Posted on 01/24/2004 6:51:10 PM PST by sarcasm
President Bush's plan to grant amnesty to millions of undocumented workers and allow millions more to enter the country is a fundamental disconnect with reality and should be rejected out-of-hand.
Though Bush says that many details would be left to Congress to iron out, his outline fails even to address issues that should be basic to any immigration plan and clearly is not intended as a serious effort at all.
Rather, it is a sentimental gesture, designed mainly for political benefit and based on clichés about ''huddled masses'' and ``a nation of immigrants.''
Among the fundamental issues ignored by his proposal:
• Administrative capacity: The White House does not appear to realize that the government simply lacks the ability to manage such a program. In the past, when immigration authorities lacked needed personnel and other resources, the result of such overload was massive fraud.
One consequence was the issuance of a green card to Mahmud Abouhalima in the 1986 amnesty; once he had legal status, he was able to travel to Afghanistan to get terrorist training, which he used to lead the first World Trade Center bombing.
This isn't a detail that can be worked out later -- dealing with this must be at the center of any genuine effort to fix our immigration mess.
• No provision for enforcing the new rules: The reason we're in this situation is that immigration laws have not been enforced in the past, and any effort to fix things has to address how new rules are going to be enforced.
Bush justified his proposal by implying that we have succeeded in gaining control over immigration since Sept. 11, 2001. This is clearly untrue. Though there have been some modest improvements in immigration control since then, most of the needed reforms haven't even been attempted.
Lax enforcement
Two examples: nothing whatsoever has been done to develop the ''Chimera'' system, a vital tool that would provide real-time access to law-enforcement, immigration and intelligence information on every foreign national who seeks admission to the United States. And only 13 companies were fined for hiring undocumented workers in 2002.
• No limits on numbers or wages: The small guest-worker programs in current law have various controls to try to ensure that they don't do more harm than good. The new White House plan, on the other hand, would permit any employer in any industry to import any number of workers and pay them any wage above the legal minimum. This is so radical, and so potentially devastating to the middle class, that it is clear that no one even thought through the implications.
• Birthright citizenship: Under the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment, all babies born in the United States are American citizens, including those born to undocumented persons. Bush's proposal makes no mention of this, despite the fact that the guest workers enrolled in the program it envisions would give birth to several hundred thousand babies each year. Again, this is not a minor detail, but a central point.
• Workers won't go home: It has been said that ''there's nothing as permanent as a temporary worker.'' Every guest-worker program in history has created large-scale permanent immigration, but the White House seems unaware of this fact. Bush's proposal includes some hackneyed gimmicks intended to encourage workers to return home, but they have all been tried unsuccessfully before, as anyone with a modicum of curiosity could have discovered.
Simply put, Bush's advisors have not served him well by presenting him with such an amateurish proposal. Congress would be abdicating its responsibilities by voting for it.
Mark Krikorian is the executive director of Center for Immigration Studies.
It's time for a new President, we already tried out an El Presidente and he doesn't fit into our culture very well, even if he does have a ranch in Crawford, Texas. If he can't read the U.S. Constitution, replace him.
It's time for an "Can Do" President!
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"The only difference, as far as the Illegals are concerned, is that under the Bush Amnesty they have to pay a one-time fee for a blue card, before getting a green card, before becopming a citizen. The Reagan Amnesty didn't have the blue card or the fee. "
This is called the "Buy Your American Citizenship For a One-Time Fee Program"
Credit available to all foreigners, guest workers, migrant workers, illegal immigrants, illegal aliens, over extended visa holders, over extended three day visitors pass holders, and their families, at the Bank of America, CitiBank and the US Treasury.
Apply to your local offices by phone, translators available for 256 languages. Do not go to your local office because the long waiting lines will attract too much media attention which embarrasses El President Bush and your Congressional Democrat Representatives.
37 posted on 01/24/2004 11:16:55 AM PST by B4Ranch ( Dear Mr. President, Sir, Are you listening to the voters?)
Twenty years ago a high school drop out could get a job in construction, trucking, or manufacturing, and still do pretty well for himself. Well enough to own a car and afford some type of housing, by the age of twenty.
One by one these jobs have been outsourced, or filled by a wage suppressing immigrant, lowering the expectation and living standard of many Americans. Such is not suppose to be the case. In raising the boat of third world nations we have sunk the boats of many average Americans. Meanwhile those that stick it out through college are finding their jobs outsourced and their options limited.
You are merely parroting the propaganda of the enemy like a good little public school student. There are not that many white collar jobs and in fact all jobs have been artificially manipulated out of the country, or by immigrants in country all due to deadly socialist government policies and freedom robbing Free Trade.
52 posted on 01/14/2004 5:15:38 AM PST by MissAmericanPie
Scan the whole page for good reading!
Conservative Debate Handbook
Voting for what? Congress is responsile for actual legislation. Abdicating what responsibilities? These are the same people who have done nothing year after year after year. The President has put the ball in play, it's time to hammer out some real legislation not cross their arms and refuse to deal with it again.
Ignoring the problem does not make it go away.
Exactly right, just as they were beginning to master the English language they now have to switch gears and learn Spanish ;-)
Dereliction of duty. Pure and simple.
Right but enforcing existing laws would go a long way ;-)
Can you say "guest worker" program?
Can you say "guest worker" program?
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