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A FReeper's Guide To Immigration Reform

Posted on 01/12/2004 9:37:51 AM PST by Happy2BMe

The President's Speech on Immigration Reform given on January 7th, 2004 has many far reaching proposals which if enacted into law, will shape the future of America for generations to come.

It is the first such immigration reform initiative by any president since Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to illegal immigrants living in the United States in 1986.

President Bush's immigration reform initiative would provide immediate and significant legal protections and rights for any illegal immigrants now living in the United States providing they inform the government of their presence here by legally registering it with the .

Significant benefits and privileges, including an opportunity for U.S. citizenship, would be granted to these immigrants as a result of their cooperation.

Since at least ten million illegal immigrants already living in the United States are eligible for the president's proposal, and since deporting that large of a population back to their home countries is largely considered physically impractical, this solution is seen as the "best-case" solution to the immigration problem by many Americans.

Also embedded into the president's proposal are far reaching changes that are considered by many Americans to be "giving away the farm." The cost of absorbing millions of illegal immigrants all at once and the impact and precedent it could create for future illegal immigrations are believed by many other Americans to far outweigh the benefits of legitimizing these millions of immigrants.

The political, economic, and social impact of President Bush's initiatives will affect the United States for at least the remainder of the 21st Century.

The crisis of illegal immigration affects each and every American, and the longer the crisis goes unanswered, the worse it will become.

It is for this reason that the nation must now put their differences aside and work together for the combined good of all Americans, from all walks of life, and from all political and economic persuasions.

Current FR link reference on President Bush's Immigration Reform Initiative will be update on a regular basis.

President George W. Bush's speech on immigration delivered on Jan. 7, 2004 follows:


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Free Republic; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: 1youdontspeakforme; aliens; immigrantlist; immigrationreform
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
"According to Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, benefits paid to retirees will exceed revenues in just 15 years. The pay-as-you-go system could go belly up as early as 2030.

" These projections don't take into account the economic impact of the Bush proposal, which would allow untold millions of illegal aliens from Mexico to collect full cash benefits for themselves and their families from their home country -- without having to work the required number of years that law-abiding American citizens must work to be eligible for payouts."

Thefts of Social Security ID rising fast

A Life Destroyed by Those Who 'Only Come Here to Work' (MUST READ)

Stop the Mexican Raid on Our Social Security and the Mexican "ID" Card

SOCIAL SECURITY: FRAUDS WALK OUT THE DOOR

Return of the Great Social Security Giveaway

Michelle Malkin: The criminal raid on Social Security

161 posted on 01/23/2004 7:34:03 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
The Open Borders Lobby and the Nation's Security After 9/11

162 posted on 01/23/2004 8:03:12 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
Tancredo blasts immigration plan

Tancredo calls Bush plan 'dangerous'

Agencies Fearful Of Tancredo Plan

Tancredo plan vague, critics say

163 posted on 01/23/2004 8:21:16 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
S. 1387, Border Security and Immigration Reform Act

S. 1387 info - Thanks to Sabertooth
164 posted on 01/23/2004 10:22:03 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: All; keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
The 1965 Immigration Act: Anatomy of a Disaster

By Ben Johnson
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 10, 2002


America's current mass immigration mess is the result of a change in the laws in 1965. Prior to 1965, despite some changes in the 50's, America was a low-immigration country basically living under immigration laws written in 1924.  Thanks to low immigration, the swamp of cheap labor was largely drained during this period, America became a fundamentally middle-class society, and our many European ethnic groups were brought together into a common national culture.  In some ways, this achievement was so complete that we started to take for granted what we had achieved and forgot why it happened.  So in a spasm of sentimentality on the Right and lies on the Left, we opened the borders.

Born of liberal ideology, the 1965 bill abolished the national origins quota system that had regulated the ethnic composition of immigration in fair proportion to each group's existing presence in the population.  In a misguided application spirit of the civil rights era, the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations saw these ethnic quotas as an archaic form of chauvinism.  Moreover, as Cold Warriors facing charges of "racism" and "imperialism," they found the system rhetorically embarrassing.  The record of debate over this seismic change in immigration policy reveals that left-wingers, in their visceral flight to attack "discrimination," did not reveal the consequences of their convictions.  Instead, their spokesmen set out to assuage concerned traditionalists with a litany of lies and wishful thinking.

