Posted on 01/11/2004 5:36:57 PM PST by kellynla
As you've probably heard by now, President Bush has called for a major overhaul of America's immigration system, to grant legal status to millions of illegal-alien workers in the United States.
While Pres. Bush was quoted saying that, "I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship," many conservative groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (fairus.org) insist that his "proposals for a massive new 'guestworker' program" would threaten homeland security, grant amnesty for law-breakers (a step overwhelmingly opposed by the American public), establish a backdoor immigration program, and threaten the jobs and wages of American workers.
In fact, three dozen House Republicans had already sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, "strongly and unequivocally" opposing mass amnesty for illegal immigrants; this letter becomes particularly important now with Pres. Bush's announcement. Today, we're asking you to sign on to that letter to Sec. Ridge, with copies to President Bush, your two Senators and your Congressman.
As proud Americans, we must strongly and unequivocally oppose mass amnesty for people who violate our immigration laws. Mere discussion of the possibility of amnesty encourages illegal immigration. We must enforce the immigration laws currently on our books rather than dangle the prospect of citizenship in front of potential immigration lawbreakers. We must increase immigration law enforcement, not only at borders but in the interior, making it more costly for lawbreakers to disregard our immigration laws.
Since 1986, Congress has passed seven amnesties for illegal aliens. Clearly this is a short-term "fix" to a long-term problem. Rewarding people who violate our immigration laws sends the wrong message, and encourages more illegal aliens to violate our borders and enter the United States illegally. Americans will have to pay increased taxes as a consequence of the burden amnesty would place on our school systems, welfare and social service systems, roads and transportation systems, the sprawl and environmental degradation, the health care system, Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs.
It is unfair to reward people who break our immigrations laws with immigration status, while many potential immigrants outside the United States are waiting to be admitted to the United States lawfully. If we allow the people who break the rules by entering the United States illegally to go to the front of the immigration line, it is a slap in the face to law-abiding immigrants.
And of course, we must be concerned that amnesty by any name, be it earned amnesty or legalization, jeopardizes our national security. Mahmud Abouhalima was granted amnesty in 1986... and was subsequently one of the terrorists that bombed the World Trade Center in 1993.
We MUST stop this now, while we can.
ACTION ITEM: According to Newsmax.com, Pres. Bush said his proposals, IF ENACTED BY CONGRESS, "would provide a more compassionate system for those who now live in the shadows of American society." We need to let Sec. Ridge, Pres. Bush, and our legislators know how we feel on this issue, BEFORE it's too late. Click "Go!" above to send a message to ALL of them at once!
NOTE: Sec. Ridge doesn't have a public email address, and our form isn't integrated with his department's form yet, so if you want to send your comments to him directly, you'll have to go to http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/contactus.
Not at all. A great, pro-business, pro-capitalist, conservative move. Reagan did the same.
It's obvious. It's to line the purses of business. Understand this: Corporations/businesses/persons who hire Illegaliens and make a profit from "cheap" labor contribute much to Bush's campaign. If this passes, any business may then advertise a $20/hr job for minimum wage and legally hire an Illegalien to "fill the void". THE ONLY ONES BENEFITTING FROM THIS WOULD BE FELONS WHO HIRE ILLEGALIENS. With the passing of this, there goes the American standard of living as we knew it.
This proposal is to give amnesty to Felon businesses that hire Illegaliens and undercut the American worker, yet it's supposed to be a "compassionate" proposal. "Compassion" would show the door to those who willfully violate US immigration law and severely penalize those who aid them, and IMO, the penalties should be to the brink of their bankruptcy.
We aren't exporting our jobs to those places fast enough; now we've come to the point we're going to let them come here and take them. But don't expect any "conservative" politicians to stand in the way.
You know, some on FreeRepublic would apparently like to see a return to the days when the cry "LA MIGRA" actually struck fear into illegals, or set up machine gun emplacements and land mines on the border. But you know, even in those days, we still had millions of illegal aliens and it was (and still is) simply impossible to catch all of them. Police and courts and force in general can only solve so much, and I agree with the President that it is time to start thinking about ways to turn these illegal alien lemons into lemonade.
I'm more comfortable with that quaint little concept called "free speech." The "hope" of the people you are referring to is kept alive enough by those who have already made it here and have send money home, made phone calls describing their experiences, etc. I hardly think that the act of discussing a proposal is going to instantly result in millions crashing our border tomorrow.
