Smoke On The Border
Today DHS Sec. Chertoff heads for South Texas in an attempt to move immigration reform off the dime. As Marc Cooper notes below ("White House Signals Immigration Compromise,") Bush may be willing to support the Pence / Hutchison plan.
This comes on the heels of Chertoff's announcement of 100% "catch-and-remove" on the southern and northern borders, as reported by LARA LAKES JORDAN for AP. (This begs the question, however, of how many are not being caught on any given day; catching and deporting one while ninety-nine make it through is no big deal. And we know that nearly half of the 12-20 million "illegals" are really "overstays," people who entered legally on visas and then never left.)
Meanwhile, business isn't buying what the Republicans are selling, as SARAH LUECK writes for the Wall Street Journal.