Posted on 11/09/2004 2:41:55 PM PST by The Loan Arranger
MEXICO CITY -- Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that President Bush will place a high priority in his second term on granting legal status to millions of migrants who live illegally in the United States.
Powell spoke at the inaugural session of the U.S.-Mexican Bi-National Commission, which annually brings together top officials from both sides to discuss a range of cross-border issues. Powell was joined here by five other members of Bush's Cabinet.
"The president is committed to comprehensive immigration reform as a high priority in his second term, and he will work closely with our Congress to achieve this goal," Powell said, with delegations from both sides in attendance at a Foreign Ministry auditorium.
In separate remarks, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez made no specific reference to the migration issue but praised the "high level of confidence and understanding between the two countries."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I'd rather go down spitting teeth! Blackbird.
"He never said that and you must know it.
He wants to give them the chance to REGISTER and EARN the right to be here; if they don't, they go back.
Be honest: the ONLY way this would work is if the administration ships all those who don't comply back."
Piffle. That's just eye-candy. It's amnesty, pure and simple, whatever the details. We're not going to send anyone back, except if they walk in the door and ask to go.
We haven't in the past, and we won't in the future.
If you think there's going to be any push to send illegals from South of the Border back, you're dreaming. It's far more likely that we'll deport errant Canadians who stray across our border illegally.
What does Bush think on the subject? Lets ask him(tell me after reading this he isn't clueless on this issue):
O'REILLY: A "Time" magazine investigation says, 3 million illegal aliens crossed the Mexican border, and we talked about this four and a half years...
BUSH: We have. I know it's a issue that you're concerned about.
O'REILLY: Every year, 3.5 million illegals come over. Why can't the federal government control that?
BUSH: Well, as you know, as the governor of Texas, I was very aware of this issue. There is a long border, that makes it hard to control. We have beefed up places along the border to try to stop the process of...
O'REILLY: With all due respect, though, it's not working, with 3 million...
BUSH: It's working a little better. They're doing a pretty good job down in Arizona, which is the main border crossing. But I was trying to get my words here for a minute. I was trying to give you some facts. I think there's a thousand more border patrol agents along the border, we're modernizing border techniques, we're using better surveillance methods to stop crossing at the border. Now, look, people are coming up because they want to work. You know, family values don't stop at the border.
O'REILLY: Absolutely,
BUSH: If you can make 50 cents in the interior of Mexico, and five bucks in the interior of the United States, you're coming for the five bucks, and they're poor.
O'REILLY: Ninety percent of them are, but 10 percent are bad guys.
BUSH: Well, look...
O'REILLY: A lot of bad guys coming here.
BUSH: I don't know how you got the 10 percent number, maybe...
O'REILLY: The border patrol you know, incarceration, violent crime, that...
BUSH: No question about it. It is a serious issue. I happen to believe the best way to enhance the border is to have temporary worker cards available for people. And I think it's best for the employers who are employing these people. I think it's best for the employees that are trying to find work. I think the long-term solution for this issue on our border is for Mexico to grow a middle class. That's why I believe in NAFTA (search)...
O'REILLY: We'll be in the grave.
BUSH: I don't think so. It's happening. Look, I wish I could have taken you down there and shown you the northern tier of states in Mexico ten years ago compared to today. I mean, it's happening.
Free trade helps lift lives, free trade develops commerce, free trade gives people a chance to realize their dreams. And so long as the wage differential is as big as it is, and so long as moms and dads feel the necessity to feed their children, they're going to come and try to make a living.
O'REILLY: So you're not going to militarize the border to stop...
BUSH: No, we're going to use the border patrol, beef it up, give it better technologies and better equipment to do its job.
O'REILLY: OK. You know a lot of people are not going to like that answer, you know that.
BUSH: Well it's a truthful answer.
O'REILLY: OK.
BUSH: I mean, as opposed as to what, putting a military on the border,
O'REILLY: Yes, [use the] military to back up the border patrol, to just stop the, rampant...
BUSH: No, I think the best way to do it is to give the border patrol the assets it needs to do its job.
"I'd rather go down spitting teeth! Blackbird."
OK. Me...I learned Spanish as a kid, growing up alongside the illegals of the 50s. It has served me well.
Even here, in St. Paul, freakin' Minnesota, I find that my Spanish has served me well. Amazing how many Spanish-only speakers there are here. Now, I'm learning Hmong, thanks to the nice kid down the street, who's teaching me. I'll work on Somali next.
Oh yeah, the Hmongs and Somalis? They're here legally. I figure it'll be worth my while to learn the languages. It always has been in the past.
Actually, the problem is that, for almost 120 years, seasonal workers crossed the border time and again, looking for work. There was a (much smaller) illegal immigration problem, but it wasn't the kind of mess we have now.
