Congress very soon will consider amnesty/guest worker legislation. Once introduced, the Bush Administration and Democratic leaders in Congress will attempt to pass such a measure as quickly as possible.

Even if this kind of legislation were desirable - and it isn't - its promoters are totally irresponsible in rushing it to passage. The reason is that the agency that would administer these programs, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is overwhelmed with existing work and simply could not handle the demands of processing amnesty applications and overseeing guest workers.

The agency itself admits its limitations. For documentation, see The Washington Post article Immigrant Processors Fall Behind — System Overwhelmed Even Without 'Amnesty,' Guest Workers by Spencer S. Hsu, January 4, 2007; A03. The following are excerpts from that article:

"As the White House and Congress prepare to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, U.S. officials have concluded that they lack the technology and resources to handle the millions of applications for legal residency that could result from the changes and several efforts to modernize computers have gone astray. But in recent months, U.S. Citizenship Services (USCIS) officials have determined that the troubled, $2-billion-a-year agency is unable to effectively manage its existing work, much less a flood of new applications."

Another problem is that the agency is ill-equipped to deal with fraud by those who apply for its services, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As The Washington Times reported (Article: Immigration agency falters in handling fraud cases by Stephen Dinan, March 6, 2006)

"A draft government report shows the agency that would oversee any future guest worker program doesn't have a handle on fraud, doesn't do enough to deter it, and won't have a fraud management system in place until 2011."

Further compounding difficulties, the article continued, is corruption within the agency itself.

"Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican and one of those who requested the report… said from what he's seen, it's 'unrealistic' to expect USCIS to administer a guest worker program properly. 'Officials are being bribed. Visas are being given away. Green cards are being sold.' "

Thus, when we hear congressmen claiming that amnesty and guest worker applicants will face tight screening and other requirements, we must ask, who will do it? Certainly not the USCIS as it now operates. Thus we must conclude that these politicians are either very ignorant, or very dishonest.