Hooked on illegals?

That's the conclusion that one would have to come to when it comes to the "border fence" security measure. Don't get me wrong--I'm all for making the flight of illegals to the U.S. all the more harder.

Too bad those in Congress and the Senate don't. If you think that those in our legislative branch have finally gotten religion with regard to getting serious about illegal immigration, think again:

Analysis: Congress wobbles on border fence

By MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Senior News Analyst

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The new border security bill hammered out by the U.S. Congress last week was about politics far more than security.

Writing for CNN, columnist Ruben Navarette called it "immigration reform for Dummies."

The new bill makes much of building 700 miles more of security fences along the border. But it nowhere suggests imposing sanctions on U.S. employers who hire illegal aliens. That would be the surest way of shutting down the economic magnet that lures hundreds of thousands north from Mexico every year.

Kinda like replacing tires on a car to fix a transmission problem.

Given the unequivocal message that has been sent by voters to legislators, one can only shake one's head in wonderment as to their half-hearted attempts to solve the problem. When it comes to solving illegal immigration, only one thing is clear. They don't want to (emphases mine):

The fact that both houses of Congress have been working so feverishly to craft an acceptable border security bill before the midterm congressional elections in November therefore speaks volumes about the rapidly growing importance that illegal immigration and border security are taking on the U.S. political stage. But in contrast to the blizzard of legislation that swept through Congress to beef up homeland security, reorganize the federal government, and to fund the wars on terror and in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years after Sept. 11, 2001, the versions of the border security bill that have emerged in Congress are striking for how anemic they are.

That is because while al-Qaida and other extreme Islamist groups had no voting constituencies in the United States worth courting, illegal immigrants do.

For there are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, the overwhelming majority of them Hispanic, and the largest single group within those Hispanic speakers are from Mexico. But there are already around 39 million citizens of the United States who are of Hispanic origin or who are Spanish-speaking. The challenge in crafting the border security bill therefore for both Republicans and Democrats is to be able to show constituents progress on the issue that will make them feel safer without angering or alienating significant Hispanic-American elements of society at the same time.

In other words, to do much that results in nothing. Symbolism over substance.

I guess there's nothing left to do, but say,

"¡Bienvenido a los Estados Unidos!"