Posted on 11/10/2004 12:51:19 PM PST by VU4G10
(Washington, DC—November 10, 2004) It wasn't quite "Read my lips," but in the last presidential debate in Arizona, George W. Bush clearly stated that he would not support amnesty for illegal aliens. One week after being narrowly returned to office, the president has reneged on that pledge. Bush has dispatched Secretary of State Colin Powell to Mexico City to open discussions with the Mexican government about the size and scope of amnesty for illegal immigrants and for a massive new guest worker program.
"President Bush and Karl Rove have seemingly missed the message of their own, and the Republican Party's, success at the polls last week," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "In spite of a poor record on jobs, further erosion of the middle class, and staggering budget deficits, the people returned the GOP to office because they believed that the Republican Party was more in tune with them on values and respect for the law. One of those gut issues that led voters to ignore the administration's poor record in other areas was the belief that Bush and the Republicans would enforce laws against illegal immigration, not reward illegal immigrants and auction off every job in America to the lowest bidder."
The immigration plan being dusted off in Washington and Mexico City is essentially the same one the administration introduced last January, which proved to be so wildly unpopular among voters that they were forced to shelve it. "Who is the president seeking to reward by reintroducing his amnesty/guest worker proposal?" asked Stein. "Not middle class workers who made it very clear that they are feeling squeezed. Not the millions of families who have lost their health insurance benefits because their employers no longer feel that it is necessary to offer such benefits to attract American workers. Not Hispanic voters, whom polls indicate do not consider this to be high priority and who voted in significant numbers in favor of an Arizona ballot measure that bars illegal aliens from receiving most public benefits.
"The only interest group, besides the estimated 10 to 12 million illegal aliens and their families who could be in line for legal U.S. residency, are cheap labor employers who have come to believe that it is their right to have workers who will work at whatever wages they wish to pay," Stein said.
The latest White House announcement will touch off yet another surge in illegal immigration and further compromise homeland security, predicted FAIR. Last January, when the president first proposed this plan, the U.S. Border Patrol reported a marked increase in the number of people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally in order to benefit from the proposed amnesty. "Aside from betraying the interests of millions of people who voted for him because they believed the president shared their core values, this irresponsible renewal of talk of amnesty will betray those who voted for him because they believed the Republicans were the party that could be entrusted to protect homeland security. You cannot have homeland security and chaos at the border. You cannot have homeland security while granting amnesty to millions of people with only minimal background checks. And you certainly cannot have amnesty and unlimited guest workers, and preserve a solid middle class," asserted Stein.
Me, too. I just think people need to be real; nobody is going to round up the illegals and send them back by going door to door.
Maybe rather than trashing Bush, we should be contacting our respective representatives and asking them to START with enforcing the laws on the books.
Do nothing, they get to stay.
Bush plan, they get to stay.
Tancredo, they get to stay.
Raise hell, they get to stay.
I pick "Operation Wetback" I liked IKE
Question: If my cousin from Italy is here visiting me while pregnant, and she gives birth during her stay, does her child gain automatic American citizenship? Logic (but not the law, because I have not researched it) tells me that there is no automatic citizenship. In other words, the parent is merely a temporary guest or visitor, and the accident of the birth should not confer citizenship on the child.
Using that logic (not that the law is always logical), the child of a guest worker or temporary worker should also be denied automatic citizenship.
I firmly believe that this "baby anchor," as you phrased it, is one of the most serious problems affecting solving this issue. There is little enthusiasm for deporting the parent of a young citizen because it necessitates the deporting of the citizen as well (who cannot support himself without the parent or the state).
The rules for gaining naturalization should apply to all those who wish to come to America. I am offended by the thought of allowing those who have failed to follow the legal procedures (and the long wait) to gain entry by trickery or loopholes and to "cut in line" ahead of those who have followed the rules.
Wait until the FTAA is in full bloom and we turn into the American Union getting to experience up close and personal runaway multiculturalism.
"Is Bush insane? Why would he want to add millions of new voters to the rolls ..."
New voters ??? Now you have Bush not only giving them blanket amnesty but tossing in citizenship ?
Talk about unbelievable....
From what I've seen, it beats no plan and is very similar to Bush's. Are there jobs that Americans don't really want to do, which aliens would like to do? Yes. Therefore, let the market be what the market is.
His guest worker program is an amnesty for illegal aliens that have broken US law.
Are you saying because Mr Bush doesn't call it an amnesty, it isn't???
Too much common sense, Howlin! This crowd can't comprehend that.
Go for It!
McCain and Kolbe just blow me off.
A FRiend in VA called her Rep with the same complaint and was told that VA doesn't have an illegal problem. She asked him then to explain the dozen illegals busted at the Hampton Navy Yard...
"Rather, we construct an entire subculture of non-American, rights-deprived slave laborers."
Absurd ! what rights would they be deprived of that any other legal workers in this country have ?
