Will Americans support another amnesty?

www.townhall.com ^ | January 5, 2004 | Phyllis Schlafly

[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.

[B4Ranch]

President George W. Bush has presided over a dramatic increase in the size, cost, scope, and power of the federal government that would be the envy of even the most radical socialist. He has stated his support of the clearly- unconstitutional Clinton gun ban and has vowed to sign a replacement into law (the current law has a sunset provision that expires in 2004) should it reach his desk. His Attorney General has made it his personal crusade to get ever-greater power for the government to snoop into the private lives of citizens. Bush has used the military to invade a sovereign nation that had no realistic chance of threatening America, while at the same time encouraging a flood of illegal third-world immigrants across our borders. Yet many conservatives continue to support this administration.Why? Why? Why?

[TruthNtegrity]

A nation that aborts a million of its own children every year while at the same time allowing unfettered access to this country for a million immigrants every year does not need "immigration reform" -- it needs a large-scale psychiatric examination.

Ouch.

[Tauzero]

"A nation that aborts a million of its own children every year while at the same time allowing unfettered access to this country for a million immigrants every year does not need 'immigration reform' -- it needs a large-scale psychiatric examination."

Quote of the day!

[10mm]

If Bush pushes an amnesty through, I WILL vote against him in the upcoming election, probably third-party since I will never vote for a Democrat.

This issue is a deal-breaker for me. I WILL pull down the pillars of the Temple over this.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

It's a long ingrained habit. I'm tapering off.

While intellectually, one may realize something is over, it is hard to just let go.

Like people with terminal cancer, one knows intelectually they are doomed, but they still go through the chemo and the surgeries.

I've still got things to accomplish.
A few more months.

[NeoCaveman]

A nation that aborts a million of its own children every year while at the same time allowing unfettered access to this country for a million immigrants every year does not need "immigration reform" -- it needs a large-scale psychiatric examination.

Damn straight.

[StoneColdGOP]

I've give him props for that.

Thanks, Byrd!

[TigersEye]

Exactly! "Let the prisoner go Deputy. We don't have time to waste on him. Now get out on the street and maintain law and order."

[ought-six]

"Let's be brutally honest here. Nobody wants to stand up and admit that large-scale immigration of this kind is the only thing that might prevent the U.S. from descending into the catastrophic deflationary spiral that is going to cause chaos in Europe and the developed nations of Asia over the coming decades."

Prove it. Cite your source.

[TheDon]

Your ability to deny reality is astounding. When faced with millions of illegal aliens you still think that a majority of American voters want to round them up and deport them? This is not a new problem, it's been around for decades. Perhaps you are the one who spends too much time listening to a minority viewpoint.

[ought-six]

"A nation that aborts a million of its own children every year while at the same time allowing unfettered access to this country for a million immigrants every year does not need 'immigration reform' -- it needs a large-scale psychiatric examination."

Well said.

[Steel Wolf]

Will Americans support another amnesty?

Do we have a choice? I don't think Bush is exactly going to ask our permission.

If there is a way to start constitutional convention to put up a new amendment, I'd love to see it. That's probably our only option at this point, since neither party will touch this problem, except to make it worse.

[ought-six]

"With this insanity, we will soon have 40% of our population made up of one nationality. These people do not want to be Americans. They want to be Mexicans living and working in America. Big difference."

That is exactly right. Their loyalty is first, last, and always with Mexico, not with the United States. That's a fact, and we ignore it to our peril.

[TheDon]

I would hardly call that addressing the illegal immigration problem. It only addresses symptoms, but not the root cause.

[Alberta's Child]

Basic economics. A decline in demand for a product or service (brought about by declining population) results in excess capacity, which drives down the price of the product or service as well as the value of the labor, company, or facility that involved in the production/service process. This is a classic case of deflation.

This deflationary spiral is exacerbated when the declining demand is accompanied by increased costs associated with taxpayer-funded pension and health care demands for people who no longer contribute to the economy in a productive capacity. A few years ago, one of Denmark's leading economists used this scenario as the basis for his forecast that the economies of almost every Western European nation would collapse in the next 50 years under the weight of their enormous pension and health care liabilities.

[Tauzero]

"I can't think of one-without a bullet being fired. Voluntary, self-induced, quick national suicide being performed now on many levels. Decay from within."

I believe the ancient greeks died out similarly over only a couple of generations. Stopped having babies. The neighbors took over.

They basically evaporated.

[ought-six]

Where is the national headquarters of the Constitution Party? Where are ANY of its offices? The few times I've seen platforms that were attributed to the Constitution Party, I was impressed. But, where the hell are they? Where -- and Who -- are their candidates?

[TheDon]

That is certainly one approach. However, millions of illegal aliens over decades informs us that that approach is not supported. One thing is for certain, the status quo is unacceptable.

[ought-six]

"Any history buffs out there--has there ever been this quick of a suicide by a country? I can't think of one-without a bullet being fired. Voluntary, self-induced, quick national suicide being performed now on many levels. Decay from within."

England. England is but a shadow of its once proud self. Too many years of liberalism and the Labor Party have destroyed the country. It is today a socialist state where it is illegal to defend one's life and property. England has the largest and most violent and hatefilled Islamist population of any non-Moslem country, and even rivals France in that regard.

[richtig_faust]

Let's be brutally honest here. Nobody wants to stand up and admit that large-scale immigration of this kind is the only thing that might prevent the U.S. from descending into the catastrophic deflationary spiral


I take it you never studied economics.... If the sole measure of a country's financial health is GDP, then why don't we have everyone from china and india and mexico just flood the borders, we can all make $1 a week but the GDP would skyrocket. The real issue is TAXES, Tort Reform and Health Care Costs NOT CHEAP ILLEGAL LABOR.