Chief among national concerns was total numeric immigration.  Senate floor manager and Camelot knight-errant Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, assured jittery senators that "our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually."  Senator Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, further calmed that august body, insisting "the total number of potential immigrants would not be changed very much."  Time has proven otherwise. Average immigration levels before the 1965 amendments took effect hovered around 300,000 per annum.  Yet 1,045,000 legal immigrants flooded our cities in 1996 alone. 

The 1965 "reform" reoriented policy away from European ethnic groups, yet implemented numbers similar to 1950's rates in an attempt to keep immigration under control.  However, Congressmen managed to miss a loophole large enough to allow a 300 percent in immigration, because they did not take into account two "sentimental" provisions within the bill.  Immediate family members of U.S. citizens and political refugees face no quotas.  Their likely impact on the nation was ignored, presumably because aiding families and the dispossessed cast the right emotive glow.

Yet leftists could sound like hard-nosed defenders of the national interest when necessary.  In urging passage of the 1965 bill, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, D-New York, wrote in a letter to the New York Times, "The time has come for us to insist that the quota system be replaced by the merit system."  As if merit is the operative principle along the Rio Grande today!  Similarly, Representative Robert Sweeney, D-Ohio, insisted the bill was "more beneficial to us."  In fact, the 1965 bill made "family reunification" - including extended family members - the key criterion for eligibility. These new citizens may in turn send for their families, creating an endless cycle known to sociologists as the immigration chain.  The qualifications of immigrants have predictably fallen.  Hispanic immigrants, by far the largest contingent, are eight times more likely than natives to lack a ninth-grade education, and less than half as likely to have a college degree.

The bill did not end discrimination based on what President John F. Kennedy called "the accident of birth." (This of course begs the question of whether birth within the nation, the basis of common national community, is just an accident, but let that pass for now.) It de facto grossly discriminates in favor of Mexicans and certain other groups.

Not only has the bill failed in its stated purpose, it has realized many of its critics' worst nightmares.  Concern mounted that this bill would radically change the ethnic composition of the United States.  Such things were still considered legitimate concerns in 1965, in the same Congress that had just passed the key civil rights legislation of the 1960's.

Specific influx predictions that were made seem tragicomic today.  Senator Robert Kennedy predicted a total of 5,000 immigrants from India; his successor as Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbach, foresaw a meager 8,000.  Actual immigration from India has exceeded by 1,000-times Robert Kennedy's prediction.

Senator Hiram Fong, R-Hawaii, calculated that "the people from [Asia] will never reach 1 percent of the population."  Even in 1965, people were willing to admit that we have a reasonable interest in not being inundated by culturally alien foreigners, and it was considered acceptable to say so on the floor of the Senate.  Try that today, even as a supposed conservative! (Asians currently account for three percent of the population, and will swell to near 10 percent by 2050 if present trends continue.)

The only remaining Congressman who had voted on the 1920s quotas, Representative Emanuel Celler, D-New York, insisted, "There will not be, comparatively speaking, many Asians or Africans entering this country."  Today, the number of Asians and Africans entering this country each year exceeds the annual average total number of immigrants during the 1960s. 

Yet the largest ethnic shift has occurred within the ranks of Hispanics. Despite Robert Kennedy's promise that, "Immigration from any single country would be limited to 10 percent of the total," Mexico sent 20 percent of last year's immigrants.  Hispanics have made up nearly half of all immigrants since 1968.  After a 30-year experiment with open borders, whites no longer constitute a majority of Californians or residents of New York City. 

