No, Marco Rubio’s reform plan does not give free cell phones to immigrants

There will be much to say about what cheap iphone 5 cases is found in Senator Marco Rubio’s immigration reform proposal, but one thing it does not contain, contrary to rumors, is a plan to hand out free cell phones to immigrants.

I happened to be reading Manjarres’ post just as Rubio’s office issued an official response, and the first thing that jumped out at me was that the quoted language does not propose funding “cell phones”; it’s talking about satellite phones, which are not the same thing. An explicit requirement for living or working in desolate areas that don’t receive cell-phone service is also set.

This is a very far cry from the outrageously abused Lifeline program that tossed out free cell phones to welfare recipients, largely on the honor system until recent reforms, which meant some individuals were strolling away with half a dozen “free” phones. It’s not surprising that people would be nervous about another Lifeline boodoggle taking root, but that’s not what we have here. It cell phones for sale wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep an eye on this language, and every paragraph of the bill’s 844 pages, to make sure it doesn’t mutate as rolls through the radioactive mad-science laboratories of Congress, and xsdsREed2 it’s fair enough to ask if this provision really belongs in an immigration reform bill, but we should characterize its current language accurately.

In addition to enhancing technology and fencing at the border, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013” includes a provision to give rural residents and business owners near the Mexican border access to cell service and phones so they can quickly report border violence to the police and the Department of Homeland Security.

Rubio pointed out that his bill is pointedly meant to address border security as well as immigration reform, and this sat-phone plan can be readily seen as part of the security strategy. Sadly, as a skeptic of the whole comprehensive immigration reform business, I would venture that cheap cell phone cases might be one of the few elements of the security strategy that will actually produce verifiable results. We’ll be able to find out where those sat phones are used, and who gets called on them. Couldn’t the bill specify that the phones be locked into contacting only emergency services, police, Border Patrol, etc? Would it be unreasonable to limit the program’s beneficiaries to U.S. citizens, not resident aliens with work permits, if language elsewhere in the bill does not already do so?