everyone on this thread says welfare is the problem. but everyone is obsessing with restricting immigration instead of welfare reform. strange. and suspicious. I think a lot of them have other motives for restricting immigration that they can't admit in public.
I notice you just joined in November, 2003. Welcome to FR.
thank you. I hope to participate in more interesting discussions like this one.
Well how about the fact that these immigrants are voting democratic/socialist.
The dems game plan is to dilute the conservative vote with new arrivals.
Read this
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Clinton’s Subtle, but Historic, Redefinition of U.S. Immigration Policy
January 10, 2001
Commentary by Ira Mehlman Federation for American Immigration Reform Spokesman
The Clinton Administration is now a part of history, and historians are just getting started assessing the Clinton legacy. There will be plenty to keep them busy.
Among the records set during the Clinton years was the largest sustained wave of immigration in America’s history. Some 10 million new immigrants arrived in the U.S. during his presidency, and by the time he left offices there were nearly 30 million foreign born residents, accounting for more than 10 percent of the population.
But perhaps more significant than the sheer numbers of people who settled here during the Clinton years, was the dramatic redefinition of the purpose of immigration policy and the relationship between immigrants and their adopted country. Two subtle, but significant shifts occurred during the last eight years that are worth noting: U.S. citizenship was turned into a political commodity, and immigrants became America’s “customers.”
After losing control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 election to the Republicans, Clinton embarked on a program to reshape the electorate in a way that was more to his liking. In addition to using his considerable powers of persuasion to win back public support, he set about creating a new American public. The administration directed the Immigration and Naturalization Service to mint new citizens in time to vote in the 1996 elections. Under the direct control of Vice President Gore, the Citizenship USA program was tasked with naturalizing as many noncitizens as they could possibly find in time to participate in the next election.
The plan succeeded. Democrats have eliminated the Republicans’ majority in the Senate and have significantly eroded their advantage in the House. An analysis of voting patterns across the country shows that voting by new citizens has been the deciding factor in numerous elections, and in nearly every case, has broken to the Democrats’ advantage.
That immigrants are playing a significant role in American politics is nothing new. What changed during the Clinton years is that altering the political landscape became an objective of immigration policy. In much the same way as employers have used immigrants to change labor market conditions to their advantage, the Clinton Administration used them to create an electorate more to their liking.
The second subtle, but important, change that occurred under Clinton was a redefinition of the relationship between immigrants and the American nation. One of the priorities set forth by Clinton’s INS commissioner, Doris Meissner, was to improve the agency’s “customer service.”
Certainly no one who has ever dealt with INS would dispute the need for improvements in the way the agency treats those who are going through the immigration process. But Meissner’s repeated description of immigrants as “customers” was more than a matter of semantics. The choice of words reflected a very significant change in attitude.
In the past, immigration was seen as policy designed to serve the interests of the nation. As such, there was a general belief that it was the responsibility of the immigrants to go the extra mile to accommodate themselves to the social, cultural and linguistic norms of the country. As customers, that relationship is reversed. It is the nation that must bend over backwards to accommodate the “customers,” and provide whatever services and programs they need.
Under the customer model, if immigration creates overcrowded schools, or exceeds the capacity of public health care system, you don’t reduce immigration. Instead you build as many schools and emergency rooms as the “customers” require. Under the customer model, it doesn’t matter whether immigrants have marketable skills, or that more than one-third have less than a high school education. It becomes the nation’s obligation to deal with the needs of the immigrants.
Very often it is the subtle policy changes of a presidential administration that define its legacy. Clinton’s subtle manipulation of immigration policy could prove to be among the most long lasting imprints he leaves on America.
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We had the rats on the ropes in 1994 but Slick Willie pulled a rabbit out of his hat and got back in the game.
Its all about votes. Why do you think the democrats are for maintaining a high legal immigration rate and granting amnesty to illegals ?
Please stop with the Jesse Jackson playbook, it's not going to work here.
I ain't talking about amnesty. I'm talking about unconditional, free immigration for all able-bodied persons without a criminal record. everyone has a right to the American Dream.....19 posted on 12/28/2003 11:39:15 AM PST by gawd
.....but everyone is obsessing with restricting immigration instead of welfare reform. strange. and suspicious. I think a lot of them have other motives for restricting immigration that they can't admit in public.
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You're quite a "holier-than-thou" trash-talking troll on this thread, aren't you, gawd?
You have claimed that every individual on the Planet Earth has a "right" to immigrate to the U.S. although that opens up the door to six Billion people.
You now imply that anyone who might to think that opening up the place where you live to six Billion people must be some sort of racist.
In Post 186, I challenged to put your actions where your Utopian drivel is and open your house to ten homeless people that I would find and whose transportation to your front door I would personally finance.
In case you missed it, the post is pasted below.
I have not heard back from you yet, dawg.
What's the matter, dawg? Are homeless people not good enough for you? Are you a racist that is afraid their color might not be right? Are you just a blowhard that's all trash-talk and no action?
Here is your chance to put your Utopian rhetoric into action.
Draw up that legally binding contract and I will pay the tranportation for those 10 homeless people so that you can share your house with them.
After all, they have the right to the American Dream and you believe than nobody has a right to restrict those who might want to move into the place where you live.
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186 posted on 12/28/2003 3:29:59 PM PST by Polybius
Go to Mexico, as a non-Mexican citizen, and try to set up housekeeping and get a job in violation of Mexican immigration laws and see how far you get before Mexican law falls on your head like a ton of bricks. stupid mexican laws are not an excuse for stupid american laws.
But you believe, as you noted in another post, that everyone on the Planet Earth has a "right" to the "American Dream" and that there should be no controls whatsoever on immigration.
As another poster mentioned, that would include 300 million untouchables from India, 400 million Chinese, 100 million Bangla Deshis and on and on and on.
You believe that unlimited entry by outsiders into where you live is a "right" of those outsiders and you call those who disagree "stupid"?
Tell you what, talk is cheap.
Back up your Utopian rhetoric with action.
If you promise to permanently share your house with them, I will personally walk the streets and homeless shelters of Seattle to find ten homeless people to move in with you.
Draw up that promise as a legally binding contract and I will sign that contract obligating myself to pay airfare for those people from Seattle to your nearest major airport and taxi service from the airport to your front door.
And you will be welcomed if.... you bring the facts and leave your bigotry behind.