Bush presses for reform on border policy

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, December 21, 2004 | By James G. Lakely

[JohnHuang2]

President Bush said yesterday he wants to reform immigration policy so that the Border Patrol will be "chasing crooks and thieves and drug-runners and terrorists," and not the thousands who cross the border every day to find work.
    Mr. Bush has for months tried to drum up congressional support for his plan to give illegal aliens "temporary worker cards" that would allow them to legally hold jobs that U.S. businesses say they can't fill with American labor.
    At his final formal press conference of the year, Mr. Bush said immigrants are pouring over the U.S. border, mostly from Mexico, to "put food on the table" and that "it makes sense for us to recognize that reality.
    "We want our Border Patrol agents chasing, you know, crooks and thieves and drug-runners and terrorists, not good-hearted people who are coming here to work," Mr. Bush said. "And therefore, it makes sense to allow the good-hearted people who are coming here to do jobs that Americans won't do a legal way to do so. And providing that legal avenue, it takes the pressure off the border."
    Conservatives have resisted the president's plan, arguing that it amounts to an amnesty for those who are currently breaking the law and that the relaxed rules could be exploited by terrorists.
    Mr. Bush assured critics that "one of the important aspects of my vision is that this is not automatic citizenship.
    "The American people must understand that," Mr. Bush said. "If somebody who is here working wants to be a citizen, they can get in line like those who have been here legally and have been working to become a citizen in a legal manner."

[risk]

Mr. Bush has for months tried to drum up congressional support for his plan to give illegal aliens "temporary worker cards" that would allow them to legally hold jobs that U.S. businesses say they can't fill with American labor.

Gee, I guess millions of Americans out of work suggests we need to import foreigners to fill in the gaps?

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey 2000 - 2004

Series Id:           LNS13000000 Seasonal Adjusted Series title:        (Seas) Unemployment Level Labor force status:  Unemployed Type of data:        Number in thousands Age:                 16 years and over
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2000	5698	5853	5730	5483	5758	5648	5749	5861	5631	5540	5643	5641
2001	5997	6072	6136	6274	6227	6481	6583	7057	7151	7723	8020	8291
2002	8126	8184	8278	8578	8397	8384	8400	8335	8269	8363	8565	8698
2003	8428	8581	8519	8799	8957	9245	9048	8929	8966	8797	8653	8398
2004	8297	8170	8352	8164	8203	8248	8196	8022	8003	8072	8027

 

[Dane]

Gee, I guess millions of Americans out of work suggests we need to import foreigners to fill in the gaps?

Get back to me when you make a career out of being a vegetable picker.

[risk]

Picking vegetables doesn't pay enough to live decently, now does it? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1305675/posts

[Dane]

Picking vegetables doesn't pay enough to live decently, now does it?

Go ahead and set the minimum wage at $25, that will cure all our ills and stick it to those evil farmers and business owners.

[risk]

Why not let the market decide? The American market, instead of illegal labor without reasonable income and workplace standards imported from the third world? What we have now is an artificially subsidized labor supply. Of course you have cheap lettuce. Cheap lettuce is very important.

[Texasforever]

The minimum wage is NOT letting the market decide.

[risk]

I could care less about the minimum wage. I care about the artificially subsidized labor market, flooded with cheap, desperate third world workers who will do anything cheaper than their American counterparts.

[Dane]

Why not let the market decide? The American market, instead of illegal labor without reasonable income and workplace standards imported from the third world? What we have now is an artificially subsidized labor supply. Of course you have cheap lettuce. Cheap lettuce is very important.

Cheap food, shoes, clothes, autos.

Yep Americans like having their goods for sale at cheap prices. There is a reason Wal-Mart is the #1 retailer. Also there is the stigma of jobs like vegetable picker and toilet cleaner.

A question, do you think that American parents want to have their children to have vegetable picker or janitor as a life long career?

[Texasforever]

I care about the artificially subsidized labor market, flooded with cheap, desperate third world workers who will do anything cheaper than their American counterparts.

You mean busboys, maids, gardeners? Which of those professions do you claim?

[risk]

How about construction worker? That used to be a highly-paid profession. Try competing against people who will live 20 to a rented house, and consistently under bid their competition. If you think this problem isn't coming home to you, you're sadly mistaken. Every professional walk of life in America is impacted by subsidized labor imported from the third world.

[Texasforever]

How about construction worker? That used to be a highly-paid profession. Try competing against people who will live 20 to a rented house, and consistently under bid their competition.

Well constantly underbidding competition is what competition is all about. My father used to pick cotton in Oklahoma but the blacks would pick for 5 cents a bale while the whites needed 10 cents to live on. He just went and found a new line of work.

[risk]

I again refer you to the unemployment numbers above. If you think every one of them should have just "moved on" and found a different line of work, then you aren't showing a whole lot of sympathy for your fellow Americans. Some of them would love ot "move on." But temporary and often illegal immigrants are taking those jobs. Why not just stop the illegal immigration? How about limiting the other immigration until the unemployment numbers look better? Or would you rather just ignore the tragedies represented by the numbers in that chart, at Christmas, even?

[Texasforever]

then you aren't showing a whole lot of sympathy for your fellow Americans

Well actually I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for those that whine.

[risk]

I would agree. You're unsympathetic to millions of jobless Americans who can't find work. They're worried. Their kids, if they've dared to have any at all, are not getting a decent Christmas this year. But you've got cheap lettuce. That's consolation.

[easonc52]

I would agree. You're unsympathetic to millions of jobless Americans who can't find work. They're worried. Their kids, if they've dared to have any at all, are not getting a decent Christmas this year. But you've got cheap lettuce. That's consolation.

You're not living in the real world if you think Americans are going to accept jobs as cherry pickers. Wake up and smell the coffee.

[Texasforever]

Let me give you a more recent example. In 1996 I had a new house built. I had subcontractors for framing and carpentry, roofing, masonry, electrical, concrete and plumbing . Roofing, framing, concrete and masonry were all Anglo owned with mostly Hispanic labor and all came in on budget and schedule. Electrical and Plumbing were both Anglo owned and all labor was Anglo due to licensing requirements. Both contracts went over budget and schedule due to inspection failures at each inspection check point.

[investigateworld]

Have you reported this to Rev. J Jackson?

[risk]

They wouldn't work as construction workers, either? Besides, you're an economist. Why not let the law of supply and demand dictate the cost of picking cherries. You don't truly believe that unlimited third world immigration is good for our economy, do you? Immigration is controlled in a fashion similar to a water valve and would be virtually limitless as we allowed it. Picking cherries could be a lot cheaper if we wanted it to be. Do you want it to be cheaper? I mean frozen cherries can be had for $1.20 a pound. Go ahead. Tweak the labor supply. I bet you can get them even lower.

[risk]

Electrical and Plumbing were both Anglo owned and all labor was Anglo due to licensing requirements.

I have no idea what this means. You're suggesting that Hispanics can't obtain licenses in your area? That doesn't make any sense. Your point doesn't make any sense. You found people to mislead you in a bid on your new house. Does that mean you'd prefer to have illegal aliens build your next home if it were cheaper?

You'd drive the honest legal Hispanic contractor (who can presumably obtain licensing and bonding without any difficulty) out of business in defense of cheaper costs for yourself? Again, this is very selfish behavior. You don't seem to care about your fellow Americans.