Current Illegals: Go Home? You're Nuts!! and A Link to Hewitt's Analysis

But...but...Senator McCain. George W. Bush, Ted the Swimmer and Mel Martinez said this wouldn't happen!! Could it be that they are lying to us?

...Under reforms announced last week, Gimenez would be required to return to Mexico at some point in order to secure the right to work legally in the United States, possibly paying up to 5,000 dollars in fines additionally.

Gimenez fears however that once he leaves America he won't be allowed back in. "I don't really understand that much about the bill, but I'd have to be crazy to go back to Mexico to apply for visa now that I am already in the US," he says. "They wouldn't give me a visa there."

Persuading workers like Gimenez that is in their interests to leave appears to be one of the biggest challenges facing US authorities, as they try to bring the country's 12-million strong illegal labor force out of the shadows.

In factories, markets, car-washes and laundromats, illegal workers in Los Angeles Hispanic community the same refrain: "Going home is not an option."

Oh, by the way, Mr. Gimenez has a thought on the "work permit" idea, too:

...he expected agricultural workers entering the country on seasonal visas would quite likely end up over-staying in any case.

"The work permit program is for people who want to come here for the first time -- it doesn't offer anything for people that are already here," he said. "And anyway, a Mexican farmer who comes here on a 10-month permit is going to stay here permanently anyway."

It's not hard to get the impression that the legislation is worthless, or worse...

Hewitt (who is NOT a hard-line opponent to some Immigration compromise) has been reading the Bill. His observations can be found here.