As immigrants pour in, native Americans feel themselves pushed out.  In 1965, Senator Hugh Scott, R-Pennsylvania, opined, "I doubt if this bill will really be the cause of crowding the present Americans out of the 50 states."  Yet half-a-million native Californians fled the state in the last decade, while its total population increased by three million, mostly immigrants.  This phenomenon also holds true in microcosm.  In tiny Ligonier, Indiana, (population 4,357) 914 Hispanics moved in and 216 native Americans departed during the 1990s.  Hispanics now outnumber the Amish as the area's dominant minority.

Thirty-plus years of immigration at historic levels have also had an economic impact on America.  In 1965, Ted Kennedy confidently predicted, "No immigrant visa will be issued to a person who is likely to become a public charge."  However, political refugees qualify for public assistance upon setting foot on U.S. soil.  The exploding Somali refugee population of Lewiston, Maine, (pop. 36,000) is largely welfare-dependent.  Likewise, 2,900 of Wausau, Wisconsin's 4,200 Hmong refugees receive public assistance.  In all, 21 percent of immigrants receive public assistance, whereas 14 percent of natives do so.  Immigrants are 50 percent more likely than natives to live in poverty. 

Ted Kennedy also claimed the 1965 amendments "will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."  Teddy cannot have it both ways: either the immigrant will remain unemployed and become a public charge, or he will take a job that otherwise could have gone to a native American.  What is presently undisputed - except by the same economic analysts at Wired magazine and the Wall Street Journal who gave us dot-com stocks - is that immigrant participation lowers wages. 

Despite the overwhelming assurances of the bill's supporters, the 1965 Immigration Reform Act has remade society into the image its critics most feared.  Immigration levels topping a million a year will increase U.S. population to 400 million within 50 years.  Meanwhile, exponents of multiculturalism insist new arrivals make no effort to assimilate; to do so would be "genocidal," a notion that makes a mockery of real genocides.  Instead, long-forgotten grudges are nursed against the white populace.  Native citizens take to flight as the neighborhoods around them, the norms in their hometowns, are debased for the convenience of low-paid immigrants and well-heeled businessmen.  All the while, indigenous paychecks drop through lower wages and higher taxes collected to provide social services for immigrants.  And this only takes into account legal immigration.  

These results were unforeseen by liberals easily led about by their emotions.  Others were not so blind.  Jewish organizations had labored since 1924 to unweave national origins quotas by admitting family members on non-quota visas.  The B'nai B'rith Women and the American Council for Judaism Philanthropic Fund, among other Jewish organizations, supported this reform legislation while it was yet in subcommittee in the winter of 1965.  Roman Catholics had the twin motivations of still-evolving social justice doctrine and the potential windfall of a mass influx of co-religionists from Latin America.  Other organized minorities pressured for increased immigration to benefit relatives in their homelands. The ultra-liberal Americans for Democratic Action, the ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild joined the chorus.  Further, the Communist Party USA supported higher immigration on the grounds that it destabilizes working Americans.

Americans must realize demographic trends are not inevitable, the product of mysterious forces beyond their control.  Today's population is the result of yesterday's immigration policy, and that policy is as clearly broken as its backers' assurances were facetious.  A rational policy will only come about when native Americans place the national interest above liberal howls of "prejudice" and "tribalism."



165 posted on 01/23/2004 5:50:05 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
Two more Idaho lawmakers against Bush immigration plan (GOP Congressmen)

166 posted on 01/23/2004 6:44:11 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: MurryMom
Care to comment?
167 posted on 01/23/2004 7:27:43 PM PST by keri
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
"The losers, of course, are the Mexican immigrants—aren’t they always? "Dear and beloved Mexico/If I die far away from you/May they say that I’m sleeping/And that they return me to you," the immortal charro Jorge Negrete sang in "México, Lindo y Querido." All Mexican immigrants—legal and illegal—maintain the illusion of returning one day to Mexico. But they rarely return permanently, and without any possibility for amnesty, illegal immigrants will continue to live in the shadows. All they will have is an empty house in Mexico, a house that keeps their nostalgia but little else."

Question: Why won’t Bush & Fox’s illegal-immigrant plan work?

