Posted on 12/21/2004 12:35:32 AM PST by 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
I'm only going by what you said. Whining families (even at Christmas) don't bother you. That's established. You're not a very good judge of contractors. That's established. You're willing to hire anyone based on price alone, and you won't bother to evaluate the residential legalities of the workers as long as you can get what you want. That's established. The unemployment numbers I cited above are established, too. People are out of work and you're not offering us a solution. But you are willing to keep things the way they are for your own convenience.
At least I'm consistent with my argument on this matter. Enjoy your new home whenever it's finally finished! I'm done with the debate for the evening.
No, I also included quality. Cheap and best price are NOT the same. Yes I detest whiners.
If all aliens dissapeared overnight (by whatever means), our country would be in a world of hurt.
It's a system that we've grown into, and there's no easy solution.
But, I don't think us or our kids are going to fill that gap.
We have several factors at work here, and they all need to be looked at together.
First, there's the welfare system which rewards laziness. Many people make more money sitting at home than working for min. wage. Second, we have minimum wage, an arbitrarily determined amount which limits the amount of labor an employer can spend to produce a product at a reasonable price. Third, we have illegal labor which undercuts these other factors, putting low income Americans in the cross hairs of the market. And ultimately, it's the average taxpayer and consumer who subsidizes all this. Cheap lettuce is fine and all, but when the tax bill comes in, how expensive is that lettuce really?
If we ended the support of the lazy through welfare, ended min. wage requirements, and got a serious handle on the flood of illegals, the free market would work. I'm a laissez faire capitalist to the bone, but I'm also a nationalist. Mexico has serious corruption problems, and they need help at a much more fundamental level than reducing their population. We aren't doing them any favors by letting all these illegals in- what they need is an honest government that's interested in building a middle class.
I understand what you're saying, but I don't personally know people who are willing to do the jobs President Bush was talking about (and I did several of those when I was a teenager).
The guest worker program worked 50 years ago, and I dont' know why it couldn't work today.
A lot of people talk about the 'illegal alien' problem as it is, but don't really have any realistic alternatives.
Guest workers are fine, as long as they're LEGAL, and subject to the same rules and restrictions that Americans are. Illegal status is actually an advantage to the employer and the worker, and that playing field has got to be levelled. Does it make Mexican labor more expensive? Yes, but that's a result of the welfare, SS and tax system. If we reduced the effects of these other factors on ALL labor, that would be even better.
As to the status of the ones that are here already, that's really the bottom line beef I have with this whole thing- we have millions of criminals here. What do we do with them? Reward them for breaking the law with legal status? That's just great.
Employers who hire these people need to be fined heavily for racketeering. That's a market correction right there.
ping
Merry Christmas - TAKE A BREAK.
"Yes I would prefer to pay illegal aliens to build my next home....bla, bla, bla..."
Nice.
any other laws you pick and choose from?
Sheesh.
Good luck to you, sir. I'm sorry that you had to lose your business to criminal trash employers and the border-jumping criminals they employ. If you substitute "concrete business" for "roofing businss" your post is identical to what is happening to my 2 brothers in Tulsa. Honest contractors can't compete any more. They've virtually been put out of business by illegals and the scumbags that employ them.
This "jobs Americans won't do" BS the President keeps spouting makes my blood boil. My whole extended family works in construction and the trades. In my family, there are sheet metal fabricators, welders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, heavy equipment operators, concrete workers, carpet and flooring technicians, factory workers, small farmers and ranchers, auto mechanics, airplane mechanics and diesel mechanics to list just a few occupations of the men in my extended family - and many of these men own their own businesses. My husband, brothers, brothers-in-law, uncles and cousins DO these "jobs Americans won't do" every single day, so I KNOW Americans are still working at these kinds of jobs. Maybe every American working one of these "jobs Americans won't do" should bombard the White House with letters, faxes and phone calls until the President stops spouting this obvious falsehood in support of criminal alien invaders.
That's some mighty fine writing in #54, Eagle Mama. What we have here is a failure to communicate the will of the American people to their leaders.
I've said it before: quite a few Americans with a moderate bent on things were most bent out of shape on immigration in the last election. Bush could have easily had 10 million more votes if he had just said he was going to stop illegal immigration and stem the sellout of America's jobs to overseas workers and cheap, desperate, aliens from the third world.
Just ask Marie007 what happens when you let your country be overrun. She'll tell you in great detail how France has become a charred "melting pot." In the long run, what makes us more resistant to the problems of multiculturalism than France? Nothing. Look at France today and you'll see America 20 years from now. If nothing changes, you can bet on it.
Thanks.
Thank you, risk. I noticed you were holding your own very well in the debate up above! :)
You are so right about the future of this country. The problem is that the President and the other politicians have no intention of listening to "we the people" at all. They believe they don't have to worry about what happens to the rest of us poor slugs - the politicians have made sure they have their golden parachutes. Us "little people" can kiss off.
There are heaps of money to be made in the destruction of our civilization and the politicians are going to make sure they're the first hogs to the trough (followed, of course, by their largest campaign contributors). I'm afraid the rest of us are going to be fresh out of luck.
Don't worry, when immigration leftists like Ted Kennedy and George Bush have finished turning the USA into northern Brazil (OK - Brazil with more Islam), your kids and grandkids can surely find another USA to live in. I'm sure there's another one around here somewhere.
"There is nothing in the world as permanent as a temporary guest worker."
And the RINOOBLs think all they have to do is substitute a euphemism like "guest worker" for "amnesty" and we'll all just bleat like good sheep.
But Charlie Brown ain't falling for Lucy's football trick again. Been there done that.
We know that "guest worker" is translated in Mexico as "amnistia."
Get back to me when you make a career out of being a vegetable picker.
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Good grief. Alright, I'm staying up then...
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