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.

[WOSG]

" but if you seal the Mexican border, then wouldn't the Canadian border become a problem?

Or is the issue not about national security, but about MEXICANS? "

We dont have 8 million Canadians crossing that border looking for work and handouts in this country. If we did, yes we'd have to build up there.


"How much will this fence cost?"

I would guess about $200 million, or about 1/5th the annual cost of the extra medicare spending at border hospitals due to border-crossers come to emergency rooms. I suspect that given the $70 billion / year cost in welfare to immigrants, this fence would save tens of billions in net govt expenditures over time.

[PuNcH]

Militarizing this border would probsbly require about 50 men per mile, plus support personnel,

nonsense

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Will your congressman draft legislation that calls for building a fence, and how many others can he get to support it?

[DeathfromBelow]

But an army division is about 15,000, so we are talking about SIX divisions here. And we simply do not have, and cannot recruit, that many new soldiers in any reasonable amount of time.


There's the answer. Put all the Mexicans in the military, ship them off to Iraq and Afghanistan, it gives them jobs, and we can protect our borders. sarcasm off

[CaptRon]

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.

Wow, sounds like we should be making out the reparations checks already.

[WOSG]

Okay to those talking about the border-crossing-giving birth to anchor babies scam, here is the bill to stop it:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d107:190:./list/bss/d107HR.lst::|TOM:/bss/d107query.html

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r107:2:./temp/~r1078Xxhk3::

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, ``all persons born in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.'' The federal government interprets this to grant automatic citizenship to the
children of illegal aliens born in the United States. I believe this is a gross misinterpretation and that there is no
constitutional requirement to confer citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens. Illegal aliens cannot be
subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because they are in the United States without legal authority.

Mr. Speaker, few can dispute that the practice of granting automatic-birthright citizenship to the children of illegal
aliens is a great incentive for illegal immigration. Citizen children qualify for welfare and other social services, thus
illegal parents receive benefits. This raises serious concerns about the use of public assistance by individuals illegally
present in the United States. According to a 1997 General Accounting Office report, in FY95 about $1.1 billion in
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Food Stamp benefits were provided to households with an
illegal alien parent for the use of his or her citizen child. There can be no mistake that the citizenship grant has
significantly contributed to our unprecedented levels of illegal immigration. According to some figures, an estimated
165,000 children are born to illegal aliens in the U.S. annually.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that those individuals who actively defy the laws of the United States by illegal entry or
overstaying the terms of their entry should not have the cherished constitutional right to confer citizenship upon
their children. As Members of Congress, we have an obligation to ensure that our borders are protected and our
immigration laws are followed. Accordingly, I strongly urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 190 to end this injustice.

[txdoda]

Like I said before -- you are breaking the law when you get phoney social security cards and your comment to me that you get me one and get me on welfare the next morning shows you know the people that do such things. >>>>>>

SHEESH......many 'news shows' (Dateline, etc.) have done many reports about how easy it is to obtain 'legal' phony documents. One even showing your 'phony' CA birth certificate is printed on the (special) legal paper the state uses.

[AM2000]

You're being sarcastic, but perhaps you're on to something. Maybe Bush/Rummy know they're gonna need a helluva lot more soldiers to fight the WOT, so theyre doing this to let all those young Mexican men join the military, if they so choose. If this doesnt work maybe a draft is plan B? :-D

[The Green Goblin]

she has no credibility on this issue.

You're absolutely correct. Linda "Scrub My Toilet" Chavez has never had any respect for the law when it comes to illegal aliens...

[DeathfromBelow]

Pays better than scrubbing toilets, even if you still have to do that until you rise above grunt status. We've had lots of non-citizens in our armed forces for years. Just don't give them a security clearance.

[WOSG]

"Will your congressman draft legislation that calls for building a fence, and how many others can he get to support it?"


Thankfully, my Congressman is Lamar Smith, who is very good on immigration issues. He has supported using troops to protect the borders.

[swarthyguy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2638297.stm

India says it is planning to deport an estimated 20 million Bangladeshi illegal immigrants.
The Home Ministry in Delhi said the illegal immigrant issue had to be tackled with ''utmost urgency''.

In a statement issued after a day-long security meeting of top Indian officials, the ministry said: ''The presence of a large number of illegal foreign immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh, poses a serious threat to internal security.''

>>>>>>>>>>> Never thought of the Mexicans instead of the draft angle.

Dunno how successful India's policy will be.

[Cultural Jihad]

And also, how do you find out if someone is illegal??? By their looks. The judicial system would be shut down with cases of racial discrimination.

There have been cases of border vigilantes accosting women and children in the street and holding them at gunpoint, effectively committing felony kidnapping and assault because they saw brown-skinned people and conjectured they might have committed a misdemeanor crossing miles away. Needless to say, these are the ones so wrapped up in the rule of law that they are now sitting in prison to think about the rule of law.

[SolutionsOnly]

... and because these people will be more economically stressed, they will be very receptive to the 'You are a victim' message from the Democrats and labor unions.

I have no problem with legal immigration because it eases new legal immigrants into our existing system. President Bush's amnesty is a huge shock to the system.

And why should Mexicans get preference over all other nationalities just because they can more easliy 'cut into line?'

[jimt]

I'm not sure what 'social service tax dollars' you are refering to.

To name but a very few:

Section 8 (public) housing
Food stamps
Free schooling for kiddies
Free lunch / breakfast for kiddies
Medical care for any problem, at any cost
Adult education
Counseling services
Free day care
Free job training
Utilities assistance
Car repair subsidies for polluting vehicles

and I'm confident I could find fifty agencies who play the "don't ask, don't tell" game in our welfare industry.

"Willing workers" are not the problem. "Willing welfare parasites" who may incidentally work, are the problem. Jorge has no right to be compassionate to illegal aliens by stripping the skin from my back.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I don't know if that was supposed to be funny, but I found it to be.

[Wolfstar]

Wny are so many Repubs blaming him for it?

Not all, certainly, but most are the fringe who voted for Perot, Buchanan, Keyes, or the Libertarian/other 3rd party candidate, etc. Most of these people are perpetually disgruntled about something or another, because they seem capable only of finding fault. If FR was around during President Reagan's time in office, you'd see the exact same type of carping directed at him.

[jimt]

M'lady, you've got it exactly right.

I have a hard time figuring out why I should be subsidizing the wages of illegal aliens via tax dollars so some employer can get cheap labor. In fact, my immediate inclination is to respond in words unsuitable for posting.

Just doesn't sound fair or moral, somehow.

Viva Jorge !

[txdoda]

First of all, there are no longer any "anchor baby" benefits like there used to be.>>>>>>

Aren't the taxpayers still paying for these births ?? Many families receive AFDC, food stamps, medical etc..

If an alien has a child in the U.S., that does not give the alien the right to stay in the U.S. >>>>>

I don't think the 'anchor baby' ever gave the right for the parent to remain in the US, however, you seldom here about the parent(s) getting deported either.


No U.S. born baby, so no "anchor baby" of any kind.>>>>>>>>

Don't know how they can apply this to young, single, guest workers.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Buchanan must be happy, today. He lives for this type of dissension.