Posted on 01/06/2004 8:18:02 AM PST by God is good
Were Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's Miami meanderings a gaffe, a trial balloon, an announcement of his department's policy, or an announcement of Bush administration policy?
We are entitled to know.
His shocking words were a broadside on current law: "We have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegal aliens, afford them some kind of legal status some way." He pointedly did not say we have to come to grips with 8 to 12 million people who have violated our laws by entering our country illegally, and further violated our laws by using fraudulent documents to get jobs and remain here.
Nor did he say we have to come to grips with the thousands of employers who are violating our laws by hiring illegal aliens, and violating additional laws by paying the illegal aliens in the underground economy in order to avoid our laws about minimum wage, overtime, workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, family leave, Americans with disabilities, payroll taxes, etc.
Ridge didn't elaborate on how he would award "some kind of legal status," nor explain how giving legal status is any different from granting amnesty. What part of illegal doesn't Ridge understand?
Continuing, Ridge said his plan is to "legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."
But we've been there, done that. In 1986, the United States granted what was promised to be a one-time legalization - then honestly called amnesty. That sent a message to others to enter illegally and wait for the next amnesty.
The administrations of Presidents Bush I, Clinton and Bush II have flagrantly failed to use our resources "to cope with" those who afterward violated the "process of entry." And so the illegal-alien problem quadrupled.
Not only did the 1986 amnesty transform millions of illegal aliens into lawful permanent residents, but after they became U.S. citizens they could import their relatives. Congress never investigated how many additional millions entered the United States or the massive document fraud that was involved in the process.
The current President Bush was asked to clarify his policy. He responded: "I have constantly said that we need to have an immigration policy that helps match any willing employer with any willing employee.
"It makes sense that that policy go forward. And we're in the process of working that through now."
No, that does not make sense. First, it's an all-out repudiation of current law, and second, up to 5 billion people in the world might want to be "willing employees" in the United States.
Bush didn't limit the number of "willing employees." An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Mexicans every year cross illegally into the United States looking for work.
Thousands of these have died from thirst and dehydration in the desert or in locked vans, or from drowning, or from crimes committed by their smugglers. The Bush's administration's failure to close the border makes the payoff of getting into the United States worth the risk of death.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan repeated Bush's exact words and added, "Migration should be safe, orderly and humane." But Congress and the American people never authorized "migration." We only authorized immigration under certain laws.
Bush claims he is "against blanket amnesty," but "blanket" is his weasel word. He apparently is for amnesty for the 8 to 12 million illegal aliens already in this country.
Amnesty for illegal aliens comes disguised under various euphemisms. These include guest worker program, Mexican ID cards, the DREAM Act (to give in-state college tuition), driver's licenses, 245(i) visas, H-1B and L-1 visas, free hospital care, anchor babies, and "totalization," which is to give Social Security benefits.
Ridge says that illegal aliens in the United States should be given "some kind of legal status" because most are not a threat to national security. That's an irrelevancy. Most passengers who boarded those four fatal planes on Sept. 11, 2001, were not hijackers, but 19 of them were, and Ridge has no plan to separate the terrorists from the 300,000 or more who cross our borders illegally every year.
According to the Washington Post, Karl Rove is designing the White House plan and the president will present his proposal the second week of January, shortly before his trip to Monterrey, Mexico.
Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security's undersecretary for border and transportation security, says the Bush and Ridge remarks simply reflect the ongoing debate in Congress over the immigration issue. If that's so, then it's time for Congress to hear loud and clear from the two-thirds of Americans, according to a Zogby International poll, who believe that foreigners residing illegally in the United States should not be allowed to stay.
Suddenly, Lenin's assertion that the last capitalist would sell the rope with which he'd be hanged doesn't seem quite so far-fetched.
About as much good as it does to email the rulers.
I just emailed the White House and let my voice be heard.
How big a check did you attach to that email?
It's from the apocryphal works of Freud, namely, "The egotist rides the idiot." :)
And why? Why not Haitians? They're close by and many of them would desperately love to come over for the same reasons except their leader isn't like Fox demanding he be allowed to send over his entire country. Why not Africans ---- they need jobs, they would work for less money. I don't understand what looks like an attempt to merge us with Mexico and Fox is actually being given a certain authority over this nation and our laws.
