Bush Immigration Plan Would Allegedly 'Destroy the Middle Class'

www.townhall.com ^ | 29 December 2004 | Jeff Johnson

[Ginifer]

(CNSNews.com) - President Bush is moving forward with his plans to create a "Temporary Worker Program" that would allow millions of illegal aliens to remain and work in the U.S. for a minimum of three years with no fear of deportation or other punishment. Advocates of tougher immigration policies believe the president is ignoring the costs and potential dangers posed by illegal immigration.

In his final, scheduled, formal press conference of the year, the president criticized current U.S. immigration policy.

"The system we have today is not a compassionate system. It's not working," Bush said Dec. 20. "And, as a result, the country is less secure than it could be with a rational system."

Any proposed changes to immigration policy must take into account what the president calls "reality.""

\ldblquote There are some jobs in America that Americans won't do and others are willing to do," Bush said. "We ought to have a system that recognizes people are coming here to do jobs that Americans will not do. And there ought to be a legal way for them to do so."

According to a White House fact sheet entitled, "Fair and Secure Immigration Reform," the president's "Temporary Worker Program" would allow new immigrants to the U.S. and those currently here illegally to accept employment "when no American worker is available and willing to take a job.""

Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the Cybercast News Service that Bush's proposal is, "a great plan if your objective is to destroy the middle class in the United States.

"If you are going to offer employers the opportunity to bring in unlimited numbers of guest workers then there is never going to be any incentive to increase wages in this country [or] to improve working conditions," Mehlman said. "Upward mobility will become a thing of the past if such a plan is enacted."

Bush says program would not provide 'automatic citizenship'

The program would last three years, but would be renewable. Bush insists he is not proposing amnesty, or an easier road to citizenship, for illegal aliens.

"Now, one of the important aspects of my vision is that this is not automatic citizenship. The American people must understand that," the president stressed. "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."

Mehlman disagreed.

"Even he would have to recognize that a program that allows millions of people, who have broken the law, to gain legal status in this country is an amnesty," Mehlman insisted. "Even though he swears it's not an amnesty program, that's exactly what it is; it is rewarding people who have broken the law.""

Supporters of tougher immigration laws also doubt, according to Mehlman, that there will be anything temporary about the "Temporary Worker Program."

"He's talking about a three-year temporary worker visa, renewable for three more," Mehlman observed. "And at the end of the six years, these people will, of course, all say, 'Thank you very much. We really appreciate the opportunity to work here and now we're going home.' Yeah, right."

The Bush proposal also includes provisions to allow participants to cross back and forth from their country of origin to maintain family ties. President Bush said U.S. Border Patrol agents need to focus on more important duties.

"[W]e want our border patrol agents chasing crooks and thieves and drug runners and terrorists, not good-hearted people who are coming here to work," Bush argued.

'Preposterous' plan fails to address security concerns

Mehlman complained that recommendations by the 9/11 Commission to tighten immigration policy were removed from the legislation passed by Congress due to pressure from those lobbying to protect illegal aliens.

"Special interest politics and greed seem to even trump homeland security," Mehlman concluded, "despite the fact that we've seen what the potential consequences are from not enforcing immigration laws."

Mehlman believes security must be the primary concern in immigration policy and that it is lacking in the proposal to allow for millions of "temporary workers."

"The idea that they are going to do thorough, comprehensive background checks on all these people to make sure that we're not letting in criminals or potential terrorists is preposterous," Mehlman said. "They couldn't even do a decent background check on their own nominee for Homeland Security secretary."

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerrick withdrew his nomination for that post after allegations surfaced that he had ties to companies that have business dealings with the Department of Homeland Security and that he had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny and did not pay his portion of her payroll taxes.

The president also argued that his plan would "take the pressure off of employers." Mehlman believes that is a mistake, as well.

"What we have to do is create disincentives against illegal immigration," Mehlman said. "Right now, we're creating incentives. We don't enforce the laws against employers."

Mehlman acknowledged that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents cannot arrest every illegal alien or catch every employer who knowingly hires them. He believes effective immigration law enforcement means applying "leverage" to selected companies.

