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.

[Luis Gonzalez]

You know what I love most about this issue?

The people bitching the loudest about the slightest attempt at doing SOMETHING to gain control of the situation, fail to offer up a viable solution to the situation, all they're good at is criticizing Bush for addressing the problem.

I found this quote from Teddy Roosevelt that describes these whiners:

""It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Way to go President Bush, my hat's off to you, and the rest of your team fighting in the arena for the majority of us out here.

[txdoda]

We can disagree on the nuances of the policy but at least GWB is addressing the problem. Give it to the DIMs and they advocate total amnesty with ability to get welfare, citiezenship rights and fast track to citizenship... The difference is clear as night and day.>>>>>

I think that many, like myself, expected better 'proposals' from GWB, since 'guest workers' are an issue he even campaigned on.

Many issues should have already been addressed. Such as, the 'revolving door' on our borders, MANDATORY employee verification, NO acceptance of any foreign ID cards, doing away with 245(i) rather than trying to extend it.

Any or all of these (& I'm sure there's more) if already implemented, would help with security & curbing illegals.

[WOSG]

"Well, if he's making 125% of the poverty rate, he's not picking lettuce, he's a computer programmer. That isn't the
mass migration we all fear."

125% of the poverty rate is like $8/hr or so ... I can tell you that lots of low-skill and construction jobs in Texas are that or higher. It's not programmers.

"I would not allow their families to come up with them, since we
would end up paying for the education and health care of their spouses and children and since children born in the U.S.
are (according to current law) U.S. citizens by birth. "

Is that 'compassionate'??? :-)

On the citizenship of children of illegals, we need to push for that to end the incentive for such immigration abuse.

I agree that anything that USSC sticks its nose into is a crapshoot, but illegal aliens are not under US jurisdiction. A case where a women comes here across the border specifically to abuse our system and have an 'anchor baby' would make a good test case. If we can make an exception for diplomats we can make an exception for illegal aliens. Legal residents or legal visa holders? A USSC would rule a 14th A right to citizenship on it, i'd guess.

[WOSG]

The people bitching the loudest about the slightest attempt at doing SOMETHING to gain control of the situation, fail
to offer up a viable solution to the situation, all they're good at is criticizing Bush for addressing the problem."

Luis, yes and no. Yes, there are whiners, but no, there are many who have made good proposals, but they are ignored.

How much attention has the President given to Tom Tancredo's proposed bill? And what would you say to these ideas, below?

Enforcement:
1. Abolish the EOIR, it is a failure of an agency; abolish the BIA that
handles immigration 'appeals' as well. This system is not designed
to deport aliens that deserve to be deported, it's designed to frustrate
the enforcement of immigration law. Michelle Malkin suggests in her
book "Invasion":
"Finally, Attorney General John Ashcroft should abolish the Executive Office
for Immigration Review and the Board of Immigration Appeals and transfer
their functions to existing law enforcement officers within the immigration
bureaucracy. ... Restoring integrity to the immigration process will require
closing the loopholes and black holes into which so many fugitive absconders,
criminal aliens, and unwelcome guests have disappeared. " - Michelle Malkin
INS and Border Patrol Counsels could replace this byzantine process
and administrative removal orders could simply be given administratively.
Replace the agencies with law enforcement agents and lawyers who prosecute
and win deportation cases rather than drag them out.
Use the powers of Article III section 2 to repeal through law
the ability to appeal deportation orders to death (and to the
Supreme Court).
2. Fund the FBI's enforcement of immigration law so that it is a priority for them.
3. Increase funding and manpower of U.S. Border Patrol;
assign US. military troops to help the Border Patrol regain control of our border.
4. Increase funding to enforce laws against employing illegal aliens
5. Create verifiable documentation for use in employment that end documentation
fraud. Set up a national database for document verification so document
fraud is tracked down. Require employers to verify employment and hold
employers responsible for hiring illegal aliens.
6. Pass laws and use verifiable documentation to end immigration benefit fraud.
It is rampant (see the GAO, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0266.pdf)
- give incentives and rewards to private citizens who turn in illegal aliens
who are subsequently deported.
" One simple change could put teeth into the law. Employers should be required to
confirm that the Social Security number presented by a worker has in fact been
issued to that worker. A computerized database, much like the nationwide
instant-background check used to verify gun buyers, could handle that job easily.
Such a database already exists, but it is seldom used. " - Jay Bookman
7. Increase alien detention space so that aliens ready for deportation
are held in detention and not released to the streets where they merely
evade deportation.
8. Abolish 245(i) and other provisions of stealth amnesty that have been put
there through law or court rulings. Criminal aliens should be deported
without exceptions. For example, a loophole that gives women citizenship
or LPR status for "spousal abuse" is an open invitation for fraud.
Many men's lives have been destroyed by fraudulent allegations designed by
illegal aliens to gain citizenship. End that loophole in 204(a)(1)(A)(iii)
of the immigration act.

