In the Senate, 14 Republicans cared enough about genuine border security to negotiate the toughest and most expensive border contrrol measures ever, amounting to $46.3 billion dollars according to ABC News (see below). They then actually voted for a real immigration reform bill incorporating their principles, known as the "Border Surge".

Whatever one may think about throwing away $46 billion dollars on 20,000 more border patrol agents and high tech equipment to line the pockets of defense contractors, at least this kind of good faith negotiation is the way that our democracy is supposed to work.

"You want legalization and a pathway to citizenship? Fine -  give us more drones and border fences and we have a deal." This is in effect what 14 Senate Republicans promised CIR supporters, and they were true to their word.

Not so with most House Republicans. For them, border security is not something to be negotiated and agreed on. It is just an empty slogan, a way to stir up fear and hate of Latino and other minority immigrants.

As this bloging has pointed out before, "Border Security" in 2013 is the functional equivalent of "No Amnesty for Illegals" in 2007 and "No Irish Need Apply" in the 19th Century. It is nothing more than a way to persuade hard right immigration opponents to bring CIR crashing down in flames once again.

A July 8 ABC News article by Ted Hesson: Are House Republicans Blowing Smoke on the Border? makes this crystral clear (as if it were not already obvious).

Hesson writes:

"The big spending on border security was meant to drown out opposition to a core Democratic provision in the [CIR] bill: a path to citizenship for some of the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants.

So a vote for the border surge would also be a vote for citizenship. And the majority of House Republicans don't appear ready to take that leap."

Hesson continues:

"But say those House Republicans do get the border legislation they want. Even in that scenario, it still seems like a stretch to believe a majority of the House GOP would then embrace citizenship for the undocumented.

So maybe what we have is less of an alternative plan, and more of a smoke screen."

abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/house-republicans-walk-tightrope-border-spending-/print?id=19610321

Since there is no CIR wihout the pathway to citizenship, it appears that most House Republicans are only interested in using border security as an excuse to kill CIR, So what else is new?