposterous to believe that Biden can craft a plan which will reduce poverty there so much that immigrants will stop coming to the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden\u2019s a moderate,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden will bring about unity and healing,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Is that a joke?\u00a0 Or is this the same old game of \u201cunity means you agree with what I say\u201d?<\/p>\n

(See also:\u00a0 \u201cBiden plans early legislation to offer legal status to 11 million immigrants without it,\u201d at the LA Times<\/em><\/a>, and \u201cBiden immigration plan opposed by GOP, conservative groups\u201d at the Associated Press<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Biden has proposed $1.9 trillion in so-called \u201cCovid relief\u201d spending the majority of which has nothing to do with Covid at all \u2014 and this as just a starting point, with promises to propose even more spending next month.<\/p>\n

He has plans for a $15 minimum wage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He will go after the Little Sisters of the Poor to compel them to fund contraceptives for employees despite the Supreme Court losses of the Obama administration, restore funding to Planned Parenthood, and advocate for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment and the implementation of government funding of abortion in Medicaid, Obamacare, and elsewhere, all while claiming the mantle of \u201cdevout Catholic.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019ll be lots more in the weeks and months to come.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

But honestly, it\u2019s the immigration bill that really irritates me at the moment, because it so clearly sets the tone.\u00a0 This is the immigration plan of someone who simply doesn\u2019t see anything wrong with someone entering the country illegally and working with a false or stolen ID or under the table.\u00a0 Concerns that wages will be driven down are to be dealt with by promoting unionization and boosting the minimum wage.\u00a0 Concerns about higher federal spending are irrelevant because of the new mantra that the government can spend near-unlimited sums of money.\u00a0 Concerns about the difficulties of integrating into the fabric of American society a large swathe of new arrivals are rejected as irrelevant \u2014 it\u2019s unjust to even expect this.<\/p>\n

And if Biden\u2019s proposals all follow this tone, we\u2019re in for a very long four years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s start with immigration. Remember the \u201cpath to citizenship\u201d and \u201cearned legalization\u201d promises? \u2014 that is, the claim that a mass legalization program would not be \u201camnesty\u201d because there would be hoops to jump through rather than an automatic process and because the prospective new citizens would have to prove their worthiness? Turns out, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[260,463,1459],"class_list":["post-17814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amnesty","tag-illegal-immigration","tag-joe-biden"],"yoast_head":"\nIn which we learn that Biden isn't a moderate after all<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's start with immigration. 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Remember the "path to citizenship" and "earned legalization" promises? -- that is, the claim that a mass legalization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2021\/01\/in-which-we-learn-that-biden-isnt-a-moderate-after-all.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T01:59:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T02:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/02\/793px-100203houston_lg.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2021\/01\/in-which-we-learn-that-biden-isnt-a-moderate-after-all.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2021\/01\/in-which-we-learn-that-biden-isnt-a-moderate-after-all.html\",\"name\":\"In which we learn that Biden isn't a moderate after all\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-21T01:59:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T02:11:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Let's start with immigration. 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