Posted on 11/28/2005 1:55:47 PM PST by TCats
My rep:
REPORT FROM CONGRESS
By Congressman Roger F. Wicker
WICKER CALLS FOR U.S.-MEXICO BORDER FENCE
A plan to construct a security barrier along the 2,000 mile boundary between the U. S. and Mexico is at the heart of the most sweeping legislation ever introduced to fight illegal immigration and protect America's borders. I have joined as a co-sponsor of this bill, which would strengthen immigration law and send a message to the world that the U.S. is serious about solving this critical problem.
The TRUE Enforcement and Border Security Act includes provisions to increase border patrol agents, give law enforcement authorities more tools to catch and deport illegal aliens, and stiffen penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers.
NATIONAL SECURTY AT STAKE
U. S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, whose district includes the U.S.-Mexico border area in San Diego County, California, is the bill's author. He is also chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The chairman correctly points out that illegal immigration has grown beyond a problem for states in the southwestern U.S. It has become a national security issue, and it is time for decisive action.
"Prior to September 11, 2001, illegal immigration was considered a regional issue without national implications," he said. "We quickly learned on that day that this is a national issue, affecting each and every American." While security efforts have increased in recent months, hundreds of people cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally each day. This is a vulnerability that could be exploited by Al Qaeda operatives or other terrorist groups seeking entry into the U.S.
Illegal immigration is also having an impact on state and local governments and in communities all across the country. This growing influx is putting a financial burden on schools, our health care system, and delivery of other basic services.
FENCE FROM PACIFIC TO THE GULF
The bill's most noteworthy provision is creation of a border security zone which would run from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It would include the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in a plan to utilize "fencing, roads, and technology infrastructure" to secure the border from illegal crossings. It would be accompanied by addition of 25 new entry points to accommodate legal cross-border traffic.
While critics of the fence idea argue it would be costly, Chairman Hunter explains that the expense is only a fraction of the burden American taxpayers are shouldering for an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally today. The plan faces opposition from liberal political groups within the U.S., and from environmentalists, but support for the fence is growing. It is hard to deny the effectiveness of such a barrier. Federal authorities report that illegal entries have decreased dramatically in the areas where fencing has been used.
MORE AGENTS, MORE ENFORCEMENT
The legislation would authorize 10,000 new border patrol agents and 1,250 new investigators. It would create an Assistant Attorney General for Immigration Enforcement to focus on apprehension and deportation activities. These efforts include speeding court action against suspected illegals, alien smuggling/trafficking enforcement, and more emphasis on sanctions against employers who hire illegal workers.
The employer-sanction provisions are an essential element of any reform effort because they eliminate financial incentives that motivate many workers to come to the U.S. illegally.
The problem of illegal immigration is admittedly complex. If answers were easy, this would have been accomplished long ago. But any solution clearly begins with a secure border. I look forward to the debate on the bold idea of a security fence and the accompanying enforcement provisions. The outcome will reveal how seriously we view the problem of illegal immigration.
Great posts.
We can all agree and disagree on the methodology of protecting the integrity of our borders, but the fact is that a country without secure borders is no longer a soverign nation.
Perhaps because we had just come out of a couple very distasteful elections and the issue of illegal immigration was the big smelly elephant in the room, that we allowed ourselves the luxury of delusion, for a time.
GWB had just won reelection. His speech on amnesty before the election was slightly, ever so slightly different before than after. Or perhaps that is what some wanted to hear. Repecting the man and wanting to continue to do so, especially after the joys of the Clinton administration, the lefty dishonest challenges to Pres Bush's election, and of course the horrors of 9/11 of course many conservatives had voted for GW inspite of our immigration related reservations.
No, he never made his immigration ideologies a secret, but he did play them in such a way so that strong border conservatives like myself who wanted to believe him and vote for him with a clear conscience could easily deceive ourselves. Some of us successfully did so.
Perhaps because Kerry was such an unacceptable alternative, it seemed that we could hope that the man we respected so much, who was so honorable, could surely be persuaded to change his thinking.
A couple years have passed and this issue has heated up considerably since the election. Should national security issues have by now awakened the most hardened party operatives in both parties to the realities of our insecured borders? If not because of patriotism, should they not be able to see the political fallout/opportunity?
The political opportunists or true patriots who in the next elections are smart enough to see that this issue is a winner for the one who is willing to wrap themselves in it, will win.
Hopefully that someone will be other than the Hildebeast.
Let the flaming begin.
>>I'm still waiting to hear an apology for calling the Minutemen vigilantes.
>That is what the head Border Patrol guy for the Southern Sector called them. It was a self-serving comment on his part, CYA and job protection. That is the information that was sent by the BP to Bush. The BP has undermined him as much as the CIA and State Dept.
Even so, if Bush were behind the Minutemen, he wouldn't have made the comment.
You are welcome. You should thank me also for being specific as to why it was dumb.
I am in the process of doing so and I am replying to some of them. You are right, you have a lot of dumb company.
yes....I am in the company of dumb asses...like Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Tom Tancredo, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, blah blah blah....damn, I love being so dumb....
Punishing employers who hire illegals is also part of the law.
Unfortunately, this administration has virtually ceased doing so...
