The delicate immigration reform negotiations in the Senate were supposed to pass a bill that allowed undocumented immigrants to earn American citizenship -- because that is the entire point of doing immigration reform, for reformers. It is also, apparently, supposed to make the process, and America's immigration system in general, as inconvenient as possible -- for conservatives who wish to see immigrants punished for their border crossing -- without making the process so punitive that liberals could no longer support the bill.
Late in June, two Republicans, Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and John Hoeven (N.D.), inserted an amendment into the Senate bill to strengthen security at the American border with Mexico. No Democrats opposed the measure in a "test vote" before the Senate's passage of the larger bill. The amendment's proposals are referred to as a "border surge," because "surges" are a great thing in Washington ever since "the surge worked" became a very popular catchphrase for a while. (Washington is full of very simple-minded people, on the whole.) So we will "surge" the border, just like we "surged" Iraq, and, like Iraq, we will Win the War, against Mexico and Mexicans.