In 1965, Congress made that illegal. F*** the long-established customs of the Southwest, LBJ owed the AFL-CIO a favor.
So, former seasonal workers had two options:
1. Starve
2. Break the law
Guess which option won?
Next problem: formerly, crossing the border was never a problem. They crossed, they did work, they got paid, they went home and spent the cash.
Well, now that it was illegal, the following two options were in play:
1. Continue to cross and re-cross the border, risking arrest each time
2. Cross once and stay permanently, contributing to a huge problem
Again, identifying the option that won out is left as an exercise for the reader...
"Well, now that it was illegal, the following two options were in play:
1. Continue to cross and re-cross the border, risking arrest each time
2. Cross once and stay permanently, contributing to a huge problem
Again, identifying the option that won out is left as an exercise for the reader..."
Well, true enough, and there you have it. We have this huge "illegal" immigrant problem now, a problem that has been ignored. Now, a lot of those "illegals" have children born here. Their kids are US citizens.
Isn't it a knotty dilemma?
"I work for an employment service, the major reason for wage compression in the trades such as construction, cement, carpenters etc is illegal immigrants..."
Your post is right on the money!
I'll wait and see; so far, Bush has said what he means and done what he said.
I think the best we can hope for is to bring us back to the pre-1965 state of affairs, prosecute those who hire illegal aliens (we used to get convictions in those cases, before the liberals completely FUBAR'd the extant social and economic structures of the American Southwest), deter and detain those attempting to cross illegally from Mexico, and ignore those crossing BACK INTO Mexico (where they will likely apply for work permits).
Bush doesn't want to offend his Hispanic supporters. What he doesn't understand is that the only Hispanics he will offend are liberal democrats who will probaly never vote for Republicans anyway. Most American Hispanic Conservative supporters support closing the borders and deporting illegals.
Sealing the borders... If we give a blanket amnesty to those that are already here it does nothing to solve the issue.
American works will do the jobs that you claim no americans will do if the employers are force to hire them, by penalizing the employers for hiring illegal aliens...(read: fining employers for hiring illegals..)
you right we can never get all 12 million illegal aliens rounded up... but neither can we accept letting people into this country illegally or letting them reside here and use and drain social services that are designed to be support by tax dollars, that they don't pay for... do you realisticly think that the government if they past an immigration policy would allow these workers to continue to work without paying into the tax base... I doubt it... so what does this create? it forces the federal goverment if they do pass a reform bill to make the employers who hire these illegal immigrants to apply federal tax to their paychecks and that would be followed by state tax, and then the next thing you know the illegal immigrants will be demanding health insurance thru these employers.... so where does that leave the employers.... hiring and paying a person who is in this country illegally the same that he would pay a legal citizen of this country....
The only acceptable solution is repartation and if the means the spend time incarcirated so be it..... remember they broke the law entering this country illegally... and to counter you arugment of "think of what it would cost to incarcirate them.."..... we are already paying a price by them using the social service and paying for the police, ambulance, and fire calls that they are caused by the illegals that they are not paying tax dollars towards.
I am a legal hispanic immigrant and support the closing of the border. I think you are right in your statement.
I say end all federal welfare for non citizens. If a persons wants to make a better life for themselves, fine. But no handouts. If welfare is needed, it should only go to U.S. citizens. If you can't make a living here, then you go home.
A major problem are children of illegals born here. They're citizens and entire families latch on to them. I say if an alien has a child, and cannot meet their parental responsibilities, the child is placed in an orphanage, and the parents are deported. Jim
If he's clueless, it's cause he wants to be! Blackbird.
But keep the welfare teat in position for you, eh?
Take it one step further end welfare entirely both federal and state.... if you are disabled (strict guidelines...no more liberal include all we can clauses.) disability payments for living a comfortable life...meaning not have to worry about food, shelter, etc... but if you are able bodied and can work... no free soup for you! (I grew up in wisconsin watching these folks come up from the chicago area in Caddies, and BMW to collect their wisconsin welfare checks, because they have been apply in both wisconsin and Illionis, and collecting both checks.... They system has been manipulated for too long.. we need to do away with it.
>>granting legal status to millions of migrants who live illegally in the United States>>
Read: Dodge the law long enough and you earn freedom. Good lesson for our kids.
Michael Savage is talking about this now. He is really slamming G.W.! LEGALIZE 5 MILLION ILLEGALS!
Mexico hopes for headway on stalled migration talks
BY MICHAEL O BOYLE/The Herald Mexico
El Universal
Martes 09 de noviembre de 2004
Nuestro mundo, página 1
http://www.el-universal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=7677&tabla=miami
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell leads a delegation of U.S. officials to discuss the current bilateral agenda.
