Posted on 12/09/2004 10:02:15 AM PST by nanak
12 Questions the White House Must Answer About Bush's Temporary Worker Plan
President Bush announced in a meeting with Mexico's President Vicente Fox in November that he will give "high priority" in 2005 to his guest worker plan that will grant legal status to the four to six million Mexican nationals (and others) now working in the United States illegally. That proposal was first announced in January of 2004 as a set of "principles."
However, since it was never introduced in Congress as legislation, no details are known about the plan. The public needs answers to the many questions raised by the proposal. Among those questions are the following:
QUESTIONS ABOUT AMNESTY
1. The president says his plan does not offer amnesty to lawbreakers, but if an unlawful act is forgiven and not penalized, is that not the same as amnesty? Isn't it amnesty if people who entered our country illegally are not required to go home before applying for a work permit?
2. Why is it not reasonable to believe that offering a "legal route to employment" for people who entered the country illegally will only encourage millions more to follow the same path in the expectation that they, too, will eventually be offered legal status? Is The White House aware that the National Border Patrol Council, which represents rank and file Border Patrol agents, says the president's plan will produce another surge in illegal alien traffic?
NATIONAL SECURITY
3. The president says that his plan will free up the Border Patrol to catch drug smugglers and terrorists. In view of the very real terrorist threat facing our nation and the certainty that terrorists are well aware of how easy it is to cross our open borders, would it not be more sensible and much safer for the country to first make our borders secure and then experiment with new guest worker programs, rather than the other way around?
4. What about the 150,000 people coming across our borders each year from outside Mexico, hundreds of them from countries on the State Department's watch list of nations known to harbor terrorists? Why is border security taking a backseat to a temporary worker program?
JOBS
5. The president says his temporary worker plan will be limited to "jobs Americans won't do." But since willingness to do any job is always relative to the wages being offered for that job, isn't it true that millions of jobs will be lost by Americans to foreign labor willing to work at a lower wage? When an employer lowers the wage of a job so only a foreign worker will take the job, as is already happening in construction trades and many other occupations, how can anyone say this is not taking jobs away from Americans?
6. The president frequently describes his plan as one that "will match willing workers with willing employers." Since his plan puts no limits on the types of jobs to be included, isn't it likely that employers will find additional millions of "willing workers" to fill millions of jobs at lower wages?
WHAT IS A "TEMPORARY WORKER"?
7. The president says his plan will allow "temporary workers" to take jobs for a three year term, renewable to six years. If a worker signs up for the program to obtain legal employment and works six years, but then does not want to go home because he now has a wife and also three children born in the United States, will the plan require him to go home? If he returns home, what happens to his wife and children?
8. If the temporary worker is not required to go home after his term of employment expires, then isn't it more accurate to call the president's plan a new immigration program with built-in preference for immigrants from Mexico and Central America? If a "temporary worker" is allowed to file an application for citizenship and to remain in the United States after his temporary work permit expires, is this not really an immigration program and not a temporary worker program?
ENFORCEMENT POLICIES
9. The president says his plan will include stepped up enforcement of labor laws to punish employers who continue to hire illegal workers. But isn't it true that this same promise was made to Congress and the American people in 1986 and that promise was never kept?
10. Since current laws against hiring illegal workers are virtually unenforceable, what specific changes is the president proposing to curtail and penalize this employment practice? Will employers be required to verify a valid Social Security number (available to any legal worker) before offering employment? Will Social Security cards be made fraud-proof? Will illegal workers who use phony Social Security cards or other people's numbers be deported and not merely fired and allowed to seek a different job as is the case today?
11. The president says that offering a legal way to find work in the U.S. will bring an end to the border problems. But if our borders are not made truly secure, won't millions of desperate people continue to enter illegally way instead of waiting in line for a work permit?
COMPETENCE AND CAPABILITIES OF OUR ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
12. If today's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot locate the 400,000 "absconders" who have already been ordered deported, including almost 100,000 criminal aliens, and if this enforcement agency can't intercept and deport the criminal aliens already incarcerated in our jails, nor the two million student, tourist, and other "visa overstays," why should anyone believe they will be willing and able to locate and deport an additional six to eight million "temporary workers" if these workers choose to stay when their permit expires?
I prefer 'Criminal Invader Pimp Daddy' for urod myself...
4. What about the 150,000 people coming across our borders each year from outside Mexico, hundreds of them from countries on the State Department's watch list of nations known to harbor terrorists? Why is border security taking a backseat to a temporary worker program?
