You're wrong, Mr. President (Guest workers)

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | 12/26/2004 | Colin McNickle

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

President Bush says he wants to revamp an immigration system that is "not working" and is "not compassionate" through a program that can't work and would be anything but "compassionate" to Americans forced to pick up the tab.

During his end-of-the-year news conference, the president formally revived his expanded "guest worker" proposal first laid out as a set of "principles" a year ago. But the Bush plan is quite unprincipled and, by any other name, another in a long line of amnesty programs. Bush confidante and former Montana Gov. Mark Raciot disputed that characterization to me during the fall campaign. But that's exactly what it is. And it will do what amnesty programs do best - fail.

Details of the president's plan go to Capitol Hill next month. Mr. Bush wants to allow illegal aliens - up to 8 million if not more - to hold jobs here "legally" by issuing "temporary worker cards." American workers would not be hurt, the president insists; these legalized illegals would fill jobs that U.S. firms supposedly can't fill.

Not only will the administration proposal "take the pressure off" Border Patrol agents who should be "chasing crooks and thieves and drug runners and terrorists," the president said these illegals are innocuous, "good-hearted people." All they want to do is "put food on the table...Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River."

But apparently common sense does.

[TheDon]

I was suggesting that you are using polls instead of reality in forming your opinions.

[TheDon]

Unless, of course, reality says otherwise.

[JustAnotherSavage]

You have expressed interest in this subject in the past, please let me know if you want on or of this illegal immigration ping list. Thanks!




Time magazine quote:
“The number of illegal aliens flooding into the US this year will total 3 million - enough to fill 22,000 Boeing 727-700 airliners, or 60 flights every day for a year.”

[JustAnotherSavage]

"Since the American birth rate has been falling, could this be a method to save Social Security by inviting a foreign population growth - But at what other sacrifice, Mr. President? "

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ONE ILLEGAL COULD COST U.S. TAXPAYERS ONE-HALF MILLION BUCKS

"If a 24-year-old Mexican national who has worked illegally in the U.S. for three years is able to present documents from a friendly doctor and either a W-2 or pay stubs that indicate $12,000 in annual earnings, he will be eligible for the following: nearly $8,000 per year in disability income (adjusted for inflation), until age 65, at which point he would receive the same amount as retirement pay. (If he manages to get an under-the-table job in the U.S. or Mexico, he will be able to double-dip for a second income stream.) If he is survived by his wife or dependents, his family would be able to receive up to almost $12,000 annually. If he dies at 60, and his widow lives to 85, U.S. taxpayers will be on the hook for nearly a half-million dollars. That’s for one worker brought into Social Security by the pact." Source: Joel Mowbray, National Review, 1/27/03, pp. 22, 24


162,000 MEXICAN BENEFICIARIES?

" ‘We are concerned about the sheer magnitude of the agreement,’ said a House Republican aide who is an expert on Social Security. About 94,000 beneficiaries living abroad have been brought into the system by the 20 existing international agreements. A Mexican agreement alone could bring in 162,000 in the first five years." Source: Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post, 12/19/02, p. A1

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http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20040107.shtml

The criminal raid on Social Security
Michelle Malkin
January 7, 2004

My 8-week-old son's Social Security card recently arrived in the mail. On the back, there's a stern warning: "Improper use of this card or number by anyone is punishable by fine, imprisonment or both."

Welcome to the world of government theft and selective enforcement, my boy.

While innocent babes who have yet to earn a penny are threatened with jail time for misusing Social Security cards, the Bush administration appears set this week to turn the ailing government pension program into an international relief fund for illegal alien workers who used counterfeit Social Security cards and stolen numbers to secure illegal jobs.

Unlike the bedtime stories I tell at night, I am not making this up.

This belated gift to the open-borders lobby and Mexican President Vicente Fox is part of a larger amnesty plan that has been in the works since before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. So, why exactly are we rewarding a country that has been obstinately opposed to the War on Terror? Go ask Mr. Brilliant, Karl Rove. This I do know: It couldn't have come at a worse time from either a fiscal or national security standpoint.

