Bush Pushes for Guest Worker Plan

SFGate.com ^ | OCt 18, 2005 | DEB RIECHMANN

[Hadean]

President Bush sought support Tuesday for his guest worker plan for foreigners, hoping to win over skeptical conservatives with a pledge to clamp down on illegal immigration — one of a growing number of issues causing friction between the White House and fellow Republicans.

"As we improve and expand our efforts to secure our borders, we must also recognize that that enforcement cannot work unless it is part of a larger comprehensive immigration reform program," Bush said. "If an employer has a job that no American is willing to take, we need to find a way to fill that demand by matching willing employers with willing workers from foreign countries on a temporary and legal basis."

[servantboy777]

Must be getting close to an election year. Perry's making the same hollow noises in Austin.

BINGO! Frankly I'm insulted by their petty attempts to garner support as the congressional and state election cycle begins.

These people think we are morons. Just like Bush's dad. I started out excited about his presidency, but ended up being disappointed.

Not to say Bush is all bad, I think he's done a splendid job kicking butt overseas. He and his daddy were messed up on domestic issues. Socially liberal.

[ozarkgirl]

See post #23, then print a few out and send them to your open border politicians when they ask for money.

[B4Ranch]

"Give it up, guys- Bush and Rove know only too well that we conservatives will make a bunch of noise about this issue on the internet, but when push comes to shove the next election we'll hold our nose and vote Republican. We're the blacks of the Republican party- nowhere else to go."

I refused last election to "hold my nose and vote Republican" and I'll do it again nand again until the Republican Party starts acting like Republicans should. This doesn't include casting our sovereignty into the ocean and spending our budget into the deep hole of eternal debt.

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 18 Oct 2005 at 04:58:24 PM GMT is: $ 8,002,711,446,325.2 1 Yup, 8+ TRILLION

The estimated population of the United States is 297,465,732
so each citizen's share of this debt is $26,902.97.

>>The public's approval of Congress is at 29%,<<
Are we supposed to re-elect someone with job performance levels that are below a "F "?

LET'S CLEAN HOUSE AND START OVER!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1504562/posts?page=79#79

[mmercier]

America is a country of opportunity populated by immigrants.

Immigration creates opportunity and prosperity via necessity.

The only true "Americans" live on reservations.

[SealSeven]

I would have no problem with a guest worker program as long as illegal aliens are NOT eligible to apply for it.

agreed.

[surely_you_jest]

We are flat out being told to run along, get back to work, and pay your taxes.

But we should continue to vote for Republicans . . . .

[Reaganwuzthebest]

See post #23, then print a few out and send them to your open border politicians when they ask for money.

That would be just about everyone in the Senate and all but a hundred in the House.

[Iscool]

Exactly right...Illegal aliens are non-Mexican...As I read it, ALL illegal Mexicans are actually guest workers...

Makes me wonder if all illegal Mexicans won't be encouraged to come thru at the border crossings, for their safety...

Ole George is about as smoothe as a corncob...He's really trying to stick it to the American people...

[ozarkgirl]

That would be just about everyone in the Senate and all but a hundred in the House.

Print several.

Seriously, it's a hoot. But you only get to send them to your own Congressmen and Representatives oh, and the RNC.

[Iscool]

We need to clean up the mess here 1st

The 'mess here' is in Washington D.C... What needs to be done is a few million people march on Washington, or Crawford, Texas...

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Post #10 absolutely nails it. How in the heck did these jobs get done previously?

The work ethic in this country ain't what it's used to be. Dr. MLK Jr. once said that any job was better than no job at all.

[kittymyrib]

What in the world are they smoking in the White House? While conservatives are still fighting mad over the President's awful SCOTUS choice, they unload this pile of manure on illegal immigration. Have they lost their minds?

[afnamvet]

Have they lost their minds?

Yes.

[freedumb2003]

There are merits for a guest worker program if properly administered.

I don't think you are wrong. But the steps have to be very clear, starting with requiring that the guest worker apply in his/her native country and that there be regular "breaks" where they have to return to their country for 3 or 4 contiguous weeks per year. No family allowed, except for brief visits here. They can go back to their native country all they want, within the normal limits of employment agreements.

After a certain number of years of following the rules, they could apply for temporary permanent residency and them follow the standard path to permanent residency and citizenship now in place.

Of course, this would only be when the person is matched to a true opening at prevailing wages (we could borrow from the Cal State system to determine "prevailing wages") to ensure we don't push down the local economy.

The employer would be required to offer health insurance, again at somewhat reasonable rates and it would be mandatory for the guest worker to enroll and pay for it.

Keep it all above eye level and it could work. One last note: No particular country would be "preferred" and participant lots would be reflective of the respective native country's overall population, with caps established by a commission.

But I think all this makes too much sense to ever be done.

[Iscool]

I can't wait for my next RNC money request, so I can put a couple inside the pre-paid envelope!

Unlike the Dems, I don't believe the GOP really needs donations from the average Joe...They are already bought and paid for by big business...

[riri]

Reparations and gay marriage?

LOL. That's small potatoes at this point. I am thinking he may just go sign the Kyoto and try to push through a global tax while he's at it. (half joking (: )

[janetgreen]

Run off the illegals and put the dead beats to work. No work, no pay, no money, no booze, no drugs, no party, no couch dances. Work or starve.

That would get at least most of the able-bodied American deadbeats off their lazy butts! Our government has made collecting welfare more profitable and easier than finding a job.

[HundredDollars]

"This will allow us to hold more non-Mexican illegal immigrants while we process them through a program we call `expedited removal,'" Bush said. "Putting more of these non-Mexican illegal immigrants through expedited removal is crucial to ending the problem of catch-and-release."


Reality check! Why do Mexican illegals get preferential treatment? Is their violation of our laws any less illegal. I must have made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Bizzaro world!

Can someone please explain to me how expediting the removal of non-Mexican illegals has any effect on the problem of catch-and-release?


Here's a suggestion:

Close the border.

Mandatory fines and imprisonment for production, distribution, or possession of forged documents.

Eliminate automatic citizenship being granted for being born in this country if parents are not citizens.

Heavy fines for hiring illegals imposed daily. Subsequent violations receive larger fines. A small reward is given for being the first to identify a violation and a large portion of fines are given as rewards when collected.

All medical facilities give free care to any illegals but they are only released into the custody of deportation LEOs.

Illegals can get necessities and a stipend at the government deportation center when they turn themselves in and a free trip back to Mexico as a bonus. We will even refund reasonable and necessary expenses to get to the deportation center, just present a receipt. Initially the stipend is quite large but diminishes periodically to encourage leaving sooner rather than later.

Pass the law with an amnesty to be in effect until a specific later date. Begin to gather tips from citizens immediately, investigate, and send violators notices of accumulating fines. Onus is on the violator to show compliance by the end of amnesty period or fines which have accumulated become due.

Violations identified after the amnesty period has expired have fines imposed until proof of compliance is shown.

Also any violations trigger an IRS audit.


Some issues that need to be addressed in this plan are protecting employers from false documentation so they will not be deterred from hiring Hispanics who appear to be legal, keeping reward seekers from harassing Hispanics in search of a payoff, and handling cases where a child is a citizen by virtue of being born here but the parent is not.

The costs of implementing all of this would be insignificant compared to the costs of the status quo or a guest worker program.

[azhenfud]

There's a dense Bush in Washington in which even more illegals will shortly be seeking to hide.

[azhenfud]

He's wagering his political capital on a Gremlin.