Wed Nov 10,12:51 AM ET
By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY - An end to the U.S. political season coupled with enhanced border security has significantly improved the climate in the United States for comprehensive immigration reform, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.
But Powell cautioned that approval of the first major immigration reform in 18 years depends on the new Congress that will take office in January.
"We don't want to over-promise," Powell told a news conference during discussions here on a broad range of cross-border issues.
While Mexican officials had once expected "the whole enchilada" on immigration reform, Powell said officials of both countries have lowered their sights.
"We are now taking little bites of the enchilada," Powell told local media. Joining Powell for his 20-hour stay here were five fellow Cabinet secretaries.
After speaking with reporters, Powell met with President Vicente Fox (news - web sites), who has made migration reform in the United States a top foreign policy priority.
He believes that the millions of Mexicans who work in the United States should be granted legal status, enabling them to live without fear of arrest and deportation.
During his discussions, Powell said he reaffirmed President Bush's "plan to work with our new Congress to develop a temporary worker program to match willing foreign workers with willing U.S.. employers."
The comments suggested that the administration was giving priority to the provision in Bush's proposal that would allow workers still in their home countries permission to work in the United States so long as they have a job offer.
A more controversial provision — which Powell did not mention — would allow undocumented aliens already in the United States to achieve legal status if they can prove they have employment. Beneficiaries would be granted permission to remain in the United States for three years, then be allowed to stay on if certain conditions are met.
Many in Congress are wary about doing favors for Mexicans and other migrants who arrived in the United States without official permission, seeing them as lawbreakers. Mexicans constitute by far the largest illegal immigrant community in the United States. The overall total is believed to be around 10 million.
Bush and Fox agreed in 2001 to press for immigration reform but the September 11 terrorist attacks soured Congress on the idea. Since the attacks, enhanced border security has been the dominant U.S. goal in relations with Mexico.
Powell indicated that he is pleased with Mexican cooperation on that issue.
"We are coming out of the 9/11 period and doing a better job of securing our border," he said. He also suggested that Congress may be freer to act next year, mindful that no member faces an election until 2006.
Fox said the time is ripe for an immigration accord. "We have done all the analysis, diagnostics and problem solving possible," Fox said in a radio interview Monday. "There's no reason to lose much time."
Powell made his rounds on a warm sunny day amid signs that U.S.-Mexican relations are on a reasonably sound footing. Plans are underway for Mexico to honor Bush with a state visit next year, reciprocating a September 2001 state visit Fox made to Washington.
Among other issues, Powell and his delegation discussed Mexico's concerns about treatment of Mexicans on U.S. soil. Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, who joined Powell at the news conference, said that issue is "a permanent concern" of the two governments.
Relations were at a low point last year because of differences over U.S. policy in Iraq and decisions by American courts to carry out the death sentence against Mexican citizens without regard for international legal norms that require consular access to the accused.
I agree that Party Punch is just delicious! And remember kids, as long as Bush doesn't say the magic A-word, then his amnesty will never be an amnesty. Delicious!!
Bingo.
You just nailed one of the primary complaints by that 80% we see being bandied about this afternoon.
Why do I have to follow the rules when they don't?
I stand corrected :-)
The President's trial balloon proposal of last year, didn't address any of the real problems facing the US. We still have open borders that equate to a situation of unlimited illegal immigration and employers that want cheap labor. Poor policy will only exacerbate the overall problem.
"In other words, the parent is merely a temporary guest or visitor, and the accident of the birth should not confer citizenship on the child."
Sorry, it does unless the parent refuses and the home country allows the child citizenship. The children of even illegals are citizens.
But I personally agree with you, it shouldn't ...
And who subsidizes their benefits with government handouts?...you and me and everyone else who pays taxes. And who benefits from the cheaper labor?...the Republican's corporate buddies. And who is seeing their culture, language, and national traditions trashed?...anyone who doesn't live in a gated community where Maria and Juan will maintain their lifestyles, cheap.
Hey, "conservatives"...you served your purpose. Just keep quiet and take it, ignored, until the next election, when you will be assured the other party's candidate is even worse.
Representative Tancredo should come to us to help him set up a political party.
If we could get them to go home to return here legally, then we wouldn't NEED a plan, would we?
The US had the Bracero program, and Germany had Gastarbeiters (guestworkers).
Worked fine. Everybody recognizes it as temporary. These programs followed a rule of law, and brought order to matters.
The system now is not enforced, everybody gives it a wink and a nod.
For more decades than any of us have lived, workers have come from Mexico to the US.
I prefer order and lawfulness, to the present situation. And I believe Bush is trying to start down that path.
The key difference is that the Tancredo plan would not legalize illegal aliens.
Are there jobs that Americans don't really want to do, which aliens would like to do? Yes. Therefore, let the market be what the market is.
To a point. However, there are enough workers in other countries who could replace every American for a lower wage. Would you leave the international labor market entirely unrestricted?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.