President Vicente Fox's administration on Monday said they would renew their push for migration reform during bilateral meetings with top level U.S. officials this week.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge arrived Monday, along with four other cabinet members and lower level officials for annual talks with their Mexican counterparts on security, immigration and economic issues.
Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez on Monday told reporters Mexico hoped to reach an agreement to regularize the possibly 5 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States before the end of Fox's term in 2006.
Derbez also said Mexico wanted to negotiate a new temporary worker program that would provide a legal alternative for Mexicans determined to work in the United States.
Many analysts have ruled out the possibility of negotiating a complete amnesty for Mexicans already in the United States, saying the best Mexico can hope is that U.S. President George W. Bush makes good on his campaign promise to pass a renewable, temporary work visa program.
Last January, in a an apparent bid to win the votes of Hispanics and U.S. business owners dependent on migrant labor, Bush said he would back a migration reform plan that would match migrants with U.S. employers who could not find Americans to fill jobs. The plan remains vague and has not been followed up with a concrete bill, although Bush did repeat his commitment to the proposal during the presidential debates.
Derbez said Mexico was also prioritizing discussions over border security issues and Fox's desire to expand economic cooperation within North America to face off competitive threats from Asia, a plan Fox calls "Nafta Plus."
While Fox has promoted the idea of expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement, his rhetoric has not been matched by either the United States or Canada.
On Monday, Interior Secretary Santiago Creel met with Ridge for discussions aides said focused on border security initiatives and cross-border commerce. The two made no public comments.
Last week during a trip to the north-central state of Zacatecas, one of the leading sources of Mexican migrants, Creel called U.S. immigration policy "absurd." "It's absurd that (the United States) is spending as much as it's spending to stop immigration flows that can't be stopped, that flow in a natural manner, instead of using that money on real threats that pose risks for both countries," Creel said.
Zacatecas Gov. Amalia Garcia recently said some 18,000 Zacatecans migrate every year to the United States and already an amount equal to one-third of the states 1.3 million residents are living there.
Fox began his term promising to win the so-called "whole enchilda" of migration reform: an amnesty for Mexicans currently living in the United States and an increased number of temporary work visas.
While headway on migration seemed possible at the beginning of both presidents terms in 2001, negotiations were derailed by the terrorists attacks and the shift of the U.S. administration's priorities to Afghanistan, Iraq and the fight against extremist Islamic terrorism.
However, Bush's reelection and Republicans gains in the U.S. Congress and Senate have raised hopes that Mexico may return to the administration's list of priorities.
Powell and Ridge are being accompanied by Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, as well as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Peace Corps.
Experts assembled at a forum held by EL UNIVERSAL last Friday said Fox's administration should change its negotiating strategy with the United States if they want to make headway during Bush's second term.
Some said Mexico should take advantage of the U.S. focus on security to sell a migration plan that would help reduce illegal crossings at the border. Increased security on the U.S.-Mexican border has led migrants to chart new routes through the deserts of Arizona and has increased their reliance on human smugglers. Some fear terrorists could easily pass through Mexico into the United States with the aid of criminal organizations currently guiding migrants.
"We should speak a common language and strategy guided by the theme of security in order to translate that into concrete benefits for Mexico. If we don't do this, we will continue to be irrelevant," said Guadalupe González. "We need to change the focus of the bilateral relation, placing migration within the context of security."
José Luis Valdés Ugalde, director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Center for North American Studies, disagreed, saying Mexico should not bow completely to the U.S. focus on security, but rather place the emphasis on economic integration.
"This could help prevent U.S. protectionists from disrupting the process of trade integration," Valdés said. From the point of view of national development, of prosperity and modernity, we can insert the issue of security. Security doesn't put food on the table."
Franciso Gil Villegas, a political science professor at the Colegio de Mexico, said the amount of disorganization within Fox's Cabinet due to upcoming presidential elections in 2006 made him doubt that Fox's team would be able to mount successful negotiations during the next two years Creel is widely expected to seek his National Action Party's nomination for the presidential race, and could soon resign from his post.
"We have to consider that everyone who conducts the domestic and foreign policies of Mexico are players in the presidential elections and are looking more towards 2006 than towards constructing common policies with George Bush's administration," said Javier Treviño, former undersecretary of foreign relations during the term of Ernesto Zedillo and currently an executive at Cemex.
I agree. The Great society has done so much harm to our nation. Inner city families destroyed, an entire generation of people tied to the government for their survival. No free will. It's evil. what's moral and good are families, charities, church groups pulling together to help their fellow citizen. Dare I say it, a thousand points of light. Jim
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