Immigration-law enforcement can be Kerry's winning ticket

seattle times ^ | April 30, 2004 | Froma Harrop

[pending]

Immigration-law enforcement can be Kerry's winning ticket

Here's a sure-fire, guaranteed way for John Kerry to win the election: Say that as president, he will enforce the nation's immigration laws. No fancy programs required. No draconian new laws. No need for more border guards. Kerry should just say he will enforce the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. That means his administration will seriously go after employers who hire people not legally permitted to work in this country.

Do this, John Kerry, and you will become the 44th president of the United States.

[pending]

I think Harrop is riight that this is a powerful issue, but i believe if the Big D steps up to the plate with this issue, Bush and company would jump in and hit it out of the park...

[pending]

The above is an excerpt. Pardon the omission please.
later

[rellimpank]

----I have been expecting the Demotrators to steal this issue for months---

[The Sons of Liberty]

Ha! Ha! If the Democrats enforce the immigration laws, half of their voters won't be able to get to the polls!

[Pikamax]

He would never do this.

[Bismarck]

You are right on the money. The very unlikely event that Botox-Kerry proposes enforcing existing immigration laws could boost his popularity and make him win the forthcoming election. Bushy has to understand that there are way too many disgruntled Republicans... and his leniency toward illegals is quite disturbing.

[ClintonBeGone]

Bushy has to understand that there are way too many disgruntled Republicans

But of the disgruntled are either incarcerated, have felonies or are so scared of government they won't 'register' to vote. So how is Bush's immigration going to hurt him anyway? The people it pisses off (who can vote) are just not a sizable enough group for him to be concerned.

[Akira]

The immigration lobby is too powerful, I just don't think Kerry would risk angering them in such a way.

Not that I'd mind Kerry trying this tact, hopefully it would trigger the Bush administration to wake-up and do something about the problem. I don't think they'd let Kerry move to the right of them on this issue.

[Cultural Jihad]

And watch all 30 of the UberKonservative UberPatriots jump onto his UN-socialist bandwagon!

[1066AD]

It would indeed help Kerry except
(a) It's not PC, and
(b)How long would he take to reverse his position ?

[Bismarck]

Hopefully you are right... but I know enough perfectly normal law-abiding productive people that decided to stop supporting the GOP for the forthcoming elections. Either they are going to vote Libertarian or not at all. Two of them are two former presidents of my chapter of the College Republicans.

[janetgreen]

I think the majority of Americans would cheer Kerry if he would promise immigration reform. Is he too stupid to realize this? Neither of the major parties want to represent America on this huge issue.

[FITZ]

Boy --- would that make the election hard!! Choose between a pro-abortionist or the merging of the USA and Mexico? Abortion is down right evil but so is the destruction of this country.

[gubamyster]

ping

[Gator113]

Although I think this is a hot button issue...I think it's far too late for Kerry to push this.

Kerry can now promise the moon....the Flip-Flop Man has no credibility!

[Republican Red]

If the Democrats enforce the immigration laws, half of their voters won't be able to get to the polls!

Exactly! Also there is no way in the world that the Dems would anger Hispanics before an election. Hispanics now outnumber blacks in the minority pool.

[SandRat]

How???

We could not trust to uphold the Oath he took for his Navy Commission and so far he has not up held the Oath he took in being elected; what makes anyone think he'd keep any promise to seal the borders?

Let's not even get into the oath to God he took for Catholic Confirmation as a member of the Catholic Church.

[kdot]

No kidding. People like me who live in cozy suburbs don't see the direct benefits of "migrant" labor. Those who live in the great farming communities probably disagee. All I get to witness are the bad things that serve to reinforce the negative stereotypes: graffiti, hanging out and trashing our parks, forcing ESL in our little school, listening to constant Mexican chatter everywhere I go, multiple families overcrowding houses meant for one. I know it's not PC for me to notice these things, but my neighborhood has changed and there's only one new ethic group. Many of us are so fed up with it and associate the whole problem to illegal immigration, of course making an assumption about our new neighbors citizenship status.

That said, there are many of us expect our elected officials to DO SOMETHING! But, nothing ever changes. Even when they apprehended a person the police thought was the D.C. Sniper (Richmond), they learned that he was illegal but said they wouldn't deport him because they didn't want to make the police department an arm of the INS (or some such puny excuse). So talk about fixing the illegal problem is just lip service.

If a credible politician vowed to fix the problem and provided a plan with a real impact analysis, many Republicans would listen and take it seriously. Voting for a pro-Abortionist would be a bitter pill, but watching our way of life corrode and having to defend against third-worldliness is a worse and more immediate problem.

Some problems are more immediate to our lives. The effects of illegal immigration are in our faces every day.

Now, can Kerry hire someone to write such a plan? That will be interesting.

[longtermmemmory]

NO WAY here is john kerry's immigration stand. The dream act is to reinstate the "Anchor Baby" which was abolished in 1996. All of this is about giving YOUR MONEY to illegals.

From johnkerry.com

Fairness And Security In Immigration Policy

John Kerry believes that America needs immigration policies that are fair and safe. The United States is a diverse nation built by people from all parts of the world who are here because they believe in freedom, democracy, and justice. Immigration is central to our nation’s history, as almost all of us are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. At the same time, John Kerry believes the federal government must secure our borders so that terrorists do not use our immigration system as a means to enter the country and do us harm.

Priorities

	Efficient Citizenship and Enforcement Services
	John Kerry supports efforts to cut the backlog of applications pending with the Bureau for Citizenship and Immigration Services, speed up the naturalization process and reduce the wait for family visas and other important matters. John Kerry has also called for reforming and adequately funding border enforcement to ensure that only legal immigrants can enter the country.

Restoring and Protecting Benefits for Legal Immigrants

John Kerry supports efforts to restore benefits to legal immigrants. The 1996 welfare reform law made most legal immigrants, including those already in the United States, ineligible for welfare, health care and other essential programs. In the years since, some of these benefits have been restored and John Kerry remains committed to fighting for the full restoration of benefits for legal immigrants.

	Supporting the DREAM Act
	John Kerry supports legislation that would provide immigration relief to undocumented young people who have spent their formative years in the United States, who have graduated from high school here, and who can demonstrate good moral character. The DREAM Act repeals a law that prevents these promising young people from attending college in the United States.

Family Reunification

John Kerry believes that we should unite and not divide families by making family reunification the cornerstone of our immigration system. John Kerry supports allowing immigrants who are eligible for permanent resident visas to be processed in the United States rather than processed in their home country. He also supports restoring the discretion of immigration judges to evaluate cases on an individual basis and grant relief to deserving immigrants and their families.

	Expedited Citizenship for Members of the Armed Forces
	John Kerry believes the naturalization process for legal permanent residents serving in the Armed Forces should be expedited, the naturalization filing fee should be waived, and armed service members should be allowed to naturalize overseas. More than 37,000 legal permanent residents serve in the military nationally.

Earned Legalization

John Kerry supports a proposal that will allow undocumented immigrants to legalize their status if they have been in the United States for a certain amount of time, have been working, and can pass a background check. This makes sense for the economy, provides fairness to people in our communities who have worked hard and paid taxes, and will also allow us to strengthen our homeland security by bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the light of greater accountability.

[Lion Den Dan]

Kerry's promise of enforcing immigration law is like the lying SOB promising rain in the Sahara. You can not put enough paint on the drab bastard to make him shine.