"You go after some of the employers that have been hiring illegal immigrants with impunity, even though it's against the law. You fine them sufficiently to send a message, the same way that the highway patrol enforces the speed limit on the freeway when they want to," Mehlman said. "They don't stop every single speeder. But, if you're driving along at 80 miles an hour and you see somebody else being pulled over, you slow down."

Such an enforcement strategy would have a ripple effect, according to Mehlman.

"If you go after enough employers to give the rest of them the idea that we're serious about enforcing the law, they will then refrain from hiring illegal immigrants," Mehlman said. "The word gets back, 'Don't come to the United States illegally because nobody's going to take a chance on hiring you.'"

Mehlman believes such a policy would have a similar effect on illegal aliens currently living and working in the U.S.

"Many who are already here [illegally] would leave and go home," Mehlman continued. "The objective is to encourage more people who are here illegally to go home. If you cannot get access to a job, if you can't get access to anything but emergency social benefits, there's no incentive to remain here."

FAIR disputes economic argument for illegal immigration

Mehlman also dismissed the common argument that reducing the available pool of illegal immigrant labor would drive up food prices.

"The labor cost in agriculture is about 10 percent. So, a dollar's worth of produce today would cost you about $1.10 tomorrow if they doubled everybody's wages," Mehlman said.

What little savings consumers reap from lower labor costs are multiplied in other areas, Mehlman argued.

"Maybe you do save a few pennies here and there because there are low-wage illegal immigrant workers doing jobs in this country that Americans would demand a higher wage for," Mehlman explained, "but in return you are providing education for the children of these illegal immigrants, you're providing the health care because these employers are not providing a Blue Cross/Blue Shield (health insurance) program for them. All sorts of social costs are being added on."

But President Bush described his proposal as a more \ldblquote compassionate way to treat people who come to our country." Mehlman wondered about the president's compassion for unemployed and underemployed U.S. citizens.

"What we're wrestling with here is the impact that it has on this country, the impact that it has on people struggling to make a living and make a decent life for themselves and their families, the impact on schools and social services," Mehlman said. "The president didn't tell us who's going to pay to educate all the kids of these 'guest workers' he wants to bring here. Who's going to pay for all the health care needs that they're going to have when they get here?"

[expat_panama]

what kind of background checks will be done...

A lot of proposals on the table (re post 83) but any check at all would be better than the proposal the article offers-- none.

[Sterco]

May be time to box it up and send it back to France (Statue of Liberty).

[cassie22]

And who is going to do your summer job when you return to school?


Another constructive response from Bayourod.

[citizen]

---There is a lot that can be done by applying existing law to the problem.
Unfortunately, neither party will do anything.---

Possible alternative parties to consider:

Constitutional Party,
Platform looks solid on border, immigration & visa isssues.
http://www.constitutionparty.com/

America First Party,
Several bullet points on both illegal & legal immigration in their platform.
http://www.americafirstparty.org/

Independant American Party
I found no mention of immigration or illegal aliens in their platform.
http://www.usiap.org/

The American Party,
From their platform: "We are opposed to all illegal aliens and, therefore, support laws and enforcement to deport them."
http://www.theamericanparty.org/

[rbg81]

Be careful how you throw around the racist label buddy. I know that tactic works for the Dems, but it isn't going to win you any points here (especially not with me). Yes, I think under certain conditions unrestricted immigration could turn the country into a cesspool. If you think I'm full of BS, try living in South Central LA for a while--then get back to me with your glowing reviews.

[FBD]

The bureaucrat "solution" to "jobs that Americans don't want"


The FREE MARKET solution to labor problems:(no illegal immigrants needed):

[JustAnotherSavage]

*******
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0412/28/ldt.01.html

Aired 12/28/04 Lou Dobbs/CNN


Well, my next guest is concerned about a guest worker program that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants working in the country. He says the current proposals are not practical and pose a security risk. Michael Cutler is a retired 30-year veteran with the Immigration and National Service. He spent most of his career as a criminal investigator and intelligence specialist. And thanks very much for being with us, Michael.

MICHAEL CUTLER, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Thank you, once again, for having me.

PILGRIM: Why is this proposal not practical? Many think it is practical, get everyone registered, know who's here. It seems very practical.

