Fig leaves wilting! It looks like the requirement that the Border Patrol catch 90% of illegal crossers–reported by the WSJ and touted by both Marco Rubio’s chief of staff and  my colleague Matt Lewis as an example of the ” tough border enforcement measures” in the Gang of 8 immigration amnesty bill–has turned out to be evanescent, like so many of the other promises  amnesty boosters have pitched to conservatives.

Of course, the 90% “trigger” was never a barrier to legalization–illegal immigrants will get that more or less immediately under the Gang bill, or maybe as soon as Department of Homeland Security comes up with a border “plan.” The supposed “trigger” would only be hurdle if these amnestied legalized immigrants subsequently sought “green card” status, which would in turn open the possibility of  citizenship. But it turns out even this half-fake lock-the-barn-door trigger doesn’t really trigger anything. If the DHS doesn’t meet the 90% goal, what happens? According to the NYT:

If, after five years, border officials have not reached the surveillance and enforcement goals, the bill establishes a border commission to advise the Department of Homeland Security on how to reach its goals, with additional financing of up to $2 billion.

A commission!  It’s an insult to conservatives that Sen. Rubio thinks they can be taken in by a bit of Washington schlock that cliched. Couldn’t the Gang of 8 come up with some fresher BS? …

P.S.:  Good thing for the DHS that the 90% “goal” is meaningless–the latest drone data shows the Border Patrol catching 410 out of 7,333 border crossers in Arizona between October and December–or a rate of  less than 6%, if I’m reading the story correctly.

P.P.S.:  The search for Marco Rubio’s manhood is now focused on a wooded area near the Maryland border … Rubio’s “triggers” don’t prevent instant legalization, the new “90%” requirement is fake, and his call for “multiple hearings” has been brutally denied by Sen. Patrick Leahy ( “Why don’t you let me set the schedule, and we’ll make sure you get a copy of that,” Leahy told a reporter).  Rubio keeps losing the fig leaves that are supposed to make amnesty palatable to border-control Republicans. If he still sticks with the Gang of 8 plan, doesn’t it become obvious that he was just posturing? …