Posted on 02/11/2005 10:55:36 AM PST by Jim Robinson
The shot heard around the Internet has been fired on FreeRepublic.com The owner Jim Robinson and his moderators have launched a sniper style purge against members that disagree with the President’s ‘guest worker’ amnesty or support more control of illegal immigration. Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country.
The problem for the administration of the site is that their creation is allowing the participants to learn that the Bush immigration record and plans are shockingly out of line with the views of most conservatives. The management’s answer to this conflict between the majority of conservatives and the influence of the White House on their Web site has become electronic executions and censorship.
Members and readers of Free Republic would be surprised to know that many members of their community have fallen silent on the discussions about illegal immigration lately because free speech is an illusion on FR.com. They are silent because they have been banned from the Web site without warning, cause, or explanation in most cases. For weeks the moderators have been suspending and banning new members that chimed in quickly on the immigration debates.
Now this trend has broadened as the first groups of long-term users were suspended or banned this past week. Although Robinson and his staff removed many members of the Free Republic community in the first few days of the purge, those that religiously support President Bush’s immigration plan, open borders and approve of public benefits for illegal aliens remain on the forum. Those that were banned were the members that wanted more done to control illegal immigration and a strict observance to the President’s Oath of Office.
I wish I knew.
LOL, I see your point.
Our immigration code is rife with nuanced regulations that illegals and advocates can use to game the system.
I have always advocated that we jerk it all up by the roots and toss it.
we need to rewrite it around a new paradigm so that these unintended and multiple levels of abuse are cleared up.
To start, business regs are allowing the hiring of illegals because business cannot be held liable for fraud on the illegals part. It is rampant, but that does not address the millions of small operation that operate totally dark and under the radar.
this needs to be cleared up and stppedbefore a single immigration reform can ever be passed.
No reform will succeed until the sugar is removed that causes the ants to trail in.
Do you have the authority to tell other posters to leave the forum? Are you one of the moderators?
Exactly, I and others have pointed that out to Dane on several occasions but he seems convinced conservatives are just itching to pull the lever for her.
Yup.
Actually, the necessary reform has to address two problems...
Porous borders and employers. I know, that's probably over simplified, but both issues need to be addressed to correct the current problem.
Thanks.
I resemble those comments...
Apply your same arguments to Haitians, Cubans, Mexicans and drug smugglers illegally entering from the coast and tell me what the solution is.
One more post in the storm. If I understand Jim's comments correctly, he is acting in a responsibe manner to deny some people and organizations access to his site on the grounds that they are inflammatory, vulgar, and nonsensical. Perhaps this was done without warning, which ruffles feathers a lot, but this is his site and it is his decision. We do need to solve the open borders and illegal immigrants issues to the satisfaction of (most) everyone.
That is also mythical. How do they know what solution will or will not work? Just because they don't like the solution does not mean the solution will not work.
They recognize that there is a problem, and want a solution, but also understand that it is impossible to shut down the borders of the US.
It's not impossible to do anything. It's completely possible to shut down the borders; history has proven that. Anyway, no one on FR has advocated shutting down the borders, what has been advocated is shutting down the areas between the legal ports of entry and that is completely possible.
The agricultural community, for example, is heavily dependent on immigrant workers
No they are not. History has shown time and time again, technology can do the job. What the agricultural community is dependent on is their profit and you proved it by saying this: Get rid of the illegals, and the ag community will scream bloody murder, I guarantee. They don't want to have to pay the going rate for citizen workers, and that's the bottom line.
What is needed is a total revamping of our immigration system. It will be expensive and it will cause people some pain and discomfort, but that is the only real fix. Unfortunately, it will most likely never be done or be done properly
What the White House and Congress are doing, with their piece meal bills is akin to sticking your finger in a dyke. They are all little fixes that don’t address the real problem and with each fix, more pressure is placed on other areas dyke and it’s just a matter of time before another leak needs a finger.
You can't educate everyone. All you can do it try.
Welcome to the debate and I agree, hopefully it can be done soon.
He He...you said dike...
Seriously, I'm glad someone else is picking up on the analogy...or did I get it from you?
That is exactly what I meant. When I worked in South America I had to know English and Spanish both, to do my job. I am very much in favor of controlled immigration. If you look at the birth rate in the USA the demographics do not look good as we have an aging population. I do not care what the immigrants color or culture is so long as they adopt the American Culture and values as their own. That is what has made this a great country. Many cultures and people have adopted a common ideal as defined by our founding fathers. When we allow immigrants into the country and make it easy for them not to adopt our ideals, language and culture is a process that can surely destroy our country. One must also realize that some of the cultures resist assimilation into our society and many of those become a fifth column within the country. In addition some immigrants and illegals do come into this country with a political agenda to harm this country.
Controlled immigration of the right immigrants is good for our country. Currently we do not have this, and that is not good.
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