"What a crock of crap. How many people have you employed?
WE employ seventy-four AMERICANS, sir, with the minimum wage paid being two and a half times federal minimum. We have no "CHEAP" labor, because each laborer is an investment of our company. How about you?
"Your arguement is specious concerning amnesty [which i oppose incidentally]. Even if every single 'illegal' had gotten here legally, they would still have to compete on the world market [ie against outsourcing]."
Your reasoning is short-sighted, just as expected. Hiring anyone for less than comparable wages retards the natural growth of the standard of living, but you'll have to get your economics education elsewhere, I don't have time.
"Cheap labour is a great thing...especially if they live here and pay taxes...and if you think kicking out illegals permanentaly somehow is going to miraculously create a bonanza of work your wrong...wether or not the illegals are packing Visas makes no diff...cheap labour is killer...I say bring it on. If we don't have a ready supply of cheap labor, take a big rubber stamp and smack your forhead... 'I am in denial about Outsourcing'"
"Outsourcing" can still be accomplished with 8-12 million Illegaliens remaining in their home country. That was partially the intent of NAFTA. Apparently you see only an aspect of a person in the form of a paycheck, and not what occurs to them when that paycheck won't allow ends to meet. Many who are underpaid HAVE TO RESORT TO FOODSTAMPS and other taxpayer funded services simply because the tight-wad employers, like you, are not willing to pay a decent wage for their labor. You call it "CHEAP". You are "cheap", sir, in its fullest sense. Might I suggest you visit any SSI office and make that statement - that "cheap labor" doesn't force those workers into assistance programs. You'll be the man of the day for sure.
"Its going to go to the lowest bidder jack...deal with it."
Yeah, apparently you think because you can get by with "cheap labor", it will never have an accumulative effect on you. Look at your tax burden, jack, (if you actually pay taxes) and see if you can associate this quote into your reality:
"More than 60 percent of federal government expenditures are in the form of entitlements, up from 30 percent four decades ago. This is alarming; hundreds of billions of tax dollars per year are already unavailable for core functions of government. Because of the unsustainability of Social Security and Medicare, the government is on track to spend more than 75 percent of its money on entitlements within a few decades. At that time there will be precious little money left over for bold foreign policy or homeland security initiatives, among other things."
"What are you going to do about the fact that 90% of the rest of the planet will do your job for half the cost?"
Struggle with short-sighted people like you who can't understand that America is NOT the Earth's Welfare state. You may wish to be, but I don't.
"The silence is deafening..."
Just because YOU can't hear, you should not accuse others of not voicing their concerns.
"(I have employed the full gamet of workers over the years. Anyone who thinks that 'cheap labor' is ripping off Americas jobs doesnt have a clue about market fundamentals)"
Again, would you tell us all how many Illegaliens you've employed? It's employers like you who have no idea nor care what you're doing to your employees, your neighborhood, your state, and to your nation by your self-centerdness. You can't see the damage you do for your "profit", but there is a day coming when the support of Illegaliens will come back to bite you and it's going to be hard.
Let me put it like this, if and when these become legal and they demand more for their labor, then what, Mr Smartie? Would it take another 8-12 million to keep your profits in tact?
That's a perfectly valid point, but you must remember that a nation with a strong export economy almost by definition must be a nation with a lower standard of living than the countries where its customers are located. Since the United States currently has the highest standard of living in the world, we are not likely to gain a trade surplus anytime soon.
If Bush goes through with this, for better or for worse, the US standard of living will drop.
Think about it, there are plenty of jobs that pay a few bucks above minimum wage, that many people use to put themselves through college or get a foot in the door in the workforce, or they use to buffer their main job or their retirement.
If all of the current illegals are legalized, or more people are allowed to legally immigrate from Mexico, all of the sudden, you have a large number of people for whom the US minimum wage is a godsend when they are allowed to legally apply for work all over the place. For an employer, it's great, you get people who are more than happy to work minimum and they can be easily replaced by somebody else happy to work minimum. For somebody entering the workforce straight out of high school, or trying to put themselves or a spouse through college, all of the sudden they are facing minimum wages and are competing with somebody from another country.
This is the equivalent of sending $6-$9 jobs overseas, only they are staying right here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.