The Bush Proposal (Interesting article by Linda Chavez on the Immigration Proposal)

Town Hall ^ | Jan 8, 2004 | Linda Chavez

[PhiKapMom]

The Bush proposal

Linda Chavez

January 8, 2004

President Bush announced a sweeping new immigration reform proposal this week that could become a hot-button issue in the November election. For months, insiders have hinted that the president would propose a new guest worker program aimed at allowing more foreign workers into the country on a temporary basis. Widely favored by the American business community, a guest worker program would allow employers to fill jobs in industries that routinely experience shortages of workers willing to do the often difficult, dangerous jobs Americans shun -- at least at wages that allow employers to remain in business.

But the guest worker provisions won't be the most controversial part of the administration's new proposal. Although some groups that want to limit immigration altogether -- such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) -- oppose guest worker plans, even such staunch restrictionists as Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) are on record supporting the idea of guest workers. The real battle will be over what to do with those millions of illegal aliens who are already here.

Some 8-12 million illegal aliens reside in the United States now -- up three- or four-fold from a decade ago. An estimated 60 percent of these are from Mexico alone, and it is no accident that the Bush plan was announced in anticipation of the president's meeting with his Mexican counterpart, President Vicente Fox, next week. The White House announced less than a week before the Fox meeting that millions of illegal aliens from Mexico and elsewhere will be allowed, over time, to earn legal status in the U.S., so long as they have been working continuously, paid taxes and not broken other laws. The plan will impose some penalties on these workers -- most likely fines similar to those proposed in legislation sponsored by Republican Representatives Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe and Senator John McCain, all from Arizona.

These proposals may not offer perfect justice -- who can blame those who resent rewarding "line jumpers" with legal status while millions of other would-be immigrants wait patiently to enter the country legally. But "earned legalization" is probably the best solution to a largely intractable problem. There is no way that the United States can find and deport 8-12 million illegal aliens in this country, and even if we could, we would do more harm than good.

The American economy depends on these workers, who, along with legal immigrants, contributed significantly to the economic boon of the 1990s. If FAIR could wave a magic wand and make these illegal aliens disappear overnight, the rest of us would suffer by having to pay more for everything from the food we put on the table to the houses in which we live. Our office buildings wouldn't get cleaned, our crops wouldn't get picked, our meat wouldn't get processed, nor our tables cleaned when we go out to eat.

Sure, we could double wages to attract American-born workers to some of these jobs, but at even twice the salary it would be difficult to fill the nastiest of these tasks, like processing poultry. But why would we want American workers, who we've spent trillions of dollars educating for 13 or 14 years, on average, to perform jobs that require only the most minimal skills? Even if we got rid of all illegal aliens in the U.S., these jobs would likely go to foreign workers, like it or not.

What sense does it make to insist that we get rid of the very people doing these jobs now in order to make way for other foreign workers to take them under a new guest worker plan? It makes a lot more sense to figure out how to get those illegal aliens already employed at these jobs to come in from the shadows and become part of the legal system. They should pay a penalty for having broken the law in the first place by sneaking into the country or overstaying their visas, but it is better for all of us if they earn their way toward legal status than remain in the illegal netherworld where they now hide.

Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Townhall.com member organization.

[wjcsux]

The plan in unacceptable. A redux of Reagan's 1986 amnesty (which turned out to be a great big lie). We were promised that problem was supposed to be fixed then, remember?
Remember it all too well.

[TomGuy]

We were promised that problem was supposed to be fixed then, remember?

From White House proposes illegals plan:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider the proposal, [yesterday] called it "woefully inadequate" and said it "falls far short of being the serious reform our country needs to fix our broken immigration system."

I has been broken for decades. It is still broken. Congress and the Presidential Administrations since Regan won't fix it. It will continue to be broken because elected representatives are inept at trying to fix it. Regrettably, it will take one or more 9-11 atrocities for that to happen. GWB's proposal only adds to the problem and encourages more illegals to bust ass to get here for this or the next amnesty (yes, there will be other amnesties, bet on it).

[Reo]

"But "earned legalization" is probably the best solution to a largely intractable problem. There is no way that the United States can find and deport 8-12 million illegal aliens in this country, and even if we could, we would do more harm than good."

Thanks for posting this, PKM. And thanks for your comments regarding avoiding the venom of some of the other threads. Chavez presents a reasoned argument supporting a solution which is both pragmatic and compassionate. I expect this will pass in Congress with at least 75-80% support as members and citizens have more time to study and think it through. For my 2-cents, the President has provided exactly the right balance in offering a common sense answer to a long-term problem. This is true leadership.

[SolutionsOnly]

The problem from a business perspective is that you'll have a huge influx of minimum wage workers - and all the incumbent social and political problems that go along withy it(more welfare and other government programs and democrat/labor union votes).

A ready supply of low-cost labor also is a disincentive to automate or increase productivity in other ways.

I sometimes think that Bush considers mexico more a 51st state rather than a antion that has it's own responsibilites to it own people. He is permitting mexico to offload it's problems on the US.

[4CJ]

You cannot just walk into a hospital and get health care.

Per federal law (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act), no one can be turned away for basic emergency services.

[moondoggie]

The most salient sentence in the entire article is this.....

There is no way that the United States can find and deport 8-12 million illegal aliens in this country, and even if we could, we would do more harm than good.

