Every politician does it. Give the typical pol a podium, an audience of sheep, and the pandering automatically starts. Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt is no better or worse than any other candidate out there trying to give enough favors away to get elected. But when he made his promise to give amnesty for illegal aliens he crossed the line from pandering to encouraging criminal behavior. He made a proposal to deal with the illegal alien problem that will not solve it just as legalizing armed robbery will not solve the problem of armed robbery. Gephardt has set the citizenship bar about as low as he can in order to pander to the Hispanic community. He wants Americans to welcome people who work 40% of the time and can successfully avoid the law for 5 years while filling our schools and hospitals at our expense. He calls this "earned legalization". He wants to change the term 'illegal alien' to 'undocumented immigrant'. If a law like this passes the deserts of the American southwest will be filled with those ready to start their five year stay. They will join the estimated 22 million illegal aliens already here and who would be legible for Gephardt's program. Why have immigration laws at all? Gephardt's pandering will cost the American taxpayers billions.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform group writes:

As currently written, the Gephardt amnesty would: » Grant immediate green cards to not only the estimated 8 to 11 million illegal aliens currently residing in the U.S., but also to their spouses and minor children who may be living outside the country. In addition they would become immediately eligible for all federal and state welfare benefits available to legal immigrants. » Give the relatives of illegal aliens admission priority over the relatives of legal immigrants. » Accept attestations of continuous presence and/or employment in the U.S. in lieu of proof of the fact that an applicant has lived in this country long enough to be eligible for amnesty. » Bar the INS from deporting illegal aliens who might qualify for amnesty until final regulations are written - a period which could take years. » Qualify illegal aliens who have been deported and who subsequently returned to the U.S. Moreover, the period during which they were outside the U.S. will count towards the requirement of continuous presence. » Designate nongovernmental organizations to process applications. This is an open invitation to fraud since both the government and the public will be barred from access to their records. Among the fraudulent recipients of the 1986 amnesty was one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers. » Broadly allow denials of amnesty to be challenged in federal courts, creating the potential for years of delay and unimaginable litigation costs.

This is a very bad idea.