Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided to add language to the Defense authorization bill that would give young illegal immigrants a path to citizenship if they have been in the United States for longer than five years. To qualify, they also must have come to the country before the age of 16 and have completed at least two years of college or two years in the military.
"We have large numbers of our military who are Hispanic," Reid said Tuesday in the Capitol. "I think it's really important that we move forward on this legislation . . . Kids who grew up as Americans should be able to get their green cards after they go to college or serve in the military."
I suspect that I dislike Harry Reid, a.k.a. "The Human Ambien," more than most people, but I like his pitch above. I don't like that he's attaching it to a defense authorization but that's how crap gets done in D.C.
And as a double mitzvah, the Mormon from Searchlight, Nevada is also pushing for a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," one of the most misguided and useless policies in recent memory.
Illegal immigrants who show that they've come here to work or (god forbid!) serve in the military or even those who go to college should have a path to citizenship. The day the U.S. is deporting hard-working non-criminals is the day that we've jumped the shark as an "experiment" worth caring about.
Is Reid pandering in a desperate attempt to get reelected? You bet he is, but again, that's how stuff gets done in D.C. And I'd rather he pander on the side of the angels than what he did back in 1993, when he called illegals "free loaders and scam artists" and wanted to kick them way out of the country.