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LOLOL...the sheer freaking insanity.
5. The president says his temporary worker plan will be limited to "jobs Americans won't do." But since willingness to do any job is always relative to the wages being offered for that job, isn't it true that millions of jobs will be lost by Americans to foreign labor willing to work at a lower wage? When an employer lowers the wage of a job so only a foreign worker will take the job, as is already happening in construction trades and many other occupations, how can anyone say this is not taking jobs away from Americans?
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Why work for $.13/hour in Ecuador when you can work for $.50/hour in the Mexican interior?
Hell, why work for $.50/hour in the Mexican interior when you can work for $5.00/hour as a Criminal Invader in America's interior? With all the freaking bells and whistles, courtesy of Joe USA?!
I suppose that's only 5-10 years, maybe 15, away...
<<<
6. The president frequently describes his plan as one that "will match willing workers with willing employers."
...
Doesn't the current 'plan' do that now?! LOL...
Willing American Traitors are matched with Criminal Invaders right now!!
I keep seeing this same assertion about Tancredo from you on numerous threads, and I have a question.
Pat Buchanan has never won an elected office. Hes a pundit, a talk show host, a writer. His reform party is effectively non-existent.
Tancredo won his last election campaign as a Republican pretty handily I believe.
What's the quid pro quo for Tancredo? What does he get for being Pats "sock puppet"?
WHAT IS A "TEMPORARY WORKER"?
7. The president says his plan will allow "temporary workers" to take jobs for a three year term, renewable to six years. If a worker signs up for the program to obtain legal employment and works six years, but then does not want to go home because he now has a wife and also three children born in the United States, will the plan require him to go home? If he returns home, what happens to his wife and children?
8. If the temporary worker is not required to go home after his term of employment expires, then isn't it more accurate to call the president's plan a new immigration program with built-in preference for immigrants from Mexico and Central America? If a "temporary worker" is allowed to file an application for citizenship and to remain in the United States after his temporary work permit expires, is this not really an immigration program and not a temporary worker program?
They are quite aware of the situation and did everything in their power to spin that fact into oblivion earlier this year. Any time a high-ranking political parasite mentions amnesty, legalization, or any other synonyms, the effect at the border is catastrophic.
Traffic here in Cochise County was up 35% over last year. In the months immediately following Dubya's January speech, it was running 114% over the same period in 2003.
The political fall out from that led to the much bally-hooed Arizona Border Control Initiative -- more of an exercise in PR spin than any real enforcement.
"But they spent $10 million on it!" Yep, and that sum will also buy me a non-flying fraction of a single 30-year old F-16 fighter. We never saw the additional manpower and equipment here -- most was sent to the western desert for humanitarian reasons. It saved a few lives there, but here on the main routes? Hell, we got pillaged and plundered as usual.
Another bad side-affect: Paco and Jose slither under the fence with a sense of entitlement and a damn bad attitude. Acts of violence towards the Border Patrol and Americans in general have seen a big increase.
Have you ever gotten to know any Congressmen? I have interacted with a number of them. Some are worthy of a great deal of respect, some are empty suits with smiley faces, some are out right crooks. All have huge egos and dream of higher office.
Most do very well financially. (One very high level conservative leader cried on my shoulder when he first got elected because he was so poor he couldn't afford an apartment and was sleeping in the gym. A couple years ago he retired as a multimillionaire)
Tancredo is not one of your brightest house members. He proposed a bill imposing a 5% tax on transactions that primarily effected only one company, and crawfished when someone informed him that the company was located in his own district and was the largest employer in his district.
According to Tancredo, Karl Rove told him to never darken the door of the White House again. Only a fool would cross Karl Rove. Too many people respect Karl's opinions.
Whatever Tancredo's reason for hooking up with Buchanan, it was definitely a career killer.
I like it!
Willing American Traitors are matched with Criminal Invaders right now!!
The Dimms and the Republicans just won't hear the American People, we have no place else to go for representation in Congress: Let's see, elections 2006,
Constitutional Party,
http://www.constitutionparty.com/
America First Party,
http://www.americafirstparty.org/
Independant American Party
http://www.usiap.org/
The American Party
http://www.theamericanparty.org/
You're right. I guess that really explains why he he only beat his opponent by about 10 points more than Shrub beat Skerry.
Pardon me while I snicker in an uncontrolled fashion.