168 posted on 01/23/2004 8:17:26 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: All
Rep. Tom Tancredo's Four-Point Plan For Immigration Control

H.R. 3534 (introduced by Rep. Tom Tancredo)

Contact Tom Tancredo (R-Co), Chirman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus

Tancredo blasts immigration plan

Tancredo calls Bush plan 'dangerous'

Agencies Fearful Of Tancredo Plan


Illegals Are Destroying America - A Letter To Rep Tom Tancredo

Tom Tancredo on CBS and NBC Tonight:Immigration

Tancredo blasts immigration plan

Tancredo Scores Immigration Crisis

Colo. Rep. Tancredo flexes political muscle at fund raiser

Tancredo calls illegal immigration threat to U.S.

169 posted on 01/24/2004 9:15:31 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: Happy2BMe
So in a spasm of sentimentality on the Right and lies on the Left, we opened the borders.

I remember this. After Kennedy's death we passed all kinds of dangerous legislation under the guise of, "Remembering John Kennedy, and doing what he would have wanted us to do." Lyndon Johnson used this time after time to give the leftists a foot hold in America.

Then came that idiot child, Ted Kennedy. His father hated America, he hated white conservatives, etc. and Ted was only following his Dad's wishes when he worked to get the doors opened to every person who wished to come to America, hoping to dilute conservatism for all time. The old whiskey runner.

I also remember hearing the idiot news media. They would cry and lament on how our immigration policy was unfair. Liars, everyone.

We have had some marvelous immigrants who have come to this country legally. They have added much to our country, and we thank them. However, this thing that George Bush is working for is the destruction of America. Period

170 posted on 01/24/2004 9:31:18 AM PST by swampfox98
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To: All
Mexican Army Incursions Into The United States

171 posted on 01/24/2004 10:07:49 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: All; Consort
Consort's Solution

1. Do not exceed the bottom line for allotted number of immigrants entering the US:
Decrease the number of legal immigrants by subtracting the estimated number of illegal immigrants annually. The bottom line is maintained. Both political parties can agree.

2. Amnesties can be handled in the same way at no increase in the size/cost of government:
If ten million illegal immigrants are given amnesty, decrease legal immigration across the board by ten million. Potential immigrants from France, Somolia, Paraguay, Uganda, Holland, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Lappland, etc will have to wait longer or miss out completely. The affected countries can argue it out with the offending countries with little or no US involvement. Both political parties can agree. Lawyers may be the big losers.

3. Border control:
Fast track border control to seriously reduce illegal immigration and minimize the need for future amnesties. If necessary, add a military (guard) component to the Dept. of Homeland Security. To keep down the cost, consider rotating, via detail or TAD, selected active military/reserve/guard units to that agency as necessary under the heading of "border control training". Any additional costs incurred may be offset after implementing Steps 1 and 2 above.

172 posted on 01/24/2004 10:54:27 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: Happy2BMe
Years ago while I was in college (1948) the following story was told in class. It had to do with people who love to complain but never have a solution.

I have read much of Tancredo's solution. I do not know if it is good or bad, but it sure is wordy and would probably cost much.

I have read much of the President's solution. It strikes me about like the Tancredo solution.

Will either get passed? I doubt it. Will anything get passed? I doubt that also, because I do not believe Congress is smart enough to create any program which would please everyone. So where are we? In a mess. What else is new?

But maybe, somewhere, someone can suggest a low cost, workable program.

On with my original thought, re complainers.

A man was visiting New York City. His watch quit working. He located a shop with watches hanging in the window. He went in and ask the man to fix his watch. The man said he did not fix watches. The visitor ask what he did do. The man said he castrated cats. Why then do you have watches in your windows. The man asked the visitor what he would put in the windows.

So next time we complain let us all have a suggestion about a solution.
173 posted on 01/24/2004 11:24:15 AM PST by mulligan
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To: mulligan
But maybe, somewhere, someone can suggest a low cost, workable program.

Mine is both workable and very low cost.

174 posted on 01/24/2004 11:41:28 AM PST by Consort
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To: Consort; mulligan; All
High Immigration Harms Many American Workers and Produces Wage Depression
 

Mexican migrant workers oppose Bush immigration proposal.


