Republican Lawmakers Won’t Back Bush on Immigration

CNSNews.com ^ | 1/26/2004 | Susan Jones

[yoe]

Republican lawmakers who generally back President Bush are not backing him on immigration. In fact, they want their leaders to know they have "serious concerns" about President Bush's proposed immigration policy.

In a letter addressed to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and several other members of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus said they won't go along with the president's plan because it "does not address the problem appropriately."

"In fact, in our view, it will further exacerbate the problem and create discontent amongst the Republican Party," the letter said.

Jones, in a press release, said he and other lawmakers would consider alternative guest-worker legislation, as long as it does not reward lawbreakers with amnesty.

Although President Bush insists his proposal does not include amnesty, Jones said he thinks it does - because it would make illegal aliens who work in the U.S. for a number of years eligible for legal status and citizenship. That is de facto amnesty, Jones and the other lawmakers said in their letter.

"Since the President's speech, our offices have been inundated with calls from dismayed constituents expressing vehement opposition to the Administration's proposal," the "Dear Mr. Speaker" letter said.

"If we do not listen to our constituents on this matter, our influence and effectiveness in Congress could be jeopardized. Simply put, we cannot continue to allow our immigration laws to be violated and ignored -- and illegal aliens are by definition criminals."

According to the letter, President Bush's immigration proposal has left many conservatives "dismayed, angry and confused."

"Mr. Speaker, it is our hope that you will recognize the problems the Administration's proposal has created for our constituents," the letter says.

It notes that "respect for the rule of law is a core conservative value," and it urges the Republican leadership in the House to find a solution to America's immigration problem "that is more in line with the principles of our Party and our national traditions."

Earlier this month, President Bush proposed a new "temporary worker program" that would offer temporary legal status to millions of undocumented workers who have jobs in the U.S.

Bush said his program would "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs."

Temporary workers would be expected to return permanently to their countries after their work stint in the United States has expired. Temporary workers wishing to seek American citizenship would be allowed to apply in the normal way, according to the president's plan.

"They will not be given unfair advantage over people who have followed legal procedures from the start. I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship," Bush said.

"America is a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America," Bush added.

Bush's proposal drew immediate criticism from conservatives, who see it as a threat to national security and an affront to the rule of law.

[TheDon]

The discussion in progress. Thank goodness President Bush got it started. Now we shall see what the Congress will come up with. Hopefully, they will agree to give the President the money needed to secure the border!

[k2blader]

The way I figure it, regardless of whether or not the title of this piece is correct, there are three not-so-reassuring possibilities as to why President Bush recently proposed amnesty for illegals:

1) President Bush to some degree believes in amnesty for illegal aliens.

2) President Bush does not believe in amnesty for illegal aliens but is attempting to use the proposal to attract the “Hispanic vote”.

3) President Bush believes in amnesty for illegal aliens *and* is attempting to use the proposal to attract the “Hispanic vote”.

Any others?

[DumpsterDiver]

Watch what happens during his 2nd term. Complete reverse. But to do that, you must get elected the 2nd time.

Sorry, but I'm not voting for someone based on your prognostications.

[Keith]

you are right on...it's a calculated move by Rove...it'll work.

[sinkspur]

There's a problem with your link.

Besides, I've read it.

[Pubbie]

"Either way, the defeat of the Bush Amnesty needs to be so resounding that no politician ever contemplates such nonsense again.

"Killed in committee" until next year will not be sufficient."

How are you going to defeat it, without killing it in Committee?

If it is allowed to go before the House for a full vote, there is a chance it could pass (Depending on whether enough Democrats vote to support or reject it to offset the at least 70 House GOPers that are certain to vote "No").

Killing it in Committee is safer and quicker, but doesn't get the big media headlines a full rejection by the House would generate.

[Keith]

yea, much better to have a Viet Cong sympathizer in the White House...good move.

[Sabertooth]

*If Tancredo's guest worker plan is "not that much different" than the Bush Amnesty, why isn't Tancredo supporting the President's plan?

