by Matt Saldaña
Photo by Stephen McDill
July 3, 2007
WJNT talk radio host Kim Wade, inflamed by Sen. Trent Lott’s support of an immigration compromise bill that failed last Thursday, partnered with NumbersUSA—a self-described “immigration-reduction organization”—to deliver a signed petition against immigration reform to Lott’s Jackson office on June 19. On June 28, 53 U.S. senators successfully voted to halt any reconsideration of the bill.
Wade described his association with NumbersUSA, which paid for TV advertisements promoting the petition, as one of “kindred spirits,” since they are both opposed to “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. That buzzword may have been key in derailing the compromise legislation, which included a provision for heads of households, after paying a fine of at least $5,000, to return to their native countries and wait up to 13 years before potentially qualifying for U.S. citizenship.
Wade told the Jackson Free Press in a phone interview that he believed “amnesty” referred not only to this path to citizenship but also to an amnesty of all crimes committed by immigrants in the U.S.
“If you look at the bill, they’re waiving all the felonies that they may have committed in their country of origin, or here in this country, and allowing them to become citizens,” he said. “What do you think all the uproar is about?”
An amnesty for all felonies committed by immigrants in the U.S. has never been a part of the bill.
[View the entire article at the Jackson Free Press.]