Posted on 01/08/2004 8:03:21 AM PST by 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.
Yes, you are quite right... I should have included them as well. The democrats constant screaming that x million people don't have health care is not true; what they don't have is health care insurance. Different things altogether.
GW is in a bind alright, on this and many other issues. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, someone is going to be unhappy. My emotional self says I'd like to round them all up and ship them back to where they came from , then let them line up to apply for jobs. But my logical self says that's simply impossible, so let's try something new.
Now please give us the figures for illegal immigrants, or more properly said, illegal aliens!
And please don't give us the figures from La Raza, Lulac, Maldef or Mecha. Try something like Numbers Usa!
OK, so immigration laws are very difficult to enforce and we can't catch all the offenders, so let's just change the immigration laws so we don't have to try? How would Mr. Bush and Ms. Chavez feel about changing our drug laws in that manner? We obviously can't catch all the dope dealers and it's extremely difficult and expensive to catch even a small portion of them. So what the heck, let's just make drug dealing legal, give amnesty to all current dealers, and presto chango the drug problem is solved!! That isn't governing, it's abdicating responsibilty.
You understand that we have the illegals here and more are always coming. It doesnt matter whether they have total amnesty or not. Bush's proposal will bring in more and so will the democrats. If the democrats can show that the guest workers are second class they will get more of what they want one way or the other. There is little difference.
Chavez is all wrong about this and the President is correct. Bush is proposing TEMPORARY guest worker status, so any current illegal immigrants who moved into the new system would AT BEST only be able to stay a short while longer. The so-called "earned legalization" plans are completely stupid and wrong-headed. How can you "earn" a benefit by breaking the law???? It is a system which tacitly instructs people to cheat. Giving the so-called "earned legalization" to current illegal residents is a strong message to those still outside of the U.S. to please break our laws and evade the border patrol so that they too can begin to "earn" their citizenship in the next amnesty. No, Chavez is completely wrong on this one, (although I admire her ability and values greatly in general). President Bush has the far better legalization plan.
But at some point I am going to have to listen to what he says , and take it on face value.
Where do people like me draw the line? How much are we going to be asked to accept in the name of politics?
At some point President Bush is going to have to come out and say "I am not a leftist", even if it is at some cost to him.
The things he says, even if you and I know it is not going to really materialize, shapes public opinion and perpetuates , what I believe, is a myth. That being the Democrats are really powerful.
I believe the public is more right than left, I think they are looking for leadership in that direction.
IMO, offering confusing statements and platforms, does not help our efforts as Conservatives or Republicans. I don't think it is going to help him get reelected to stand in front of the world and degrade Americans the way he did yesterday, either.
I think it was a wrong move, and it is especially painful to me because it comes after what I think are three big, bad moves in a row.
I don't think we have to worry about Dean or Clark. I think we need to worry about Liberman and Gephardt.
LOL, law enforcement? There is no enforcement! If they are going to enforce employers under this proposal then they could start enforcing the law right now without the proposal. It is alot of contrived BS.
The proposal should include jailtime for employers and bounties for workers who turn in their employers. Now why do we need the rest of the proposal except that the govt is simply forcing it's will against the wishes of the American citizen?
That's exactly what many people said about the Irish, the Italians, the Jews, and just about every group that came to this country in the 19th and early 20th century. In fact, one of the foundations of Planned Parenthood was Margaret Sanger's desire to halt these undesireables from reproducing (you can read it her works - she wasn't bashful about saying it!). Yet I think the Irish, et al., have turned out to be pretty good citizens, don't you?
One thing I do think we should do is bring back meaningful citizenship or Americanization classes. In the 19th and 20th centuries, children in public schools were taught in English, regardless of their parents' native language, and were taught about the history of this country, its political foundations and ideals, etc.
I think many immigrants, judging from my contact with Latin American immigrants in NYC, where they were suing to get their kids OUT of bilingual education, would be very happy to learn English and adopt American values. But with our crummy, left-wing, Dem-dominated educational system, their chances are not as good as they were in the 19th century, alas.
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