Posted on 01/29/2004 12:18:05 AM PST by The_Eaglet
Bush's immigration plan will have many negative effects
By Matt Hall
Opinion Columnist
January 26, 2004
President Bush's plan to allow our nation's estimated 8-12 million illegal immigrants to legally work is by far the most dangerous proposal of his administration and maybe even the most irresponsible presidential initiative in the average WMU student's lifetime.
The new plan, announced earlier this month, calls for matching any willing U.S. employer with any willing worker.
This means that if an employer has a job opening and can find no American citizen to take the job for the pay offered, employers are free to hire foreign workers or illegal immigrants to perform the job.
If this policy is adopted, what is an American firm's incentive not to offer $5.15 an hour for a job that typically pays $10 an hour? They don't have one! If no American agrees to take the job for this wage, which will not allow them to sustain a decent living, the business can just hire in foreign workers or illegal immigrants, who are accustomed to earning much less in their native countries.
President Bush says he opposes amnesty and construes it to mean granting citizenship to illegal aliens. He may oppose that form of amnesty, but he is proposing another. Amnesty means to grant a pardon for a past offense, and Bush is certainly pardoning the illegal immigrants' offense of disobeying the law to enter the country by giving them legal status to work.
While this is touted as a temporary worker program, who really believes that? The U.S. government has demonstrated that it is not serious about enforcing its border security policies. In 1986 the United States granted a citizenship amnesty to 2.7 million illegal aliens residing within its borders. It was argued that the amnesty combined with tougher immigration laws would reduce illegal immigration. Since then, 8-12 million new illegal aliens have entered the country, likely hoping for another citizenship amnesty. If Congress passes Bush's proposal, relaxing immigration laws again, is it really believable that illegals already in the country are going to leave once their time limits have expired? I believe that they will wait around for hope of another citizenship amnesty, as U.S. Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge has already called for. Besides, which major political party is going to have the courage to force the removal of 8-12 million people from the country anyway?
President Bush claims that this plan does not penalize legal immigrants, but he is wrong. Currently, illegal immigrants are not legally allowed to work, vote or drive automobiles in the United States. Having these privileges is the primary incentive for immigrants to follow the necessary procedures and obtain legal status. Now that Bush wishes to allow illegal immigrants to work, there is much less incentive for immigrants to follow the law. It is only reasonable to expect another gigantic wave of illegal immigration into the United States as a result of this policy.
Bush proclaims that this new policy is the compassionate thing to do. Compassionate? What about compassion for the American workers who have lost their jobs to foreign countries because of policies like the Central American Free Trade Agreement he is also pushing? Compassion apparently means allowing these foreign workers the opportunity to take American jobs away in our own hometowns too.
Do we have any compassion for our own border patrol agents? The National Border Patrol Council, the organization that represents all 9,000 non-supervisory border patrol agents, calls this "a slap in the face to anyone who has ever tried to enforce the immigration laws of the United States." After our border patrol agents risk their lives every day to keep our nation secure, this is how we thank them? Perhaps President Bush needs to be reminded he was elected to serve the American people, not the people of the Third World.
Many people have been asking why President Bush is doing this. The answer is obvious. Bush has no conservative challenger in the Republican primaries; therefore, his administration apparently thinks that they have conservatives backed into a corner with no choice left but to vote for Bush. Hispanics are becoming an increasingly large voting presence in California and Texas -- the two states with the most electoral votes. Since Hispanics make up a large portion of the illegal immigrants in the country, by supporting this policy, Bush believes he will please Hispanic voters. Regardless of whether this will work, it becomes clear that President Bush is more concerned about catering to the Hispanic vote than the conservative vote.
This could be a huge mistake for Bush, because many conservatives, sick of being ignored, are declaring this to be the final straw. They may potentially be frustrated enough to vote for a more conservative candidate like Michael Peroutka, of the Constitution Party, who is already slamming Bush's amnesty as making things "a lot worse and a lot more dangerous."
A Democrat would never be able to get away with a proposal such as this; the Republicans in Congress would simply not support it. But, since it is Bush proposing it, many Republican legislators feel obligated to support this disaster. Fortunately, patriotic Americans still have an opportunity to fight this horrific law. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is refusing to go along with the President. He has stated that he has "heartfelt reservations about allowing illegal immigrants into a U.S. guest worker program that seems to reward illegal behavior." Another Republican congressman, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, also opposes the amnesty: "Without secure borders, any guest worker program simply puts employers' craving for cheap labor ahead of national security ... The president's proposals add new incentives for illegal immigration, which inevitably means increased risks of terrorism."
President Bush has proven to be a good leader in a difficult time in American history. But no one is perfect, and Bush is making an inexcusable mistake with this amnesty. Americans must rally behind the leadership of courageous congressmen like DeLay and Tancredo to defeat this travesty. If we all put enough pressure on our legislators, they will be forced to put their own interests first, and vote against this dangerous policy. If we fail to do so, then our consciences must carry the burden of being accomplices in the greatest crime committed against our country: the deterioration of our nation's boundaries, law and security.
Matt Hall, a Western Herald opinion columnist, is a junior from Oakland, Mich., majoring in business management.
we're not supposed to criticize Bush or the next terror attack is on our hands....
just kidding =o)
Illegal aliens hiring illegal aliens?
Weren't some of the perpetrators of the 9/11/2001 attack illegal aliens (e.g. non-citizens with expired visas)?
Its hard to believe that we would be better off with a demoRat President, but here is the proof!
This pathetic bill wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hades of being passed by a Rat but President Bush, "our conservative President" has a great chance of passing it.
I will never vote or support Mr Bush for President or any other office again. I am sick to death of his war against middle-class America. The man won't be happy until America is just another third-world hellhole!
It certainly underscores the importance of voting to the office of the presidency accountable by replacing the incumbent. However, I much prefer a conservative who supports defending our borders like Michael Peroutka over any Democrat in the race.
Michael Peroutka has my vote!
I noticed on his Web site that Justice Roy Moore will be with him at the Convention of the Constitution Party of Ohio in March. I wonder if Moore will be joining the Constitution Party or endorsing Peroutka. If he did, would Alan Keyes be next?
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