**Ask him. He said he won't vote against Bush over this immigration issue.

Misleading, and I suspect you know it.

Tancredo has said he supports Bush's reelection.

Tancredo hasn't said he wouldn't vote against the Bush Amnesty, if it came up.

I know, I know; your reply was sufficiently vague that it wasn't quite a falsehood. However, you're savvy enough to know that some folks would have taken a false inference from it, and having posted anyway, it doesn't appear you would have minded.

The reason Tancredo won't support the Bush Amnesty is precisely because it is quite different from his own guest worker plan, as you know and contrary to what you said at #4.

[Zipporah]

"If we do not listen to our constituents on this matter, our influence and effectiveness in Congress could be jeopardized."... They had best listen to the people or THEIR jobs will be on the block.

[Map Kernow]

There's a problem with your link.

Oh, sorry, the link is http://www.house.gov/tancredo/Immigration/.

Besides, I've read it.

Have you really? Well, now others can.

[P.O.E.]

"...it will...create discontent amongst the Republican Party," the letter said

It will? I guess that's why they pay these guys the big bucks.

[dagnabbit]

Reading is Fundamental.

Bush's amnesty is an amnesty. Under his scheme, people illegally in the United States get their illegal status legalized.

Under Tancredo's Bill, there is no amnesty. People illegally in the United States get nothing. Nada. (Nothing except more enforcement heat directed at them and their law-breaking employers).

Now (though I wish there wasn't) there is a guest worker provision in Tancredo's bill. Under that program, people living in another country may apply at US embassies for guest worker visas for certain jobs, allowing them to work in the USA for a maximum of one year out of any two. While illegal aliens now in the USA could conceivably leave the USA and apply for guest worker visas, they would be unlikely to get them because existing immigration law would penalize them for their illegal stays with exclusions of 3 to 10 years.

[DumpsterDiver]

yea, much better to have a Viet Cong sympathizer in the White House...good move.

I said that I won't be voting for Bush based on the other poster's prognostications. And that is ALL I said.

[Sabertooth]

*"Either way, the defeat of the Bush Amnesty needs to be so resounding that no politician ever contemplates such nonsense again.

*"Killed in committee" until next year will not be sufficient."

**How are you going to defeat it, without killing it in Committee?

C'mon, I said ""Killed in committee" until next year will not be sufficient."

It's got to be killed as permanently as possible, not just tabled. Politicians of both parties need to be made to understand that the voters won't be trifled with on Illegals any longer.

[SunStar]

Republican Lawmakers Won’t Back Bush on Immigration

Woohoo!

[luvbach1]

Make the proposal, knowing full well it would never happen

But we are already suffering the fallout of increased illegal immigration by its mere floating. But don't think that the proposal was a bluff. President Bush (and unnamed advisors) really want this. Maybe he doesn't want to be scolded again by Vincente Fox. By the way, where did Fox pick up that name?

[Mercat]

I think he's triangulating... he pleases Fox and the Latinos in California and he lets the conservatives in Congress beat up on him to appeal to the swing voters. I'm enough of a soccer mom to like the idea of amnesty and to feel sorry for the illegals. The difference is, I don't vote my "feelings."... but I am from that PTO, suburban atmosphere... I breathe it. I think it's part of the Rove/Bush genius. I guess when you boil it down, I like George Bush as much as any politician I've ever encountered and I trust him.

[geedee]

. . . and save massive amounts of bandwidth on Free Republic.

LOL. We are a passionate lot, huh?

[Paulus Invictus]

Unfortunately, our whole Congressional delegation is all for the amnesty idea (sorry, Bush says it is not amnesty, but if it walks like a duck...etc.). I have sent my usual complaints to our idiot Reps, but no answer means they didn see or read my letters. Oh, the humanity!

[luvbach1]

Border Patrol has an extremely tough job and perform admirably most of the time. I respect them more than any other federal emplyees save our military.