Posted on 12/29/2004 6:21:51 AM PST by 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?"
Until the law is changed, they're called FELONS and I have no intention to participate and will do whatever I can to discourage others.
So, are you directly participating in it, rod?
Actually, those immigrants of the late 1800s and early 1900s did not assimilate. They brought socialism with them and created cultural pollution. We're paying for that right now.
If we have 600,000 illegals in our jails and, to make the math a little easier, 12 million illegals (the figure varies depending on who you ask, so 12 million is a nice ballpark figure) in our country, that would mean that 5% of the total illegal population is incarcerated (presumably for committing felonious offenses). That's one out of twenty.
Globalists are like domestic expatriates.
They live in comfortable enclaves where the swarthy folks around them are cheap servants or cheap pleasure girls.
Much like you.
My credibility? If someone like you says I have no credibility, I must have top shelf credibility.
You wanna talk about credibility Dane??
"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."
BWAHAHHAHAHA!
And you bring up credibility???????
You just can't make this stuff up!
Thanks. I was never good at math...:-)
This is an issue that would give them big chunks of "Jesusland" in 2008
Whew no wonder you signed up on FR on April 1st, 2004.
You like your hero, hillary, IMO, think you can make the April fool go all year long.
"The idea of the U.S. of America is to welcome immigrants?"
No, the idea is to create a place where the individual is sovereign: "a country without a king, a church without a pope." That's what the founders came here for. Not to create a kind of international grab bag.
I am not a cheap pleasure girl! Take it back, NOW!. Cheap...
Could be right.
That would be VERY, VERY, BAAADDD!!!
I've been both. I am neither at present. Although it's hard to say as a homeowner when you sign for a plumbing job, say, whether any illegals were used in the work.
Uh Joe, in your very early happy hour on the left coast(1 PM PST) you just did.
Hardly.
Socialism may have come with SOME of them, but certainly not ALL, or even a large number of them.
How do you avoid participating in the American economy? Do you live in New Zealand?
You could ask for proof that the workers are covered by insurance. That would be prudent, actually, because you could be opening yourself up to a lawsuit if they're not...
"Yes, we're call Americans."
No, you are called free traitors. You are perfectly willing to turn Los Angeles into Mexico City North to destroy the standard of living of American non college educated workers to your benefit. You are perfectly willing to destroy the tax base of California between collapsing quality of life and illegals demanding social services so you can save a few bucks.
Yes. You are a traitor, a thief, and a parasite.
"If they're not willing to take the job at the salaries offered, shouldn't the business owner have the option to offer the job to someone who WILL take it at that price?
"
But, there is a minimum wage law, taxes and union regs as well. Illegals will work for less than minimum wage, without witholding taxes, without benefits - BECAUSE THEY ARE ILLEGAL. If I hire a black American teenager, pay him less than minimum wage, violate OSHA, withold benefits and pull other crap, I would be in big time trouble.
So what you are saying is not that there are no Americans who would do these jobs, but that you ant to create a special serf class which is allowed to violate labor laws, taxes, minimum wage etc just so certain employers can benefit.
And it isn't just any serfs you want, it is specifically under educated backward Hispanics. Surely we could find a bunch of Chinese immigrants who would work for even less than the Mexicans if cheap labor is all you want. And if you really wanted good laborers, you'd allow mass immigration from Eastern Europe. No, what you want is a mass influx of uncultured (i.e. mostly socialist) peasants to overwhelm cities like where I live (Vegas).
Well pardon me if I poop on your party.
The OBL troop can stop calling anyone who dislikes the presidents immigration stance names. Unless they consider the following "Bush bashers" and part of the Buchanan clan --- Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan,Wm F. Buckley, Toney Blankley, etc. (I have a much longer list if anyone wants it)
I doubt that my first concern would be if his green card was current.
But that is a local law enforcement problem and personal security responsibility. The last thing I would do is blame President Bush.
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