Tel-Chai Nation: Bill Frist sells out

Republican Senator Bill Frist was someone I was initially considering suggesting as a presidential candidate. Alas, he clearly does not want my support, and he certainly won't be getting it now. Seems that he's caved in on the illegal alien problem by siding with Democrats who want to provide amnesty for the illegals (notice how the headline for this AP trash confusingly says "Congress nears deal on illegal immigrants" when it's really the in Senate where the problem is taking place. I know they may all be under one roof, but they're still two different systems, aren't they?). As Ed Driscoll says, we've been Fristed.

Human Events Online (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin) reports that Tom Tancredo is mad, with good reason:

The Democrats have once again used parliamentary tactics to obstruct the Senate from pursuing its priorities. The only difference this time is that Senator Frist let them. By surrendering to the amnesty demands of Democrats and squishy Republicans, Frist squandered a great opportunity to secure our borders and gain control of our broken immigration system.

"The Senate amnesty deal is miserable public policy that will be rejected by the House of Representatives and has already been rejected by the American people. It continues the running joke that is our immigration system by treating the same crimes differently. In a perverse rendition of hide-and-seek, it grants a reward to those who evaded law enforcement for the longest time. And, as we did in 1986, it will encourage more illegal aliens to come into this country in the hope of yet another amnesty.

"The Senate's amnesty authors don't dispute that their deal will offer blanket amnesty to at least 10 million illegal aliens -- everyone who entered the country illegally through 2004. But they wouldn't be dealing honestly with the American people if they failed to state what will happen with the additional two million or more illegal aliens who came here more recently. No illegal alien with half a brain would admit that they came here after 2004. And how could law enforcement tell? The Senate deal asks people who have broken the law for years -- often using fraudulent documents -- to provide proof that they've lived here. I can guarantee that many of those fraudulent documents – which law enforcement hasn't been able to detect yet -- will be used to obtain legal status.

"Handing out legal identification to millions of illegal aliens will expose our nation's Achilles' heal more quickly than almost any single action this Congress could take. Just this morning, the International Relations Committee heard from a whistleblower at USCIS -- the agency that would be charged with screening the 10 million illegal aliens -- who documented the massive fraud and mismanagement in that agency. USCIS has a security backlog in the millions and, in order to reduce the backlog, is encouraging adjudicators to approve visas in fewer than four minutes. It is no secret that two-thirds of foreign-born terrorists operating in the U.S. committed immigration fraud prior to or in conjunction with their terrorist activities. Piling 10 million more applications on USCIS is suicidal in terms of national security."