Capitalism doesn't work if the laws are not enforced. Which is why Russia is still not flourishing, though they have resources, manpower, money, talent and the infrastructure necessary to become a true industrial power... Instead, they stagnate.
Because there is no system of justice there, and the country-risk for outside investors is still high.
Having so many criminals running the streets does not promote capitalism! It promotes more crime!
Oh, well.
Neither does anyone else who has posted anything on this topic on any of the threads. The problem is overwhelming because of the staggering numbers involved. I don't see any way of deporting 10 million people in any reasonable amount of time. Those who say this can be done without major economic disruption, major expense, and possibly open warfare are naive. Still, I don't condone the invasion from Mexico.
I think the place to start is at the border: Congress and the Pres. need to summon the political WILL to close the border, or at least make some sort of bona fide effort to stem the tide. And that won't happen until a lot of citizens make a lot of noise. There already was an amnesty that rewarded the FIRST wave of illegals, and its only accomplishment was to encourage yet more people to cross over. The problem with this "non-amnesty" is that it will never end. Or it may end when the American social services net collapses.
The other thing that needs to be done is to find a Constitutionaly-acceptable way to cut off public services (tax money) for illegals. Until this is done, the tide will continue,unabated. California has spent near 10 billion tax dollars on services for illegals over the last decade.
I see that there is a petition drive in Arizona to put the matter to the voters; another Prop 187-type ballot petition drive is just getting underway in California. I figure such citizen initiatives might occur in other border states as well.
The biggest part of the problem is that big money interests want to maintain the status quo because a cheap, undocumented labor force means money in their pockets. No benefits, no tax withholding, no SS, no Medicare no paperwork. The savings to agribusiness, construction, and the hotel trade is enormous. And the taxpayers pick up the slack. As long as this continues, the illegal alien problem will not be solved.
I've been in worse situations, and managed to pull myself up by my bootstraps. Two years living on the streets... Going without food for days, because I had no money, and no prospects...
But I never broke the law to make my life- as meager as it was- a little easier.
I never took welfare.
A few friends loaned me money- some even buying me groceries, because they could see how skinny I'd become.
I paid them all back, and I try to help out those who deserve it.
But not people who break the law. Criminals don't deserve my abetting them, in their crimes... Mexicans want to make a difference in their lives??? Then they can stay in their own country, and fight the corrupt government... Do whatever it takes, to make their home what they want it to be.
But don't you dare tell me that we should fold up the USA, make it all one huge repository for every bit of human refuse that is too weak to fight for what is right, in their own country. Don't you dare try to imply that, because I haven't walked in their particular shoes, that I must embrace criminal behavior.
Your compassion is false, your righteousness misplaced- but for the Grace of God, will you walk in my footsteps...
Pray you never will.
If I have a project to do, the job will get done much faster and more economically if I have 30 people working on that job, than if I have 15 people of the same skill level working on that same job. Don't believe me? Try to build a house with 10 people, and then try to build it with 50 people of the same skill level. The 50-man team will be drinking beer and relaxing in the sun months before the 10 man team. And the consumer will have their house much sooner, and much cheaper than with the 10-man team.
Gold, pure gold.
I truly would like to see some penalty applied to these illegals before they are allowed amnesty-the right to remain and work here or whatever action is taken.
I agree that lawbreaking should not be rewarded. Your suggestion is one idea, and we should try to come up with some others.
But foremost, I would like to see our borders secured.
And that's the 64 dollar question. Can you truly *secure* such a long, desolate border? We've already seen from Israel's experience that the Maginot Line approach is a non-starter, and there's no way that we are going to place machine guns or land mines every 50 feet - that's cutting off the patient's head to cure a case of acne. Simply using moral opprobrium and finger-wagging ignores the reality of a large population of desperately poor people on one side of a line. They're going to try to cross that line in any way they can, and there's not a lot of good options available to prevent them from doing it. I firmly believe that Bush and his advisors are trying their best to come up with ideas that slow down if not completely stop the influx, and deal with the situation in a way that best benefits all of the American people.
Will I get any of these things? Who knows, but at least people are acknowledging the problem. We have to start somewhere. To do nothing just ensures the illegals will keep coming.
And more gold comes showering into this discussion. Thanks.
This falls into the "yeah, but" category...
I suggest you study country-risk analysis, the tax-structure and laws for non-domestic companies, etc. You will then understand what I mean.
When the laws are so fluid as to be nonexistant, capitalism fails miserably, because there is no underlying foundation from which businesses can effectively operate.
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