She's right. She could have also added that President Bush didn't create this problem so the question to ask is...."Wny are so many Repubs blaming him for it"?

[SolutionsOnly]

Prosecute those who hire illegal aliens and the problem will dry up at its source.

[deport]

Jobs is the key to making this entire process work. Most of the the illegals are here for jobs. Control the employment process and a lot of the illegal problem disappears. No jobs no reason for the vast majority to be here..... How this will be done is the catch.

We haven't seen the legislation proposals much less the regulation details.... However the government is going to have to build a huge data bank with easy access for the employer to be able to determine if the applicant has comported with the registration process. Then the employer must be held accountable with stiff penalities if necessary in order to enforce the 'hire only registered' applicants....

doable..... maybe

[kabar]

Bush is on the right track. There is now way this country will deport 12 million people. Use your freakin' heads.

I don't really care about trying to track down and deport the 8 to 12 million illegals. I am concerned about a Bush policy that does nothing to secure our borders and turns over our immigration policy to employers. How will be able to enforce the Bush plan? How many illegals will sign on knowing that they could be deported after three years or sooner if they lose their jobs? Bush will now allow them to bring in their families increasing the numbers further and making citizens out of any children born here.

I can see an Underground Railroad being developed by unscrupulous employers bringing workers in for a fee and then setting them loose. I can see a marked increase in the volume of illegals to get in here before the plan is approved. I can see documented workers disappearing after the 3 years are up. I can see the Bush Plan affecting not only low, paying menial jobs (supposedly not wanted by Americans), but also, skilled jobs now covered and limited by H1B visas.

The bottom line is we have no control over our borders and the Bush plan does nothing to improve the situation. We can't absorb all the workers that want to come here. Mexico has a population of 100 million with 33% of the population under 15. Its GDP per capita income is one seventh of ours. The economic pressures for Mexicans and the most of Latin America to come to America will continue to increase.

[TomasUSMC]

If there are 8 million illegals here, kick them out. We did it under Eisenhower 50 years ago in operation wetback and there is no reason we can't do it now. Heck, if we put 12 men and 2 suvs on the MOON! more than a quarter of a century ago! If we can send 200 thousand troop to the other side of the earth and take over 2 countries with over 20 million people in the middle of a hostile middleast! we can sure as heck kick 8 million Illegal immigrants out of our own country of 280 million, now.

We have a perfect excuse, 911. We need to take advantage of this window of opportunity. We need to secure this country and security without borders, is no security at all. We can't afford to have 8 million people in this country, driving down wages, destroying our education system and overloading our hospitals and prisons.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Alberta's Child]

That's an excellent point. If the immigration system has been broken for decades, then we probably never really had much of an "immigration system." Most of the people who arrived in this country before the 1920s would be considered "illegal immigrants" by today's standards because there were few (if any) immigration laws in force at the time. Most people just hopped on a boat in Ireland or Italy, sailed to the United States, and settled in whatever happened to be the first city they reached in the U.S.

[okie01]

There is one compelling argument for rationalization that I'm not surprised the administration won't make publicly.

But I am surprised that no FReepers have tumbled to it yet.

Down the road, as the Boomers retire, Social Security projections are looking at a worker:retiree ratio of, what, 1.18:1?

Under the circumstances, bringing, say, six million more workers into the Social Security system is not a bad idea.

To my mind, this is one of the compelling reasons for normalizing the status from illegal aliens to guest workers.

[blackie]

Linda Chavez ~ Bump!

[kevao]

President Bush didn't create this problem so the question to ask is...."Wny are so many Repubs blaming him for it"?

People aren't blaming Bush for creating the problem; they're blaming him for proposing a policy that will simply exacerbate the problem.

[SolutionsOnly]

from Merriam Webster;

Main Entry: am·nes·ty
Pronunciation: 'am-n&-stE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Greek amnEstia forgetfulness, from amnEstos forgotten, from a- + mnasthai to remember -- more at MIND
Date: 1580
: the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals
- amnesty transitive verb

[Pan_Yans Wife]

But didn't technology forsee that this would happen? If work can be done with a computer, location doesn't matter. Why is Bush at fault when companies decide to do what is best for their bottom line? Do you want him sign legislation that makes this corporate practice illegal? How else are you going to stop it?

[deport]

Prosecute those who hire illegal aliens and the problem will dry up at its source.

---

Yep.... but the employer must have some type process that allows him to follow so that he isn't held accountable for the illegal/legal status of the applicant. In other words, he should be held liable for false papers/documentation provided by the applicant. Rather the applicants should be approved by some agency other than the employer.

This may become the test program for biometric identification......

[Texas Federalist]

Her thoughtful points are related to the guest worker program, which isn't the most objectionable piece of this proposal. The other is amnesty for illegals already here. The only case she makes is that we can't deport 10 million illegals, might as well make them legal. This is lunacy. If the illegals know that the U.S. grants amnesty every few years, there is an incentive to break our immigration laws and come to the U.S. illegally, and wait for a liberal president to make them legal.

[kevao]

Under the circumstances, bringing, say, six million more workers into the Social Security system is not a bad idea.

But these workers aren't going to be in the Social Security system. Once they have their legal status, they must be paid at least minimum wage. At that point, these newly legalized illegals will be undercut by a new wave of illegals, who will work for less than minimum wage. And we're back to square one.