CUTLER: You won't know who's here because of the crush of humanity showing up at immigration we're going to wind up having to process millions of applications and basically the people at that desk are going to have to take the person's words for who they claim to be. My concern is they are going to wind up giving false names and possibly even circumvent no-fly lists and watch lists at borders so they can enter the United States even though if their real identities were known, they'd be barred from entry and be barred from taking airplane flights.

PILGRIM: So what's your suggestion? We shouldn't register them at all, just let them stay, or register them back in their own countries? What's a more practical solution to this?

CUTLER: In a matter of speaking, we should register them back in their own countries. And this would discourage illegal immigration. If ultimately decide we need guest workers, and I don't know that we do, then we should have them file the applications from back home where we could more properly screen them and discourage people from running the border in the hopes that if they get here, they'll be able to stay.

The other problem we have is right now we're not able to prevent employers from hiring illegal aliens because you've only got 2,000 agents to lend integrity to this process. How do we plan to lend integrity to a guest worker program where these folks are supposed to leave after three years? We don't have the manpower to go out and attempt to make them leave. And we won't even know for certain that they're showing up on the jobs that they claim they're coming to go to work at.

PILGRIM: Michael, we don't have the manpower to actually supervise what's going on now. And you've been in this so long, for so many years. Do you have a solution that you can come up with?

CUTLER: Well, I think, again, that if we do a guest worker program, we need to have these folks apply from their home countries. You know, when the president gave a speech back in January, he talked about a guest worker program, and that translated the next day, according to the border patrol, in a surge of illegal aliens running the border. So the reality is all this does is to encourage more illegal immigration.

And the bureau that's charged with adjudicating these applications have massive problems right now. Mr. Aguirre, who runs the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, that's an arm of the Homeland Security Department, has said that each day, his people have to adjudicate 30,000 applications and issue 20,000 green cards. And right now they have a backlog of over 4 million applications. How do they plan to deal with this tidal wave of applications that are sure to hit the immigration offices around the country?

PILGRIM: Here's what President Bush said recently. We want our border patrol agents chasing crooks and thieves and terrorists not good-hearted people coming here to work. He seems to say, we should focus on people who are trying to come into this country illegally who are terrorists. Do you not think that's a good approach?

CUTLER: I think in principle, it's a great idea. But the problem is, what does a terrorist or bad guy look like? You know, I often like to ask people, what do you think a terrorist does two days before an attack? More than likely he goes to the job he's been holding down for the past five years or attending the school that he's been going to for the past three or four years in an effort to hide in plain sight. We don't know what someone's intentions are when they show up claiming that they're here looking for work.

You know, I wish we had a crystal ball or some kind of a machine that would enable us to see into somebody's heart. And it's all well and good to talk about wanting good-hearted people. But making it reality is something entirely different, then I would challenge anyone that thinks we can do that to show me by what process we can know what somebody intends to do.

PILGRIM: With all your years of experience, we certainly take what you say to heart. Thanks for joining us this evening, Michael Cutler.

[dalereed]

"Have you been through East L.A., Santa Ana, Huntington Park, or Compton lately? Huntington Park is worse than Tijuana."

They wouldn't do in TJ what they do here, the Mexican government would throw them in prison.

[rolling_stone]

Teenagers have never done the hard dirty manual labor that adult immigrant males and blacks have done.

Well once again you spout off untruths...I have done hard dirty manual labor as both a teenager and a young adult and worked alongside many others.

I see you are still pimping for your low cost workers and ignoring the legal immigrants/citizens who's wages would be higher without all the illegals. I for one am sick of paying taxes to support profits from exploitation of illegals going to those that hire them. Our country's future is at stake and you are one of those helping to tear it down.

If we need more workers, it should only be after a proven need, be they IT or laborers. Wages should be determined by the market supply and demand. Any guest workers should be for a limited maximum one year period and not include families who use the schools, hospitals and other public benefits, and who have anchor babies by the thousands. Any pregnant workers should be sent back to their country of origin to have their baby in their own country at their own expense, not at my expense.

Tell me why should I pay taxes for schooling, medical and prison incarceration for illegals who shouldn't be in this country? Is it so you can profit from their labor? Then aren't you being subsididized by my tax dollars? I consider that rank socialism, robbing me of my money so you can benefit. In effect, you are picking my pocket. How is an American who tries to get these things or even work in Mexico or other foreign countries treated?

