Posted on 07/06/2004 8:24:59 PM PDT by seastay
GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made progress on several fronts in an effort to put California on the road to recovery. But there's a roadblock at the very beginning, and until it's removed, California's recovery cannot move forward. Illegal immigration, more than any other single factor, is crippling major segments of California's economy, from health care to higher education to jobs. That's why, regardless of the security concerns -- and there are many -- Schwarzenegger should not sign any bill granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
This is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue. Exit polls conducted during last year's recall showed that 39 percent of the recall voters identified themselves as Republican. Yet 70 percent told pollsters the license law that was then in effect should be repealed.
Schwarzenegger did the right thing and forced its repeal. Now he should do the right thing and refuse to resurrect it.
There are approximately 6 million illegal immigrants living in California today, a figure that has more than tripled over the past decade despite supposed increases in enforcement.
Why? Because we have made the allure of the Golden State irresistible. Even in the face of legal ramifications and the very real possibility of death or serious injury en route, illegal immigrants continue to come.
A driver's license would be one more enticement. Instead of offering driver's licenses, we must remove the enticements we now offer.
Anyone, whether here legally or not, should not be denied emergency care. But illegal immigrants use hospital emergency rooms for general care. As a result, 82 percent of the state's emergency rooms lost money in 2002, according to the California Medical Association.
The burden from illegal immigrants who use emergency rooms for primary care is so great that hospitals across the state are closing at alarming rates. Such burdens hurt those who can least afford it -- our native working poor who lose access to the only health care available to them.
Illegal immigration also hurts our native working poor's ability to attain Section 8 housing. By state law, illegal immigrants are barred from Section 8 housing. But the law is not enforced. So illegal immigrants fill public housing while a several-generation U.S. mother lives in her car with three children because she's on a six-year waiting list.
In California, illegal immigrants attend state universities at in-state tuition rates. That's grossly unfair to a legal high school student who moves out of California for a year, then returns to attend college. That student will pay $16,956 a year more than an illegal student -- who shouldn't be entitled to attend anyway.
Proponents of giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses say they need them to work. These are the same people who repeat the fallacy that illegal immigrants take jobs U.S. citizens don't want.
More than 8 million Americans are unemployed. Hotel and restaurant jobs -- which used to be filled quite happily by legal U.S. residents and citizens -- are now filled by illegal immigrants who are paid a pittance of what U.S. workers were paid. Construction used to be a time-honored profession passed from father to son in the United States, but U.S. citizens have been forced out by illegal immigrants willing to do the work for minimum wage and no benefits.
With a wink and a nod by employers, illegal immigrants supply forged documents to get a job. Easily forged and fraudulently obtained matricula consular cards are accepted as a free pass on our streets. Illegal immigrants obtain free medical care and heavily subsidized higher education without penalties.
It's impossible to return California's economy to a solid footing without addressing illegal immigration. It's true that the federal government needs to step up enforcement, and I am working with my congressional colleagues to do so. But as long as we offer free health care, jobs, heavily subsidized higher education, subsidized housing and other enticements, illegal immigrants will risk life and limb to come here.
For the health of our state's economy, Schwarzenegger should declare any future driver's license bill dead on arrival and begin reversing state laws and policies that serve as a lure to illegal immigrants.
Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, is former chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform and a senior member of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.
This news is about 20 years too late.
Illegal immigration, more than any other single factor, is crippling major segments of California's economy, from health care to higher education to jobs.
And it isn't just California anymore. All the Western states are having problems now. Our politicians are ignoring this problem at their peril. These people are responsible for a large chunk of the tax increases we're undergoing. I'm furious that I'm forced to subsidize someone's "cheap labor."
As California goes, the nation follows....
We have good friends in South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. All are being swamped with illegals.....
Who is running the federal government, and why do they continue to demand my income when they refuse to do their job?
ping
(#12 is new)
(COPY AND DISTRIBUTE WIDELY. Revise and extend as you see fit. Start a movement, print a petition, start a political party, confront your legislators, write letters, post posters, drop leaflets. Demand, demand, demand…)
19 POINT ACTION PLAN: Border Violators
1) Close all US borders to illegal entry forthwith by any and all means possible, including military presence.
