US relief package for illegal immigrants to be unveiled Wednesday

Hindustan Times ^ | Washington, January 4

[DeaconBenjamin]

US President George W Bush is expected to unveil some protection and relief to an estimated eight million illegal immigrants or undocumented workers in the US.

Officials said that the Bush plan to be unveiled on Wednesday would contain a new system to help workers who want to enter from Mexico or other countries if they have jobs waiting for them in the US.

It would also include a mechanism for some undocumented residents to continue working in the US and get on a path to legal status.

Undocumented workers now pay billions of dollars annually into Social Security but do not collect benefits because they give their employers fraudulent Social Security numbers.

The Bush plan would propose protections for the Social Security taxes paid by the workers.

[Syncro]

Undocumented workers now pay billions of dollars annually into Social Security but do not collect benefits because they give their employers fraudulent Social Security numbers.

Well, they are criminals and shouldn't get any of the money.

And if they pay BILLIONS into SS and don't take any out, why isn't SS solvent?

The truth is they send BILLIONS of untaxed dollars to Mexico every year.

[Syncro]

Reagan regreted offering blanket amnesty to illegals back in the mid-1980`s

Yes, and he didn't get their votes then, and President Bush will not get their votes now.

They will still vote for the ones that pay all their doctor bills and welfare payments.

Voter fraud will be rampant as it was in 2000.

[Syncro]

When the last amnesty took place there were an estimated 300,000 illegals here.

When the amnesty was declared, 3 MILLION applied and were granted amnesty.

They just flooded over the border.

Got papers to "prove" they had been here for years, and then got legal status.

[Yaelle]

i would really like to see how many are paid on the books, as opposed to off the books.

Don't politicians love to say that the backbone of employment in this country is the small businesses? You know they can all easily hire illegals off the books. And not even full time or steadily. They can hire them for a week, a month, a day.

What about health insurance for the illegals, too? Shouldn't we all pay more premiums so that the documentless among us can have insurance? When are the insurance companies going to get in with the banks and see how they can profit?

[DustyMoment]

I took it heavily on the chin a week or two back from the Bush-bots for suggesting that Bush was a RINO. Seems I have some company, now.

Here's the bottom line, folks: Venting our outrage here at FR may make us feel better, but it doesn't accomplish anything. We need to start writing letters and making phone calls to the WH AND our elected reps to express our displeasure. It can't be a timid "I'm really, really upset about this" kind of communication, it's got to be "If Bush wants a second term, he's got to go through me . . . and, if this immigration thing goes through, he's gone!" Tell the Congresscritter that his/her job will go with Bush if they vote to support it.

If losing your free speech rights under CFR didn't stir you up, make THIS the issue that you fall on your sword over. America is OUR country and we either stand up and take it back now, or plan on learning Spanish so we can communicate with our new masters. Bush, his daddy and the Dept. of Homeland Security (what a joke) Secretary Tom Ridge are NOTORIOUSLY soft on illegal immigration and they need to hear an earthshattering roar of outrage from American citizens before they back down on this issue.

I already sent Bush my letter and the following is only a portion of what I wrote him:

"Next month you will meet with President Vicente Fox to renew immigration talks. Here are the results I would like to see from those talks:

1) The U.S. would demand that Mexico begin enforcing the sovereign borders that divide the US and Mexico,
2) The U.S. would demand that Mexico impose punitive measures on repeat illegal immigrants,
3) The U.S. would demand that Mexico stop encouraging Mexicans to immigrate illegally to the US,
4) Mexico and the U.S. would come to a substantive agreement on a guest worker program that would benefit both Mexico and the US and, when it was over, ensure that those guest workers return home,
5) Mexico would begin investing some of the profits from its oil revenues from Pemex into developing new industries that would keep potential illegal immigrants at home,
6) The U.S. and Mexico would develop a joint task force that would penetrate the Hispanic communities in the US to arrest and deport illegal immigrants,
7) Establish meaningful and substantive fines for those employers who hire illegal immigrants.

I fully expect none of that to occur. Given yours and Secretary Ridge’s historically soft stance on illegal immigration, I expect that more Americans will be displaced from their jobs by illegal aliens. In recent years, the caliber of illegal aliens coming to this country from Mexico are better educated and have taken professional, white collar jobs from American citizens of equal or better education. Rather than the stereotypical peons living in squalor to eke out enough of an income to support family in Mexico, many of these recent “immigrants” have college educations, live in up-scale neighborhoods and drive SUVs."

If the future of this country isn't important to you, just waste your bandwidth complaining here and do nothing. If it means something to you, pull out your Olivetti and start typing; withhold campaign contributions to ANY politician from ANY political party that wants to support this idiocy. Above all, let the pols know how angry you are.

Comprende, amigo?

[Bikers4Bush]

He'll lose my vote.

[JustPiper]

The Bush plan would propose protections for the Social Security taxes paid by the workers.

And?

[William Terrell]

Undocumented workers now pay billions of dollars annually into Social Security but do not collect benefits because they give their employers fraudulent Social Security numbers.

How would this work, exactly? The account numbers they are using must belong to someone. If I deposit $100 into someone else's bank account, shall I whine if I can't draw it out?

[MissAmericanPie]

"There are several banks that are behind this seemingly inexplicable move by President Bush. They are Wells Fargo, CitiBank and Bank of America"

Why are they not being boycotted?

[texastoo]

If Bush succeeds in getting this passed, election time will be real interesting. Since May when GH Bush went to Mexico, Clinton, Pelosi, Gephart and other democrats have been to Mexico visiting Fox. How many times has Fox slapped Bush in the face with the UN, ICC, and he refused to visit in Crawford, Texas last year. After this amnesty, we will see who Fox throws his support to.

[JustPiper]

Unbelievable!~!!!

[Weimdog]

"The total the state (California) spends on illegal immigrants is no more than $4.6 billion a year, with CalWorks being a judgment call. This is a substantial amount, but clearly not enough to account for all of the state's budget gap, which is running $8 billion to $12 billion annually."

http://www.latimes.com/business/columnists/la-fi-golden22dec22,1,3576106,print.column?coll=la-home-utilities

President Bush is off the deep end on this issue.

We recalled a Governor in California for doing this kind of thing!

[Lael]

When I said base I actually meant what is considered the far right.

riri,

Polling data consistantly show that a large majority of the population is very distressed over Illegal Immigration.

If Karl Rove is thinking that the Majority of voters are "right wingers" to be written off, then it is "back to Crawford" January 20, 2005.

The local talk shows are being driven by Arbitron ratings. Since the Fall of Baghdad and the capture of Saddam, the Illegal Alien issue is front and center in the public's mind.

[blueriver]

This will surely kill Social Security.

My take on this proposal is that it can not be retroactive. Sounds more like a new policy for a worker program to be started. I can not see how it could possibly be used to give anyone ss benefits retroactively for people without valid ID's. Well that is how I read it anyway. Either way the ss system is going to be abused and now we will be competing on a global scale for the few remaining jobs left.

[FITZ]

It sounds like some of this is for illegals who worked here and went back to Mexico --- their pensions in Mexico are less for the time they went to the USA, worked illegally and sent money back to Mexico.

If Fox really believes they are the "heros of Mexico" as he claims --- why doesn't Mexico just pay them their whole pension as if they had worked there the whole time? Certainly sending money back for whatever number of years was very good for the Mexican government.

The Mexican government and Fox can take some responsibility for bettering the lives of illegals --- especially those who went back home.