Posted on 08/31/2004 6:40:29 AM PDT by Aetius
August 29, 2004 A Platform for Immigrants
olitical parties generally like to get through the business of adopting their campaign platforms without too much fuss. But on the eve of their convention, President Bush and his loyal followers had to deal with undercurrents of unhappiness from conservatives about the issue of immigration reform.
Anybody who has watched the Republicans wrestling with this explosive issue this year knew it would be difficult to please both the Republican moderates who realize that the system is "broken" - as Mr. Bush put it in January - and ideologues like Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, who has not only opposed easing rules for undocumented workers but has even favored a "time out'' on legal immigration. Mr. Bush will gain more support in that wider middle ground if he sticks with his original proposal to mend the immigration system and begins supporting bipartisan proposals in Congress.
Mr. Bush made a reasonable start in January at untangling the immigration mess - a guest worker plan that he stressed was not an amnesty. There were few details in his proposal, but even this moderate plan provoked a deafening outcry from the conservatives in the "What part of illegal don't you understand?" crowd. Sadly, the president went scurrying back into safer territory. Congress stalled passage of a bill to help 500,000 farm workers, and one to lower costs for immigrants' children to go to college. These bills have the support of Republicans and Democrats, unions and businesses. The president could easily bring them to the floor.
At the same time, Mr. Bush needs to head off less helpful proposals. Some anti-immigrant conservatives want the police or hospital workers to help identify illegal immigrants as a first step in sending them back where they came from. Most police experts and health workers strongly object. If an illegal worker is raped, she might resist going to the police for fear that they will worry more about her papers than her attacker; that leaves the rapist on the streets. No health expert wants someone with a contagious disease hiding from those who could provide treatment.
Mr. Bush's original plan seemed to head in the right direction by promising workable incentives for those who want to return to their native countries after earning money in America. But any plan to create a new class of "temporary" workers raises the specter of the old bracero program, which resulted in harassment, discrimination and abuse of too many migrant workers. The word amnesty is anathema to Mr. Bush's conservative Republican base, but the president has to realize that reform will work only if there is a reasonable way to allow some illegal immigrants a path toward permanent residence and even citizenship.
A party platform has never been a real contract with the voters, of course. But if the Republicans want to court moderates and appeal to minority voters like Hispanics, the promise of legitimate and humane immigration reform deserves to be near the top of the president's agenda for a second term.
Ponzinomics 101, thanks but no thanks.
The immigration issue continues to make me question President Bush's credibility. I fail to see how we can prevent another 911 by having open borders.
"Incremental steps"? You mean toward the destruction of our society? A "temporary guest-worker" program would likely end with millions more U.S.-Mexican dual citizens and would almost certainly NOT be accompanied by more border security.
It's not that hard to arrest and deport illegals with outstanding warrants against them. Nor would it be it difficult to begin crackdowns on employers of illegal aliens and to crack down on social services for said illeals. That would go a long way toward helping the illegals deport themselves.
As for our border, undo the military cuts made in the early 90's and line up National Guard troops next to Mexico. It'll work like a charm--and save lives.
As far as Tancredo's idea of a moratorium on legal immigration, he needs to spend a little time paying closer attention to the decreasing employee-retiree ratio in the U.S., and how the accelerating pace of baby boomers retiring impacts our economy.
Maybe if people in the 80's and 90's had spent a little more money saving for retirement and a little less on German automobiles, that wouldn't be a problem.
But speaking of the elderly, I for one am not excited about explaining to my grandchildren the shoddy state of Amexica fifty years from now.
Also, even if you got rid of all the illegals (and, one hopes, neo-Aztlan nationalists as well) and put a moritorium on immigration, you could keep the birth rate at replacement levels--easily--by banning abortion.
Well, be careful. Corporations who hire illegal aliens usually hire a lot of good, hard-working Americans as well. I'd suggest fining them just enough so that they feel it, not enough so that Americans lose their jobs.
If they continued employing Illegaliens after the "amnesty" period is up, I'd then have no problem closing the doors of a few...
Who said anything about open borders? Certainly not this President. You must be listening to the DU.
What we need is a logical approach to allowing those who are searching for work to come in and work instead of getting involved with coyotes and illegal scams in order to survive! Simple. The guest worker program worked before and it can work again.
"It is a lie that the "illegals" are doing jobs Americans won't do. If the "illegals" were not here, those jobs would be performed by Americans, there is no question about that."
NO it's not "a lie"! You apparently have no experience running a business. Immigrants do jobs better and cheaper than Americans who refuse to do the same for the money that is paid usually under $7 per hour. No independent business person will or can pay $15 per hour to wait tables or pick lettuce or clean up in the back.
"The guest worker program worked before and it can work again"
No it didn't. If you reward criminal behavior, you only encourage more criminal behavior. It's that simple.
Our problem is we're paying Americans welfare not to do those jobs Americans won't do and we're importing labor to do it.
We first need to cut out ALL taxpayer funded assistance without requiring a minimal labor amount of 20-25 hrs a week. No work, no pay. Period.
I'm tired of seeing kids wearing Hifinger designer clothes, their moms with fifty-buck nail jobs, buying food with foodstamp debit cards. I'm tired of seeing people in "government assisted" housing making the drug runs, driving 450 Mercedes with a grand apiece rims. And I'm tired of hearing we "owe" it to ourselves to provide for those who can't (meaning won't) provide for themselves, seeing perfectly capable young men standing on the street corner with the crotch of their pants around their ankles doing nothing productive with their lives. Because we PAY them not to do anything.
Surely not when they are getting away with paying them $7 with the taxpayer picking up the difference.
You apparently have no experience running a business.
A ridiculous and ignorant statement. I do indeed. I've never had a problem filling any job opening, even at the most basic level.
And I NEVER violated the law by employing an illegal.
I suspect that far too many unethical business owners do just as you suggest and enable those who sneak into our country to break our laws.
You keep using the word "immigrants", those who creep accross our borders are not immigrants, they are foreign invaders, and criminals.
Where did you come from?
Those businesses seem to be able to find good LEGAL help - many of them high school & college kids - just fine.
Imagine that - and in a region with a very high cost of living.
I agree. Neither party will listen to reason.
As I said...
http://www.prb.org/Content/ContentGroups/Report/025/ReportonAmericaGovtSpendng.pdf
Pay close attention to page 6.
Interesting how it was "hispanics" led by men like Cesar Chavez --- their hero --- who helped shut down the Bracero program. Sure that was a successful program for those who want dirt cheap near slaves --- but apparently many hispanics didn't like staying dirt cheap near slaves forever.
Chavez needed to limit the supply of labor in order to drive up wages. A ruthless man, he apparently is on the same side as many who are posting here who want to limit the number of immgrants comong here to work.
They wanted to make what factory workers were making --- I don't think that Chicanos should have been considered so much lower than dirt that they were to be poverty stricken slaves. Now they've been replaced with Mexicans who are more used to working like slaves --- but I don't see how any of that is good for this country. A huge and growing population of desperate people, no raises because more can easily be imported.
We can easily become like Mexico with 10 servant-types for every elite and no other kind of people -- who needs any middle class employees if someone could be found somewhere in the world who'll work for dirt --- but there is a lot of instability in that kind of class set-up.
What made the USA so wealthy wasn't just because we had the best aristocrats but because we had a very large middle class -- not a servant society.
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