2) Maintain legitimate immigration levels at modest annual level with requirements that immigrants be employable or sufficiently wealthy for self-support if they do not intend to work, proficient in basic English and willing to be assimilated into American culture and language. All applicants shall provide prints, photos and DNA samples.
3) Legal immigration shall be awarded to individuals on a lottery basis, wherein all countries are given equal status in the immigration lottery, without regards to color or economic plight of originating nation.
4) Individuals of Islamic faith (muslims) from any country shall be denied immigration privileges or entry into the US. Christians and Jews from muslim countries fleeing religious persecution shall receive preferential and accelerated immigration privileges.
5) Detain all border violators, taking photos, prints and DNA samples of said violator while at the same time, checking for out standing warrants. If no warrants are outstanding, return border violators to home country within 20 days via commercial airline and submit cost of such action, including processing and housing costs for said violator, to country of origin. If costs are not paid within 30 days, reduce any and all aid to said country by a like amount.
6) Should any country from which a border violator originates not currently receive any aid from the US, the Justice Department shall be authorized to seize or secure liens on assets owned, managed or registered to that country to the full extent of the obligation.
7) Establish new Guest Worker Visa (GWV) category, renewable every six (6) months, for unskilled labor positions wherein all applicants shall provide prints, photos and DNA samples. Work permitted of such applicants shall be limited to one of several categories, including childcare, lawn/gardening, restaurant staff, cleaning, and the like. Families of GWV workers are not permitted to enter US, nor will the birth of a child in the U.S. to one of GWV status confer citizenship to either parent or child.
8) Any violation of civil or criminal laws shall result in the forfeiture of the GWV and immediate return to originating country.
9) GWV holders shall be prohibited from claiming unemployment benefits, welfare support or free medical service.
10) The originating country of all GWV holders shall be responsible for any loss caused by their citizens, including emergency medical claims and claims resulting from illegal acts committed while in the US.
11) Companies that hire GWV holders shall submit to the Immigration Dept the name and GWV number of that individual, along with a description of employment tasks. Companies that fail to report employment of GWV workers, or hire border violators, shall be subject to fines and penalties.
12) GWV workers shall not receive unemployment compensation but shall be subject to an alternate tax equivalent to the current unemployment tax rate, which shall be withheld and be applied to border patrol activities. GWV workers shall be paid with check, having income tax withheld.
13) Border violators, or any non-citizen not possessing a valid visa, detained by local police for any reason shall be turned over to border control officials for immediate deportation action, except if they face criminal charges in other jurisdictions.
14) Border violators and GWV workers shall be prohibited from voting in local, state and federal elections.
15) Border Violators shall NOT be afforded the rights enjoyed by American citizens, as guaranteed under the constitution.
16) Public education (at institutions supported by taxpayer dollars) at any level (pre-school, kindergarten through the university level,) shall NOT be available to Border Violators (or children of Border Violators) and schools that enroll such individuals shall be subject to penalties.
17) Foreign Students (F/S) (individuals admitted to the U.S. for the purpose of attending any educational facility,) private institution or public (i.e. supported by taxpayer dollars,) must have valid student visas, such visas being in force only if the F/S attends school full-time. F/S shall be required to pay tuition, housing and related costs such that all their educational costs are fully reimbursed to the institution attended. The originating country shall pay for any and all loss caused by students while on U.S. soil.
18) Border Violators seeking emergency medical treatment shall provide pictures, fingerprints and DNA samples along with country of origin, and shall be treated then incarcerated until information provided can be verified. Originating country shall bear the costs of medical treatment and confinement.
19) Children born in the U.S. to border violators, illegal aliens or of foreign nationals in the U.S. for any reason (including temporary visitor, school or work visas,) shall not be eligible for citizenship as circumstances of birth, nor shall the parents or parent’s family members (relatives) be conferred U.S. citizenship as a result of such births.
20) (developing)
God bless Elton Galegly, a person with brains enough to get it, and articulate the reasons.
God bless Elton Galegly, a person with brains enough to get it, and articulate the reasons.
That's the grim reality. NM has close to 46% Mexicans now. I'm sure the rest of the states have comparable figures.
I noticed those fruit loops on the other thread wanted you to take responsibility for Feinstein and Boxer, but wouldn't take responsibility for our team when they screw up.
