Dems unveil immigration plan today

Democrats today will present an alternative to the sweeping immigration reform plan announced by President Bush in January.

The Democratic lawmakers who will announce the plan at a Washington press conference say the reform is both more concrete than the statement of principles offered by the White House and more likely to appeal to immigrants and their supporters.

Among the most significant differences is the Democrats' offer to allow anyone who has been in the country at least five years and worked for at least two to become a legal permanent resident.

That would put most of the 8 million to 12 million illegal immigrants now in the country on track to American citizenship.

Bush has proposed allowing nearly every illegal immigrant now living in the United States to work, live and travel freely in and out of the country for six years or more.

Most would be expected to eventually go home, however, where they could take advantage of tax-free savings accounts and retirement funds set up by the U.S. government.

One of the Democrats' provisions would exempt immediate relatives - parents and children - from the 480,000 visas issued under the current family reunification program. That could allow millions of new immigrants to legally enter the United States each year in order to join relatives.

While Democrats say they want a plan that provides immigrant workers who have lived and worked here for years a chance to stay permanently, they also proposed tighter restrictions on the entry of new, employer-sponsored workers.

The number of those workers would be capped at 250,000 a year, and employers would have to pay prevailing wages based on Department of Labor data.

The most important thing about this is of course that Democrats are pushing 'reforms' that are very unpopular with the American people, but the GOP can't take advantage because their ideas are almost as bad.

Every poll I've ever seen shows the vast majority of Americans opposed to amnesties for illegals, yet both parties propose to give us just that. Most polls show a majority in favor of a reduction in legal immigration, yet both parties propose to increase it. The immigration issue is truly amazing; it joins the elites of both parties in putting in place policies that are unpopular with the people. That it doesn't cut cleanly along party lines is of course one of the reasons its so easy to ignore the will of the people. Also, since immigration is not a top-tier, vote-deciding issue for most Americans, they can get away with it. The irony is that immigration greatly affects all of the so-called top-tier issues like the economy, national security, education, environment, etc...

The Dems plan to deal with the possible wage-depressing effects of mass imm is interesting. It seems as if someone reminded them that they are supposed to be the party of the little-guy, so they propose to sort of lock in the wages of so-calle guest workers according to Dept of Labor data. That's very true to form to them; let the govt set the price. Of course if immigration were reduced then the market would help raise wages for the people they claim to care about, but that would mean less future voters for them.

I wonder if the Bush/Rove crowd really believes that many of the guest workers will go home? Do they really think they will, or do they know they won't so they say that to pacify conservatives. Or do they really hope that they will, seeing as how its obvious that if the 8-12 million illegas were to someday be citizens it would be a huge boon for the Democrats. And considering how the last three popular votes have gone for the GOP it could be decisive. Couple that with continuing and even increased mass legal immigration and you have a near certain future demographic doom for the GOP. There should be no doubt about this. Both parties wish to increase family-reunification. Now its known that most immigrants support the Dems. So who do you think their family members are going to support once they arrive? Of course most of them will go with their family -- which is good news for the left/Dems.

But anyway, its a damn shame that the GOP refuses to give political expression to what is the majority, mainstream view of Americans on this subject. Could you imagine an alternate President Bush raking Kerry over the coals during a debate for this? That would be great. Instead we'll get two guys trying to outpander each other complete with the mind-numbing recitation of countless irrelevant platitudes that have somehow come to substitute for rational, intelligent debate over this issue.

I do wonder about this. It seems as though many in the GOP, along with the WSJ/Barone/Barnes/Cato types really believe the unjustified hype about Bush delivering the Hispanic vote to the GOP. They also seem to genuniely believe the drivel about Hispanics being natural conservatives, and that the GOP need only be nice to them to garner their support.

But of course most of the evidence proves both of these ideas to be false. So I wonder if such intelligent people really believe the garbage they spout. They must know the truth, right?

So that's why part of me suspects that Rove secretly does want the guests to go home because he is smart enough to realize the electoral consequences of importing millions of likely Democrats.

On the other hand, part of me agrees with you that the desire for an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor comes before all else.

There is no issue more polarizing between the elected and the voters that placed them in power. Seventy-eight percent of Congress members agree with an amnesty for illegal aliens and generous immigration policies overall. A slim majority of citizens do not want an amnesty program. Over two-thirds of Americans want tougher restrictions on future immigration.

What our elected officials are not telling the citizens is that recent policies have placed the American way of life at risk, economically and physically. Check the Bureau of Prisons web site (US Justice Department) and you'll see about 30% of the federal prison population are non US citizens. Imagine that! Only four percent of the whole population is responsible for 30% of the crime. Here in California, that prison population figure is almost 40%. In both instances most prisoners were involved in violent crimes.

All of our government services, including schools, medical care, police services and the courts are collapsing under the demand the aliens have placed on them.

Our area Congressional Representative, a Republican and a wine grape grower, has his crops picked by the migrant workforce. Many of the workers are likely illegal aliens. He lays the complete fault at the feet of the independent contractors he hires to do the work. He says it's the responsibilty of the contractors, not he himself, to assure the workers picking his grapes on his land, are here legally. (Ironically, he is a critic of the general in command during the Iraqi prison abuses for not exercising full control of the prison staff.)

WAIT! There's more. A friend told me last week her nephew, a high school student, was laid off from his job at a Los Angeles fast food restaurant. The reason was he did not understand the language spoken by the staff, Spanish.

The ignorant American voter believes the reason Americans will not work the fields is because Americans are lazy. WRONG! Most Americans cannot speak the language of the fields, Spanish.

Wake up America... WAKE UP!

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