[FBD]

More guest workers are the bureaucrat solution.
The free market solution to “jobs that Americans will not do” :

Mechanization
“An Eye to the Future”
http://www.oxbocorp.com/
“In the past few years, OXBO has led the mechanical harvesting revolution in Florida's citrus industry to help relieve continually increasing labor pressures.”
Oranges:
“In most of US agriculture, productivity was raised by substituting capital for labor, or using machines to save labor, with the result that the fewer remaining farmers and farm workers had higher incomes. “
“A mechanical harvester costs about $200,000, and replaces 20 to 30 hand harvesters who earn an average $7,000; growers need at least 600 acres to justify the machine. The Coe Orchard trunk-shaker harvests 240 to 480 boxes an hour, while the average hand harvester picks nine boxes an hour. The machine works best on large acreages of uniformly spaced trees that are pruned to expedite mechanical harvesting.”

Machines…“doing the jobs that Americans refuse to do.”

“OXBO is coming to the aid of vineyard growers who also face the challenges of significant hand labor requirements. OXBO can now offer grape growers Total Vineyard Mechanization™ for all tasks from precision box pruning and shoot thinning to harvesting.”

[churchillbuff]

I don't care who founded FAIR. I care whether their arguments are right or wrong. Why don't you deal with the issue -- and the argument that letting millions of illegals stay here will depress wages -- instead of trying to slime the messenger? Maybe you can't argue the merits of this issue, so you need a distraction?

[bayourod]

"Be careful how you throw around the racist label buddy. "

I'm not your buddy, and anyone who uses the term "cesspool" to describe immigrants has no right to whine about the image he creates of himself.

[B4Ranch]

>>Now, those juries refuse to convict. They don't view hiring someone from Mexico as a criminal act in and of itself.<<

Do you have multiple examples of this as this being factual within the past 24 or 36 months?

[TruthNtegrity]

I think it was Sabertooth who suggested that if we had a $50 bounty for each of the illegal aliens WE turned in, they'd self emigrate, back across the border!!!

I forget now where he said this had worked, but I, for one, woulld like to see it enacted. I have some people in mind, to grab and call INS on as soon as I could!

I had a very recent formerly-living in Mexico YELL at me in a McDonald's over an order that I placed but didn't understand her dang accent. I shoved the tray across the counter and left.

No one, much less a damn illegal, yells at me and acts like they think I'M STUPID because I don't understand THEM.

And as I left, I told her that, in my best Andalusian Spanish that I learned while working at Rota Navy Base, in Spain. Take that, you gringa.

HAR! You shudda seen her face.

But as I left, I glanced at the store number and placed a call to McDonald's, to complain about the rude server, and also to ask if they ever bothered to check to see if they were hiring illegals? No answer - just an apology for the rude service and then customer service rep hung up on me. Rude is as rude does.

I will never, ever again darken the door of a dang McD's again.

It seems that unless you speak Spanish, you don't have a chance of getting what you really ordered, so I'll never bother to order in there again.

Besides, Wendy's salads are way better. I only went in because my friend likes to go there. From now on, she goes by herself.

[Mogollon]

The system we have today is not a compassionate system. It's not working," Bush said Dec. 20.

If the goal is to be compassionate why not invite all the third world countries to send illegal aliens? We can support all of them with our tax money right??

[B4Ranch]

>>Teenagers have never done the hard dirty manual labor that adult immigrant males and blacks have done.<<

I read your staement to my daughter. Her reply, "Oh horse puckey! Is that guy stupid or just a bad liar? Tell him to follow a teenager around who lives on a ranch for a day...and bring his boots if he doesn't want manure inside his shoes."

Is pulling calves, stacking hay, shoveling trenches, welding, pounding in fence posts, wiring fences, scrubbing water bins, unloading 100 feeds 50 lb. bags from a truck or painting from the top of a ladder considered light work in your eyes?

It's not in her eyes. You need to put on some boots and go see what these kids do.

[Dane]

Latinos and Latinas are generally hard-working, devout, and family-oriented. They should be Republican and Conservative, and the President knows it! I think too many people(on FR) are misunderestimating his strategery on this issue.

JMO, those people of that political ilk can't get past the accents.

I say let these people on FR run to hillary's pandering, when you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

[hchutch]

Agreed.