Old German saying.
"Have you ever gotten to know any Congressmen? I have interacted with a number of them. Some are worthy of a great deal of respect, some are empty suits with smiley faces, some are out right crooks. All have huge egos and dream of higher office."
Its true to some extent of all politicians, but some are good guys. This is why Im in favor of term limits, which is a side topic.
"Tancredo is not one of your brightest house members."
I have no idea about this. Tancredo's influence in the house has increased steadily over the last few years, and he did win re-election with over 60% I think.
"According to Tancredo, Karl Rove told him to never darken the door of the White House again. Only a fool would cross Karl Rove. Too many people respect Karl's opinions."
This is true...there is some bad blood here. I remember when it started but I dont recall exactly why. You will see however, if I may make a prediction, that the political dynamics in the Republican party will get very interesting in the next year. Its much more than Rove vs Tancredo. Watch and see where others such as Delay fall. Note that Hastert backed Sensenbrenner and Hunter in their resistance to the White House on the intelligence bill. Hastert is no revolutionary. Very significant.
"Whatever Tancredo's reason for hooking up with Buchanan, it was definitely a career killer."
This was the heart of my question. You havent answered it...which is no surprise, as there really is no logical answer. Buchannan has no political organization, no politcal pull, no positive name recognition for someone looking for higher office. He really has nothing to offer Tancredo...except good press.
But Tancredo would get that anyway...assuming Pat agrees with his positions on immigration and security, which he does.
BTW, the only notable repub pol I know of who agrees with Pat on Iraq is Ron Paul. Some following.
That's plenty of reasons for Buchanan to want to hook up with Tancredo. (Actually Buchanan wants mailing lists he can get using Tancredo's name)
But why Tancredo allowed Buchanan to co-op him is beyond me. The only thing I can think of is Tancredo wants to take advantage of Buchanan's experience in making money off of vanity campaigns for president. But there ain't no doubt from their own links that the Buchanans are running the Tancredo web organization.
"But why Tancredo allowed Buchanan to co-op him is beyond me."
Me too. Makes no sense.
bttt
One way to head off calls to re-negotiate Nafta, some argue, is to forge a new migration agreement. Former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari said: "A migration agreement is indispensable. . . . It is a must for the future.
The most recommended migration change aims to stabilize the stock of Mexican-born US residents, about nine million, and legalize (but not increase) the current flow, about 300,000 to 500,000 a year. One proposal to accomplish this stabilization-legalization goal would have the US grant a combination of more immigrant and guest worker visas to accommodate the current inflow, and allow Mexicans working in the United States to earn immigrant status in the US. For its part, Mexico would police its border to prevent additional illegal emigration.
The December return of migrants (paisanos) has become a Mexican institution. In 1990, the government launched the Paisano program to welcome migrants home, and beginning in 2000, Mexican President Fox has welcomed returning migrants at the US border, hailing them as heroes for the remittances they bring back to Mexico. Mexican police are sometimes assigned to escort returning migrants from the border to highways that lead to the Mexican interior in an effort to prevent thieves and panhandlers from harassing the returnees. The Salt Lake Tribune noted that the yearly December return of migrants loaded with gifts in makes it very hard to persuade youth to stay at home.
"Mexican Migrants Escorted Home by Police," Associated Press, November 29, 2002.
For its part, Mexico would police its border to prevent additional illegal emigration.
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When they start actually doing this, instead of the sheer opposite, then we will have the beginning of *something*.
Until then, we must aggressively, ruthlessly and vigilantely patrol our whored borders. Our neighbors just don't seem to really care...their governments seemingly side with our enemies the world over.
That tells us volumes about Tancredo. He was a professional Libertarian, meaning that he was (is?) a kook.
He was running a think tank meaning that he was a professional fund raiser.
That makes him a natural match for Buchanan. Both are professional fund raisers who scam money from political kooks.
Want to run a test? Contribute to Tancredo's organization using a fake name and see how long it takes for you to receive a solicitation letter from Buchanan's organization address to the fake name. Then reverse it.
Mailing list are extremely valuable but are often used to defraud both the internal revenue laws and campaign finance laws.
When our elected government representatives refuse to listen to the masses the only viable alternative left to citizens short of an armed insurrection is civil disobedience and a peaceful civil insurrection - it's time to start taking this problem to the streets of America with tax paying citizens demanding a responsive and responsible representative government for those who pay the bills.
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