According to Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, benefits paid to retirees will exceed revenues in just 15 years. The pay-as-you-go system could go belly up as early as 2030. These projections don't take into account the economic impact of the Bush proposal, which would allow untold millions of illegal aliens from Mexico to collect full cash benefits for themselves and their families from their home country -- without having to work the required number of years that law-abiding American citizens must work to be eligible for payouts.

Reporter Joel Mowbray, who first exposed this treachery a year ago, noted that this raw deal may well cost overburdened U.S. taxpayers $345 billion over the next 20 years. Probably much more. As we know from experience, Social Security projections are notoriously off the mark.

The bureaucrats call this scheme "totalization." Try total prostration. The proposed agreement is nothing more than a transfer of wealth from those who play by the rules to those who willingly and knowingly mock our own immigration and tax laws. What are we doing promising lifetime Social Security paychecks to day laborers in Juarez when we can't even guarantee those benefits to workers here at home?

Unbelievably, the White House is trying to convince us to embrace this global ripoff because it "rewards work." No, it rewards criminal behavior. The plan will siphon off the hard-earned tax dollars of American workers who may never see a dime of their confiscated earnings and fork it over to foreigners guilty of at least four acts of federal law-breaking: crossing the border illegally, working illegally, engaging in tax fraud and using bogus documents.

Giving money to scam artists will simply result in more fraud -- not only by Mexican agricultural workers, but also by Middle Easterners such as Youssef Hmimssa, who provided fake Social Security numbers and fraudulent drivers' licenses to members of an accused terrorist cell in Detroit. "If you have the right connection, you can get anything," he testified before the Senate last fall.

The door is now open for all illegal aliens to collect retirement benefits using bogus Social Security cards. What's next: survivors' benefits for the families of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers?

[chris1]

The "I" word meaning Bush's plan on immigration is:

1. Idiotic;
2. Insane;
3. Impossible;
4. Incorrect;
5. Irresponsible;

Just to name a few.

I am disgusted with GWB about this. Illegal immigration undercuts his whole stance on terrorism, especially given the 9/11 hijackers exploitation of already weak enforcement.

[jeremiah]

The reason GWB wants the flood to continue, is the same reason Hillary or John Effin Kerry do, one world. The dream of one world is shared by ANYONE that has a chance of becoming president, or they would be destroyed in the process of becoming a viable candidate.

[jeremiah]

American workers cannot compete with "slave labor" in China or Indonesia. Mexican illegals will work for similar compensation.

[jeremiah]

If the cost of harvesting crops were substantially higher, non-illegals would be willing to work in the industry. When the costs become to high to remain competitive with prices elsewhere, the market would force new methods. New machines, and methods would be implemented, it is the American way.

[ZULU]

We should all write, e-mail or call our Federal and State elected officials, especially if they are Republicans (Democrats are a waste of time), and, if possible, cc President Bush and Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

We should tell them we want no program of amnesty for illegal invaders. We do not want thje creation of a permanent underclass of foreigners who will maintain their own langauge, culture and customs to the exclusion of American ones, in order to benefit the need for cheap labor.

If there is a legitimate need to increase our quota of immigrants to aid the job market, this should be done through the historical method of increasing LEGAL allotments of immigrants.

George Bush II is totally off his rocker on this issue. He must be getting advice from his liberal father on this one.

[JustAnotherSavage]

" Any poor person in america gets free medicaid"

Not true. One can get medicaid if they are illegal or indigent. If you worked your entire life, bought a house, became too ill, you will have to sign your home over for medicaid. Call your local office. Illegals never have to pay it back.

[FBD]

>"When the costs become to high to remain competitive with prices elsewhere, the market would force new methods. New machines, and methods would be implemented, it is the American way."<

Exactly my friend!
just as the cotton and sugar cane industry survived without slave labor, the farmers of today can improvise as well.

I have some reletives who farm in North Dakota, (they use NO illegal immigrants!) and their tractors have air conditioned cabs with global positioning systems to guide them while they are running their planters. They even have CD players in them.

