I'm as right wing as most anybody, but the people who think some great conservative president will someday ship out everyone who doesn't belong is living a dream. There is going to have to be some compromise, and Bush may be trying to get it done before it could be worse.
Leadership would also be coming out in favor of really fixing the immigration mess... he could propose these reforms, why not?
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.
Per federal law (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act),
no one can be turned away for basic emergency services. Amend it
so labor (and health) services are not a Federal requirement unless the woman
can show legal residency status.
Having a child is not a life-threatening condition.
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
Frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about unless the illegals who are here and don't follow the rules are not rounded up and deported.
Guess I just want to be assured that we're not adding to a 2nd tier of illegals ("legal illegals" and "illegal illegals")