Good or bad, right or wrong, that is what happened. He took George Tenet's word, too, that the WMD were in Iraq and that it was a "Slam Dunk!" Do you have a better system than relying on those charged with doing the job?
Been down to the border?
You would not talk that way to me in person. Why do you feel its ok on this list?
King Jorge has betrayed the trust of the people who elected him.
I gave him every benefit of the doubt for the first four years.
Now I see him for what he is.
Good or bad, right or wrong, that is what happened. He took George Tenet's word, too, that the WMD were in Iraq and that it was a "Slam Dunk!" Do you have a better system than relying on those charged with doing the job?
Yes, how could someone confuse minutemen with vigilantes, they have been reported about in the news at length? And if he was wrong in his choice of words, he should have apologized, he didn't so we must believe he meant what he said.
I agree that President Bush has followed through brilliantly with his promises on foreign policy concerning the war on terror. However, in those cases, he had relative unilateral authority to do what he wanted. In this case, a guest worker program will require a congressional bill. That means he will have to negotiate with liberals who basically want to have open borders, grant every illegal citizenship upon arrival, and register them to vote (for Democrats) immediately.
This is from the starting point of relying on the honor system for the illegals to return home after their permits expire. This is after they spend the 6 years making as many baby American citizens as they can. I wonder what the next president will do when millions of illegals, whose permits have expired exclaim: "... but I have 5 children who are all American citizens. I can't bring them back to Mexico. America, please have a heart. I am hard working. Only my brother-in-law who came with me has murdered, not me. I even voted Democrat in the last election as I was told to do as a good American. Where is your mercy?"
I am not encouraged by this speech at all.
Jobs are outsourced to create higher profits for stockholders and managment. That is what those folks do.
That is what those folks are supposed to do. That is why they are hired and promoted to those positions. That is why people invest their money in the company, that is what stocks are, to make money.
Were it not for our tax structure, intrusive government regulations, union work rules (the wages aren't the big problem), frivolous lawsuits and a myriad other things that distort the market, those jobs would stay right here. If we enforced the border, as you said, some of that competition would not be here, but the illegals are competition for the lowest level jobs, not the high paying jobs. If you haven't noticed, we are also legally importing technical workers as well as sending jobs to other countries. Why? Because we can get the work done cheaper there and with the imported workers. That means lower prices for you and me. You boast about the free market for jobs, are you going to say this is not the free market?
Perhaps you have heard of competition but maybe not. That is what keeps prices down and stops the "suits" from raping the marketplace.
Yes, the suits make more. If you were hiring someone to run your multi-billion dollar company would you hire one that wasn't worth more than minimum wage? You know the answer to that. Jobs are part of the market force, even the high dollar ones.
Although I don't think Pres. Bush watches the TV news, if he did the MSM were calling them vigilantes also. Maybe that is where he go the idea instead of where I said.
And if he was wrong in his choice of words, he should have apologized, he didn't so we must believe he meant what he said.
Guess what? That is such a minor point, this whole vigilante thing, I will cede it to you. Take it! You won!
because that guy for some reason feels the need to deride people for their opinions....he must feel humbled to let others influence his emotions like that....too bad he can't try and persuade without labeling others as Dems or telling them to STFU......
1. apologize to the Minutemen,
2. Fire Chertoff,appoint someone other than a friends laywer daughter, someone no-nonsense like Joe Arpaio
3. Replace Ambassador Garza (who married a billionaire Mexicana and clearly violates federal ethics laws and regulations)
4. Fire the head of the BP - Aguilar -who came from Tucson and is the individual who called the Minutemen "vigilante's"
5. Use Treasury/ICE/IRS to stop the electonic flow of cash to Mexico; impose a 30 to 50% transaction tax to allow money transfers to Mexico;
6. Use tent cities for the illegals prior to deportation - like Joe Arpaio does in Phoenix for the county jail.
7. At least use the same amount of resources the military is using in Iraq to secure the borders with Syria and Iran to secure the Canadian/Mexican physical borders.
If the President can get congress to clean up the CIA and reorganize the intelligence agencies - he can do the same with DHS/BP.
Until he and the Repubicans do; they will get pesos from me for campaign contributions. Randy Graf already has US cash from me.
This is Scamnesty. The president is proposing Scamnesty and I can read his intentions. 6 years of inactions and excuses; no demands of reciprocity from the Mexicans, no demands at all of the Mexicans. Why does he favor them vice/instead of Canadians or Irish or Philipinos who have good family values. What makes them more acceptable than folks from another country? Why does he favor the illegals?
Pesos for the Pubbies until they get their act together.
McCain spent weeks going around the State trying to get people to vote no on Prop 200... failed miserably (thank goodness). You'd think he would have received the message, but, no, he joins with TK to try and put through their version of amnesty.
Guess what? That is such a minor point, this whole vigilante thing, I will cede it to you. Take it! You won!
Problem is it isn't a minor point...the minutemen came into being because of W's inaction. His calling them vigilantes was derogatory and did he not recognize his own failure that forced them into action. He should have jumped on the right side of the issue not continued on the wrong side. It shows his continued stubborness to change his position and do what is right for the nation...
He has failed at SS reform, his tax reform panel is a joke and his immigration reform is an open door amnesty. We voted for change and got none.
Does anyone notice, the price of construction has not gone down?
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