The Latest | Immigration Nation

Irish-Americans Oppose Anti-Immigrant "BRIDGE to Nowhere"

Alaska's money-wasting "Bridge to Nowhere" went so very well, anti-immigrant forces are trying to pass their own destination-less BRIDGE, no matter how costly and impractical it might be.

The BRIDGE legislation, introduced by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Frank Kratovil (D-MD), has been dubbed the second "BRIDGE to Nowhere" because it focuses solely on enforcement -- in a deeply flawed, non-viable manner -- without fixing the elements of our immigration system that just don't work. Afton Branche, immigration researcher for the Drum Major Institute, points out several of its flaws: mandatory use of E-verify for all employers, which would bar many U.S. citizen and legal residents from work due to serious errors in this system the bill gives zero thought to remedying; support for an ineffective border security system; and "no-amnesty" rhetoric that means no provisions to address the 12 million undocumented immigrants now living, working, and studying in the U.S. Basically, it's all tough-on-enforcement talk, no real solution