Posted on 01/29/2004 11:19:51 AM PST by Cyropaedia
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:41:08 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
House Democrats yesterday proposed granting legal residency and the eventual option of U.S. citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants now working in the United States. Laying out their own principles for revamping the nation's immigration laws in response to what House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called President Bush's "political ploy," Democrats went beyond Mr. Bush's plan for a temporary-worker program and called for a system of "earned legalization" for illegal aliens. At a Capitol Hill press conference, Democrats proposed allowing illegal immigrants who have worked in the United States for a yet-to-be-determined minimum period of time to stay here and be granted permanent legal residency, creating a "pathway" to eventual citizenship. "The president's proposal is a political ploy, and not the solid foundation on which we can build an improved immigration policy," said Mrs. Pelosi of California. "Democrats have a better way." Mrs. Pelosi said Mr. Bush's recently proposed plan doesn't create a meaningful way for illegal aliens to become U.S. residents or citizens; doesn't reduce the backlog of U.S. citizens' petitions on behalf of relatives who are here illegally; and doesn't help tens of thousands of teenage illegals attend college here and eventually be granted legal status. In addition to proposing measures to address those concerns, Democrats endorsed a temporary-worker program that would give foreigners the option to stay in the United States and eventually earn permanent legal status here. President Bush's plan, in contrast, would allow illegal aliens already here, as well as newcomers, to work in the United States legally for three years under a temporary-worker program. When their three-year permits expired, such immigrant workers would be required to return to their home countries. Once back in their home countries, they could apply for legal U.S. status through the existing system. Under the Bush plan, the three-year work permits could be extended in some cases, but not indefinitely. "The president wants to give [illegal aliens] a lot, but the Democrats want to give them the jackpot," said Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies. Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican sponsor of legislation that essentially mirrors Mr. Bush's proposal, said requiring workers to eventually return to their home country will reduce future illegal immigration by strengthening struggling foreign economies. "In my recent visit with government leaders in Mexico City, I was repeatedly told that they want their workers to come back, to return home with capital and skills," he said. "They need those small-business owners, those entrepreneurs to strengthen a weakened middle class." Mr. Cornyn's bill and Mr. Bush's proposal would provide incentives for immigrants to return home after their legal work period here expires. But Democrats like Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Illinois Democrat, said it would be unfair and unworkable to deport immigrants who have worked in the United States for many years. He praised Mr. Bush for opening the door to immigration changes, but said the government won't be able to enforce Mr. Bush's plan. "There is not the political will ... to conduct that massive deportation," he said. Mr. Camarota agreed. "At least the Democrats are realistic," he said, adding that illegal immigrants in the United States, "aren't going home now and they're not going to go home with President Bush's proposal." Democrats propose allowing foreign-born minors who are here illegally to stay in the United States, attend college and eventually earn legal status. Democrats said that "at minimum" they support a bill, already approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, to allow states to grant in-state college tuition rates to illegal-alien students. That bill would also authorize federal officials to halt deportation of such students and allow the students to eventually become permanent U.S. residents. Mrs. Pelosi said if Mr. Bush were serious about improving the system, he would call for immediate action on the House counterpart to that Senate bill, as well as another House bill that would allow 500,000 illegal agricultural workers to become legal permanent residents. Democrats also propose enhanced family-reunification provisions. They seek reinstatement of a law that would allow illegal immigrants, sponsored by immediate family members who are U.S. citizens, to stay in the United States and apply for legal status, instead of being forced to return to their home countries before seeking legal admission. Mr. Bush tried to revive that law in the past, but it was "beaten down in the House," Mr. Camarota said, and the measure is not part of Mr. Bush's most recent proposal.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
By raising the stakes the democrats have made the Bush plan mild by comparison. The corporations won't mind as their support has always been predicated on a source of cheap labor to drive wages down. They will back whichever party is willing to sell more of themselves.
America is becoming a third world country day by day and our leaders keep tripping over each other to see that it happens as soon as possible.
I get it! Bush proposes to bite off our fingers, just to provoke the Dems into coming out with their own proposal to bite off the whole hand!
Brilliant! Well, that settles it: I'm voting for Bush sure. I'd rather be missing some fingers than not have a hand at all!
I'm sorry if your almighty pocketbook is more important than kids lives. Your choice.
Yep, it looks like the dems couldn't resist taking a swing at the tarbaby. They didn't want to do it, they could smell the trap. I imagine though, that once their illegal alien rights constituents started in on them, they were forced to come up with something.
And that something reeks. Imagine any dem presidential candidate trying to sell this albatross during the campaign.
As many republicans have said since Bush floated this idea "This ain't going nowhere." Only the dems are going to try and get something through, thanks to their Aztlan and La Raza backers.
Har har...
You Bush guys need to go to a motivational seminar. It's kind of presumptuous of you to accuse me of not caring about life issues, don't you think? Also reprehensible of you to assume that my only objection to Bush's amnesty plan is connected to my "almighty pocketbook"---does it occur to sanctimonious scolds such as yourself that I might care about the future of the nation that American children are born and grow up in?
Thanks, deacon. I know I have a choice. So does GW Bush.
It isn't so much as even that. The moral climate inside the Beltway has sunk so low, that neither the Administration or the Democrats have any clear sense of what America is all about. It has become geography and an economy. The heritage, ethnicity and continuity of our culture and history, are forgotten. They are now in a bidding war for recognized interests; and whether those interests are those of rooted, mainstream Americans, is apparently a matter of total indifference.
It would be difficult to find a group of stoned junkies, more seriously out-of-touch with reality; and the present picture confirms every cynical comment about the tendency of power to corrupt. It is very sad, indeed, to those of us who know history; and who recognize the far superior breed of public office holders, who guided America during its earlier generations.
Maybe it is time, as I think you were suggesting the other day, to begin building a new party. Maybe one to throw down the gauntlet to both sets of self-seekers, with a platform calling for the restoration of "Nativist" values. That should really start the hissing. And we could adopt the surgical mask as a uniform, to keep their sprayed germs out of our lungs.
Seriously, the counter-attack should combine both humor and the firmest kind of resolve. It would accomplish nothing to simply offer a slightly more moderate alternative. To really hope to rally the potential, we would need to inspire, not compromise; stir, not benumb our base. And we need to find a somewhat jarring approach to wake the brainwashed youth up enough to realize that we, not the dysrons in Washington, have the intellectual high ground in the debate.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Bush already has his g'damned amnesty going as good as he needs to. The borders are wide open, prosecutions are at an absolute minuimum, employer prosecutions do not exist. The occasional Russian or Polack is arrested not the ID Card manufacturers who hang out in every Mexican neighborhood.
What more could he do aginst our will and never ask our representatives for permission to do it?
Call it a dictatorship, ruling from the bench or traitorist, he is working to defeat America and the will of the people. His half hearted attempts at national security via TSA, Homeland Security and the Patriot Acts would reason enough to be tried and hung if our Founding fathers were still alive.
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