The fifth column is alive and well in our nation my friend.
By Elton Gallegly
Although there are a number of reasons for not accepting foreign-issued identification cards as legitimate ID in the United States, terrorism and the post-9-11 world stands at the top of the list.
Mexican consulates began mass distribution of matricula consulars—identification cards issued by the Mexican government to illegal immigrants in the United States—just more than a year ago. They gained favor among illegal immigrants when banks began to accept the cards as legitimate identification to open bank accounts. Then local governments began to accept them as legitimate identification as well.
Let’s be clear: The only people who need these cards are illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists, and no one denies this fact.
If we accept identification issued by Mexico as legitimate in the United States, where does it stop? And what protections do we have against terrorists taking advantage of the program when we’ve turned over to foreign governments our sovereign right to identify people within our borders?
The proof that those concerns are well-founded comes in the form of a May 3 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua to the State Department in Washington, D.C. The cable outlines discussions between the embassy and the Nicaraguan government on Nicaragua’s plans to develop a consular identification program in the United States similar to Mexico’s.
Nicaraguan Consular Affairs Director Miriam Fonseca admitted to embassy officials that illegal immigrants would most likely use the card and that the cards would be issued at consular offices in the United States “on the spot.” Most troublesome was the criteria Nicaragua would use to establish the identity of anyone seeking a card.
Under Nicaraguan law, a person’s identity can be established without any documents. All it takes is the testimony of two witnesses to say the person is who he says he is.
“The same ‘witness’ process will be applied to the issuance of consular ID cards,” the embassy cable states.
To say that’s an enormous loophole is an enormous understatement.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how easily a terrorist could persuade two people to vouch for his identity.
Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries trying to expand their consular ID programs in the United States are doing so in an effort to force a de facto amnesty for their nationals illegally in this country and to allow them to receive services to which they are not entitled.
And, while it’s true that the vast majority—99.9999 percent, perhaps—of those seeking the cards are not terrorists, it is equally true that terrorists are certainly watching this program to see how they may exploit it.
Already reports have surfaced in Ventura County that scoundrels are selling counterfeit Mexican consular ID cards door to door.
Equally disturbing is that our government is actively supporting these programs. State Department representatives admitted in a congressional briefing that the department helped Mexico design its program. And the embassy cable explicitly asks the State Department for guidance.
Giving up our sovereign rights during a time of war is foolhardy and irresponsible.
Last year Congress passed, and the president signed into law, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, which greatly tightens the integrity of visas and other entry documents.
Then, in response to the growing acceptance of the matricula consular, I authored and introduced the Identification Integrity Act of 2003. With the exception of passports—which are issued under strict guidelines provided by the U.S.—it would forbid the federal government’s recognition of foreign-issue IDs.
I am also working on other legislation to close this loophole for terrorists and de facto amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The price is just too high not to end this practice now.
--- Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.
What's strange is anyone with brain knows Boxer and Feinstein are a couple of leftist socialist screw worms, but they won't every point the finger of blame where the buck stops....I don't pay them much mind. They have quite a reputation here as leftist in conservative clothing..They're frauds, plain and simple.
Despite my good wishes, our nation is in serious jeopardy. This is a sad day in American history.
I try and picture how it'll be ten years from now. It's a frighening picture in my mind.. By then, at this rate, America's population could be up to 25 percent illegal and our elections would have long since been completely undermined by voter fraud...
Washington, D.C. – Raul Yzaguirre, President of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Latino civil rights organization in the U.S., called on the Bush Administration to put an immediate end to immigration raids being conducted far from the border in southern California. “NCLR is alarmed at the raids and neighborhood sweeps being conducted in southern California targeting Latino residents,” stated Yzaguirre. “These raids are terrorizing large communities which include immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens. We’re hearing that many in our community are fearful of leaving their homes, school attendance in several schools is down, and health clinics report that patients are fearful of venturing out to keep their appointments for health services.”
It doesn't take 75 million illegal aliens to screw up an election when only around 40 million registered voters, please correct me if my recollection is incorrect, are going to the polls.
With the winning candidate only needing about 20 million votes, the illegals have all the fraudulent votes they need to make a mess out of our national elections, already.
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