175 posted on 01/24/2004 2:05:21 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: All

EB-3 Eligibility and Filing

EB-3 classification includes:

  • Aliens with at least two years of experience as skilled workers;
  • Professionals with a baccalaureate degree; and
  • Other workers with less than two years experience, such as an unskilled worker who can perform labor for which qualified workers are not available in the United States.

While eligibility requirements for the EB-3 classification are less stringent than the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications, you should be aware that a long backlog exists for visas in the "other workers" category. The regulations for EB-3 workers are found at 8 CFR § 204.5.

Skilled worker positions are not seasonal or temporary and require at least two years of experience or training. The training requirement may be met through relevant post-secondary education. The Form ETA-750 (Labor Certification) states the job requirements, which determine whether a job is skilled or unskilled. For more information, please see the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration Website.

Professionals must hold a U.S. baccalaureate degree or foreign equivalent degree that is normally required for the profession. Education and experience may not be substituted for the degree.

Other workers are in positions that require less than two years of higher education, training, or experience. However, due to the long backlog, a petitioner could expect to wait many years before being granted a visa under this category. See How Do I Get an Immigrant Visa Number? for more information.

Application Procedures
Your employer must file a USCIS Form I-140 at the USCIS Regional Service Center that serves the area where you will work. All I-140 EB-3 petitions must include a labor certification and a permanent, full-time job offer. There are no exceptions. Additional guidance relating to Department of Labor requirements is found at the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration Website.

Forms are available by calling 1-800-870-3676, or by submitting a request through our forms by mail system. For further information on filing fees, please see USCIS filing fees, fee waiver request procedures, and the USCIS fee waiver policy memo. Please see our USCIS field offices home page for more information on USCIS offices.

Last Modified 10/30/2003

U.S. CIS:EB-3 Eligibility and Filing

176 posted on 01/24/2004 2:51:12 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
Bush Plan A Magnet-Immigrants cite lure of border proposal

177 posted on 01/24/2004 3:49:36 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: Happy2BMe; gubamyster; Pro-Bush; FairOpinion; FITZ; moehoward; Nea Wood; Joe Hadenuf; sangoo; ...
BumPing!
178 posted on 01/24/2004 7:31:09 PM PST by JustPiper (Register Republican BUT Write-In Tancredo for March !!!!)
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To: All; keri; international american; Kay Soze; jpsb; Capitalist Eric; hershey; TomInNJ; dagnabbit; ...
My, my, my how times have changed . .

"Remember the stink all the "grassroots conservatives" in the GOP were raising over Clinton's sneak naturalization of about 1 million aliens in 1996 just so they could vote for him?"

Uh huh - I recall Clinton getting into trouble over immigration reform around here.

The shoe isn't seeming to fit this time around. . .

From 1999:

"Recall Davis Committee | 11-9 IMMIGRATION AMNESTY ALERT ! The Recall Davis Committee has just learned from a very reliable source that Bill Clinton is threatening to shut down the government unless the Congress approves amnesty legislation authored by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill) which would legalize more than 750,000 illegal aliens. This would be a disaster for California. Every amnesty only encourages more illegal immigration. Every ammesty always ignores the fraud which will balloon the original estimates. We must stop rolling amnesty or our state will be lost for sure! Illegal aliens should be arrested and deported, not given a free ride! We urge ..."

IMMIGRATION AMNESTY ALERT !

Clinton ignores rule of law on immigration (Mulshine good one)

Clinton Charged with Abandoning Immigration Plan in Exchange for Campaign Money

In The Beginning---(Early days of Clinton, Craig and Immigration Policy)

Immigration Invasion

IMMIGRATION, a gloomy view.

179 posted on 01/24/2004 7:43:42 PM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S. borders - Controlled by CORRUPT Politicians and Slave-Labor Employers)
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To: Happy2BMe; All
Tancredo is my homepage, please visit
180 posted on 01/24/2004 7:51:39 PM PST by JustPiper (Register Republican BUT Write-In Tancredo for March !!!!)
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