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."

[gubamyster]

ping

[TomGuy]

a pledge to clamp down on illegal immigration

Just do it, already!

Put up or shut up.

Actions speak louder than words.


GW has been pushing amnesty since 2001. Had it not been for the 9-11-01 attacks and one Senator Robert Byrd stopping the amnesty bill then, Bush would have gotten amnesty for illegals early in his administration.

After 9-11, it became an uphill battle, but GW keeps pushing for it, just like Sisyphus kept rolling the boulder up the mountain.

[DTogo]

"As we improve and expand our efforts to secure our borders,

Since when? Then why the need for Vigilantes Minutemen?

"we must also recognize that that enforcement cannot work unless it is part of a larger comprehensive immigration reform program," Bush said.

You've never tried enforcement! How do you know it won't work!

"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."

If foreign workers have to be hired legally and paid a decent wage with benefits and payroll taxes, many Americans would probably take those jobs to begin with. The fact that these foreign workers are here ILLEGALLY is why Americans won't take those artificially sub-market wage jobs. Legalize the foreign workers and they are no longer needed in the U.S.

Enforcement First!

Thanks Prime Choice !

[Reaganwuzthebest]

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.

Hhhmm is it possible for poll numbers to go any lower? We're going to find out soon enough.

[mtbopfuyn]

Fence!

Good thing Bush isn't running again.

[OldPossum]

I like your post #7. I, too, am wondering about Bush's political sense. Damn it, can't he get it through his head that without a real clampdown on illegal immigration, his base is gone with the wind? Especially when you combine it with that monumental screw-up of appointing a legal lightweight to the Supreme Court.

[taxed2death]

"There are merits for a guest worker program if properly administered.
Beats the chit out of amnesty for illegals.
I shall now don my armor plated flame resistant suit and go to the bunker"

I agree, but these guest workers should fill spots that are offered to US citizens first.

Guest workers will have to work "on the books".

Any "guest worker" now in -country should never be granted amnesty. They came here with full knowledge they were breaking the law. We can not reward this behavior.

Guest workers in the future should be eligible for US citizenship after 10 years of working here legally. They should Not be pushed ahead of the line of legal US residents applying for citizenship.

[TomGuy]

Gridlock is better than having the GOP or the Dems own the House, Senate and White House.

At least with split, they have to compromise or do nothing.

I would like to see a strong conservative 3rd party that would have enough power to sway elections and policies. Parliamentary systems that are forced into forming coalition governments from a multitude of lesser parties may not be such a bad idea. We know the two-party system eventually evolved into more of the same if either gets power.

[Texas Federalist]

""If an employer has a job that no American is willing to take..." Then let the employer raise the compensation for said job or innovate or automate.

Exactly!!! There is no job that an American would be unwilling to take for a certain compensation.

[CindyDawg]

As long as there is welfare and unemployment there are no jobs that Americans should be refusing.

[Mulch]

Bush Said: "As we improve and expand our efforts to secure our borders...."

Who's we sucker? Are you talking about the Minutemen, El Busho?

[La Enchiladita]

Let me put it this way, Mr. President:

NO!

[Jorge]

There are merits for a guest worker program if properly administered.
Beats the chit out of amnesty for illegals.

I agree. Get these people on the books so we can keep tabs on them.

[judgeandjury]

We have workers here now. 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. No one promised you a life. Life is your responsibility. You have to earn your keep. No one voted you a freebie life. Your inability to prepare yourself for life is not my fault or problem. Let the dead beats work.

Well said!!!

[judgeandjury]

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

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

[RATkiller]

Exactly right. See how simple the solution is ? Complicated solutions like Guest Worker Programs and the bilge from Chertoff (rhymes with ...) reeks of special interests being paid off.

[calrighty]

Obtuse describes Bush and all his "advisors" to a tee!~!

[GarySpFc]

"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."

Note in the double talk Mexicans are not sent back. I guess I was dreaming when I first heard them speak.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The plan seems to be that we build detention facilities so that when we catch illegals at the border, we don't have to ticket them and let them go.

Chertoff never mentioned what to do with illegals that were already living in the US. The guest worker program is aimed at those illegals already here doing tasks which supposedly are otherwise undone, when those illegals seem to be settled in and being productive.

I'm not defending it here, just saying that these are two separate issues. Seal the borders, but provide a way for those already here to get "legal", for a period of time, in order to get a better handle on the problem.

[Types_with_Fist]

Obtuse describes Bush and all his "advisors" to a tee!~!

Yes. But I'm also thinking "gall" should go along with it...:-)