Posted on 08/05/2005 1:04:32 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
The president, in a wide-ranging talk, gives a hint at how he'll pitch reform measures
GRAPEVINE - President Bush told a crowd of state legislators Wednesday that he will push immigration reform as beneficial for U.S. employers as well as foreigners looking for work.
He also made an impassioned pitch for Americans to stay behind the war in Iraq.
"Immigration reform is going to be an interesting subject when we get back to Washington" in September, said Bush, who plans to spend this month at his Crawford ranch.
He argued that his proposal for a "guest worker" program is good for employers and illegal immigrants who want a mutually beneficial relationship.
"If you are a willing employer (and) you have somebody looking for work and you can't find an American, there ought to be a legal way for you to employ that person," he said. "We'd rather have people coming in with a card that said, 'I'm a legal worker,' than trying to sneak across the border."
The president has proposed a system under which immigrants would be granted worker temporary worker status, after which they would have to leave the United States. Critics have called it a thinly veiled amnesty program. Immigration reform plans have stalled in Congress so far this year, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist recently suggested a GOP push on the issue was more likely to happen next year.
Talking hours after the first reports that 14 U.S. Marines were killed in Iraq, Bush said, "The violence in recent days in Iraq is a grim reminder of the enemies we face. These terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics because they're trying to shake the will of the United States of America."
With polls showing that public support for continued military involvement in Iraq is eroding in the face of steady casualties, Bush relied on a familiar linkage of the war with the larger struggle against terrorism. He said Americans who died in Iraq and Afghanistan "lost their lives in a noble cause."
Speaking to 1,800 people at the American Legislative Exchange Council conference, Bush basked in recent legislative victories delivered by a GOP majority in Congress, including the Central American Free Trade Agreement and energy and highways legislation.
Bush said his priorities when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day will be immigration reform, making his tax cuts permanent, getting Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts confirmed and resurrecting his Social Security reform initiative.
Bush drew loud cheers by saying he strongly believed in private retirement accounts for workers under 55. "Now is the time to permanently fix Social Security," he said.
The event was held at a mammoth convention center where visiting legislators were introduced to Texas pride, including a large replica of the Alamo, a 10-foot-long space shuttle model and other state symbols.
you have to be joking if you think this guest worker program is just about getting workers to pick produce.
once terms for this program are defined - US businesses will drive a truck through them - endless campaign donations to get their piece of "low cost worker" turf put in place.
if this happens, there will be massive unionization of US service workers.
read later
Illegal aliens are committing the crimes Americans are quite capable of committing on their own, thank you very much!!!
Bring us your tired, your poor, your emboldened masses infected with TB... The wretched refuse of all other shores... Send these, who work the system, no matter the cost to me... I empty my pockets and open my doors!"
Line the borders with nuclear waste!!!
It seems that the arguments against Bush are boiling down to:
"Bush does not mean what he himself is saying. Bush means what I say that he means."
Study counters beliefs about illegal immigrants (Only 3 percent work in agriculture
GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR .....
On this issue - yes- doom and gloom.
I live around enough of these people to realize they are a public nuisance and do not want to be legal. They want cash to send home, period.
bttt
"7. Employers would be subject to a $50,000 fine and/or 30 days in jail for every illegal worker discovered."
NOW, YOU ARE TALKING!
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. -- Thomas Sowell
He also made an impassioned pitch for Americans to stay behind the war in Iraq.
First two paragraphs...How many young Americans joined the military because they couldn't find work??? How many are getting shot at and bombed so Bush's Buddies can hire cheap illegal labor from Mexico???
We didn't get Bin Laden...The New Shiite Gov't in Iraq is the twin sister of Iran...It's getting harder and harder to take this 'war' seriously...And it's getting even harder to take Bush seriously...
Bush obviously supports the drug trade from Mexico...And it appears he's encouraging as many terrorists to move in that are willing to come...May as well eliminate the Border Patrol completely...
How's that for a rant???
And, when my wife buys that cheap Australian wine that she likes, it tastes like that stuff you buy in 5 liter cartons.
And, compared to America's horticultural crop diversity, Australia's horticultural crop diversity is extremely limited.
Have you ever seen an Australian tomato or cabbage at your local supermarket?
See my Post 193.
Define the need. Write the law. Enforce the law.
What we have now is anarchy.
Idiot.
"Ya want to bet? He already has!"
Unfortunately you are correct.
we don't enforce our current laws in this area. none of them. I live on long island, there are homes full of 40+ illegals living in them - just recently a single county executive (a Dem) has decided to go after them. he is being savaged in the press, and gets no help from federal authorities to deport them.
yes, its anarchy, and this guest worker program will only make it worse.
Tancredo calls for impeachment of Booosh on O'reilly!!!!
This is a make or break issue for this nation. Every legislator on the government gravy train should face the same prospect as I said for the President if they won't show resolve and a desire to address the duly constituted "Legal" citizens of this Republic! Time to take it directly to them and leave them no other options. The Will of the American People must be addressed and while we are at it put all employers who knowingly hire undocumented Criminal Illegal Aliens in the lowest dungeon along with all these and run up a new bunch to replace them!
Study counters beliefs about illegal immigrants (Only 3 percent work in agriculture GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR .....
The original poster that I answered with that post had said that Bush's program was going to be about "Chinese and Indian programers and doctors".
In my Post 193, my point #1 was:
1. Establish what "guest workers" we actually need or do not need in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
My point #2 was:
2. Write the quotas of the law to reflect those needs.
My position still stands.
The process has not even been allowed to the point of the national debate about "What guest workers, both agricultural and non-agricultural, does the U.S. actually need?"
It only gets to the point of, "It's a horrible idea because it will let in Chinese programers" or "It will make U.S. citizens of all illegal immigrants" or, as stated earlier on this thread, "Only U.S. citizens should ever allowed to work in the U.S.".
Right now, we have total anarchy.
The Easter Bunny will get elected President before the U.S. Government gets tough and deports the so-called "immigrants who are trying to feed their poor families".
Them's the political facts of life in the United States of America in the 21st Century.
The one plan I have seen that addresses America's needs for some foreign workers while taking away the bleeding-heart liberal's sob-stories excuses about "poor immigrants trying to feed their familes" is Bush's Guest Worker Program coupled with penalties for those that violate it.
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