Changing the incentives for illegal aliens and immigration:
1. Granting automatic citizenship to the children of illegals born in
the US must end. Children born here of foreigners should not automatically
become US citizens, unless their parents are *legal* residents of this country.
2. End all federal public assistance to non-citizens except emergency health care
Abolish requirements that hospitals must serve all those, including
illegal aliens, who show up at emergency rooms.
3. Abolish the adult parents and siblings of immigrants from
getting in on family sponsorship and getting at the head of the line.
End chain migration.
4. Defund federal bilingual education programs.
5. Prohibit affirmative action benefits for non-citizens

[WOSG]

Immigration has been broken since Ted Kennedy "fixed" it in 1965.

That he doesnt like Bush's plan is only a sign that the Democrats are demanding something worse.

[swarthyguy]

Prohibit affirmative action benefits for non-citizens

Prohibit affirmative action benefits for ALL citizens.

Far better, n'est ce pas?

[AuH2ORepublican]

I just read that the poverty threshold in 2000 for a six-person household was $23,528. That's over $11 an hour for someone who works 40-hour weeks for 52 weeks a year. Of course, a person with just a wife and one child would be above the poverty level even if he makes less than that, but to be 125% above the poverty level we'd probably be talking about skilled labor. In any case, your concern is a valid one and I hope Senator Cornyn changes his rule to 150% or 200% of the poverty level before guest workers may bring in their families.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Abolish Federal agencies, overturn the standing legal definition of an Amendment to the Constitution, set up databases designed to spy on employers, "pass laws" as if the doing was a matter of formalities, and set up the GOALS as a plan.

What you listed are the GOALS, or even the end result of our combined efforts, but it does not detail the road map to get there.

By the time we get around to accomplishing even 10% of your list, the ten million illegal immigrants will have 42 million American grandkids.

[CIBGUY]

You are correct....but that only means that YOUR hospital bill will simply be inflated to make up the difference. It's a "no brainer".

[Wolfstar]

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

Absolutely. There is always a disgruntled fringe on both the hard Left and hard Right, and they almost always either stay home or vote minor party no matter who are the candidates and what the issues of the day are.

But without the glamor and novelty of a Ross Perot as a draw, Buchanan and the entire minor party fringe only produced 3.75% of the vote in the 2000 general election. The Left's fringe, in the form of the Green Party, produced 2.64% of that total. However, this year it looks like they may unite around whoever the Dem candidate is because they want to beat Bush so bad. Still, if all other-than-Green minor party candidates generate the same 1.01% of the vote they garnered in 2000, or even a bit higher, their effect on the election will be nil.

[BlueAngel]

Excellent quote, Luis.

I love President Bush, because he always thinks long and hard about a situation, looks at both sides and makes a decision. Sometimes, at the time, many think it is a bad decision but then it turns out he was right.

This has happened time and time again.