They run the planters all day and all night, until the crop is planted.
Two people doing the work in a day, what took hundreds of people to do in a week, a hundred years ago.

All the guest worker programs do is stifle moderization.
This article details that:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/back801.html

[Just another Joe]

As far as health care goes, most of our health care budget is going to treat the chronic illnesses of the elderly, the consequences of drug, alcohol, and tobacco abuse, and paying for useless tests to avoid malpractice suits. The acute care for illegals is a very small part of the health care problem.

Excuse me?

You might want to check this out.
Hospitals Struggling to Accommodate Immigrant Influx

Just a few points -
In some hospitals, as much as two-thirds of total operating costs are for uncompensated care for illegal aliens.
Border hospitals reported losses of almost $190 million in unreimbursed costs for treating illegal aliens in 2000, with another $113 million in ambulance fees and follow-up services.

[FBD]

jeremiah:"When the costs become too high to remain competitive with prices elsewhere, the market would force new methods. New machines, and methods would be implemented, it is the American way."

Cotton Pickers of the 1800’s:


The modern day cotton picker; NOTE: No illegal immigrants, guest workers, (or slaves) are needed to run this machine.

[staytrue]

In some hospitals, as much as two-thirds of total operating costs are for uncompensated care for illegal aliens.

You make a statement that carries little weight. Frankly it would not surprise me if In SOME hospitals, as much as 100% of total operating costs are for uncompensated care for illegal aliens. It also would not surprise me if In SOME hospitals, as much as zero percent of total operating costs are for uncompensated care for illegal aliens.

Why do make these arguements on the assumption that Freepers are too stupid to analyze what you wrote ? Freepers are smart, very smart. This kind of statistic is something DUers might post.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "The door is now open for all illegal aliens to collect retirement benefits using bogus Social Security cards."

. Ms Malkin seemed to be talking about off-the-books labor at first. Using bogus and stolen Social Security cards already enables ILLEGAL immigrants to get OASDI benefits they don't need totalization.

All one needs is to become legal and get a valid SSN. The SSA can then reconstruct a work history from the Earnings Suspense File (ESF) of bogus and stolen Social Security Numbers W-2 data.

It helps greatly if the ILLEGAL has all the past W-2s as proof. All the FICA paid while working ILLEGALLY is assigned to the valid SSN. Note to anyone reading this, if you know that it is not true I'd sure like to see a source. Everything I've seen says it's true. How difficult is it to become legal? I don't know but it happens.

[Paperdoll]

>ONE ILLEGAL COULD COST US TAXPAYERS ONE-HALF MILLION BUCKS<

Well that pretty well disolves that theory and possible saving grace for GWB. How could he be a true practicing
Christian and also be shooting down God's own nation?
Either I am an utter dunce, or GWB is certifiably crazy.
And, please, don't tell me. I don't want to know!

[Paperdoll]

See my post #156 also meant for you.

[Just another Joe]

If even ONE hospital has closed due to the cost of treating ILLEGAL immigrants it's one too many.

Call me cruel, call me callous, call me uncompassionate, I don't care.
Illegal immigration is a drain on the USA's economy, it's health care system, and it's way of life.

We have workers that cannot UNDERSTAND English, much less speak it and they DON'T CARE.
They don't pay income tax, they don't pay into the Social Security system, they don't pay into the Medicare/Medicaid system, and nearly all the American dollars they make they send back to their country of origin. They get free medical, don't have insurance (or many times a driver's licence), if they have a wreck they walk away because the police won't (or can't by law) question their legality.

Taken all in all this is one of the problems our country faces that could, literally, change the face of our country.

Welcome to Amexico.

[Marine Inspector]

President Bush says he wants to revamp an immigration system that is "not working" and is "not compassionate"

He's right, it's "not working", but it's already the most "compassionate" immigration system in the world.

[Marine Inspector]

Not only will the administration proposal "take the pressure off" Border Patrol agents who should be "chasing crooks and thieves and drug runners and terrorists,"

That would be nice, but your proposal won't do that.