[Kay Soze]

”…pay more for everything from the food we put on the table to the houses in which we live.”

You mean that the jobs will then be filled by US Citizens making more money than those here doing the job under the table?

We cannot have that!

It defies free market principals when we cannot violate laws in allowing a market to find value.
We can we spend our way clear of prescription drug medicare but not increase wages?

All W has done is increase the rate of illegal immigration from ALL nations so in the future someone can say you mean you expect the US govt to deport 14 million Muslims!

[Kay Soze]

”…pay more for everything from the food we put on the table to the houses in which we live.”

You mean that the jobs will then be filled by US Citizens making more money than those here doing the job under the table?

We cannot have that!

It defies free market principals when we cannot violate laws in allowing a market to find value.

How can we spend our way clear of prescription drug medicare yet not increase wages?

All W has done is increase the rate of illegal immigration from ALL nations so in the future someone can say: "you mean you expect the US govt to deport 14 million Muslims!"

[okie01]

GWB is throwing in the towel. He won't secure our borders so the war on drugs and the war on terrorism is a F A R C E ! Point, Game, Set, Match!

So, if things are such a total disaster, when are you throwing in the towel and moving to New Guinea?

[WOSG]

More specific critique please. I was trying to be specific. What part of this is a goal or not specific/clear enough as a legislative or administrative change? It's all good ideas, right?

"overturn the standing legal definition of an Amendment to the Constitution" Huh? You are mistaken. The 14th Amendment does not grant citizenship to children of illegal aliens, if that is your contention. And even if it were debatable, the bill could be passed and reviewed by the USSC. That subject has not been ruled on by the USSC.


"By the time we get around to accomplishing even 10% of your list,vV"

"By the time we get around to accomplishing even 10% of your list, the ten million illegal immigrants will have 42
million American grandkids."

This sounds like defeatist circular logic. If we do nothing, there will be a huge flood of immigration, legal and illegal. About 80% of this is on Tancredo's Bill, which could be passed in 2004 if Congress had the will.

Most of this is simply a matter of political will, nothing more.

I frankly would like these provisions on enforcement paired with the Bush/Cornyn proposal so that we have both a carrot AND a stick to end illegal immigration.

[WOSG]

I just read that the poverty threshold in 2000 for a six-person household was $23,528."

Whoa, nellie... '6-person household' ... nah, the Govt would not define the standard in a way that would exclude more families, now would they? :-)

"Of course, a person with just a wife and one child would be
above the poverty level even if he makes less than that,"

exactly my point. dunno the exact point, but I'm guessing around $8/hr or so (fulltime).

"In any case, your concern is a valid one and I hope Senator Cornyn changes his rule to
150% or 200% of the poverty level before guest workers may bring in their families."

If I run into him, I'll tell him! :-)

[WOSG]

"Prohibit affirmative action benefits for ALL citizens.

Far better, n'est ce pas?"

mais oui. touche.

But at least get a little bit of handle on it.

[Missouri]

US Is a nation of 260 million immigrants

Not me. I was born here.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"What part of this is a goal or not specific/clear enough as a legislative or administrative change?"

The fact that it requires a major overhaul of the political make up of the Congress, and a solid majority of conservative Judges WHO AGREE WITH THE PROVISIONS to be seated in Federal Courts, if accomplishable at all, this would take years to happen, and the agenda would not move forward an inch in the meanwhile.

Let's use California as an example; a red meat conservative and a flaming liberal ran against a centrist candidate, and both lost resoundingly...people do not move to the fringes of political ideology easily, and right now, your ideas are fringe political ideas.

Not only that, but you also failed to take under consideration the negative aspects of the removal of millions of workers from our work force, and legal or not, these millions workers who may very well be nearly impossible to replace without tremendous harm to the economy.

You don't agree with that, but the people crunching the numbers, and trying to deal with the issue do.

[Right_in_Virginia]

From the article: ~ 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.

Common sense from Linda Chavez.