Bush Vows Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants

Denver Rocky Mountain News ^ | Nov 28, 2005 11:09 PM EST | Nedra Pickler (A.P.)

[Graybeard58]

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- President Bush said Monday he wants to crack down on those who enter the country illegally but also give out more visas to foreigners with jobs, a dual plan he hopes will appease the social conservatives and business leaders who are his core supporters.

"The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society," Bush said from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base about an hour from the Mexican border. "We can have both at the same time."

The touchy issue of immigration has divided lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he will bring up the issue early next year. The House hopes to tackle some border security measures before adjourning for the year, but little time remains and it has other issues on its plate.

Bush also pitches his plan in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday. Texas and Arizona are home to GOP senators who have been vocal on the need to change immigration laws but who aren't entirely sold on Bush's vision.

The idea for temporary worker visas has been especially divisive and is stalled in Congress. Bush said he does not support amnesty for illegal immigrants, but he does want to give workers a way to earn an honest living doing jobs that other Americans are unwilling to do and issue more green cards.

"Listen, there's a lot of opinions on this proposal," Bush said. "I understand that, but people in this debate must recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program."

Also Monday in Phoenix, Bush sought to counter calls by some in Congress for a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces. "We will stay until the job is done, not a day longer. We will get the job done in Iraq," Bush told 1,300 people at a fund-raiser that was expected to bring in $1.4 million for Republican Sen. Jon Kyl's re-election campaign.

The president also promoted his plans to make tax cuts permanent, praised his Supreme Court picks - new Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justice nominee Samuel Alito - and pitched his immigration and border security proposals.

Earlier in Tucson, Bush spoke to a supportive audience that included border patrol agents and military troops. He was flanked by two black Customs and Border Protection helicopters and giant green and yellow signs that said "Protecting America's Borders."

He said he is providing border agents with cutting-edge technology like overhead surveillance drones and infrared cameras, while at the same time constructing simple physical barriers to entry.

The president's push on border security and immigration comes a month after Bush signed a $32 billion homeland security bill for 2006 that contains large increases for border protection, including 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Bush has been urging Congress to act on a guest worker program for more than a year. Under his plan, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to get three-year work visas. They could extend that for an additional three years, but would then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has proposed providing illegal immigrants in the United States visas for up to six years. After that, they must either leave the United States or be in the pipeline for a green card, which indicates lawful permanent residency.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Kyl support an alternative proposal that would require illegal immigrants to return to their home country to apply for a temporary worker program.

McCain and Kyl appeared with Bush, while Kennedy issued a statement criticizing the president for talking about immigration reform without acting after nearly five years in office. And it wasn't just Democrats saying that - Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said Americans "are tired of talk and ready for action."

And, she added, "We have no business discussing guest worker programs until we can actually prevent illegal entry."

[Prime Choice]

President Bush said Monday he wants to crack down on those who enter the country illegally

We keep hearing these promises that action will be taken after the amnesty program takes effect.

President Bush: we love you, but please...no more. Take action on the illegals we have now and quit trying to act like you're throwing us a bone. We're tired of being faked out.

[ncountylee]

Quick, bring me my varmint gun.

[clee1]

Quit TALKING platitudes, Mr. President and DO SOMETHING concrete about it.

[rolling_stone]

Talk is cheap Senor Presidente....

[djf]

????????????

It most certainly is not foolish.
Did you ever get a parking ticket? Did they give you AMNESTY? Was your slight trespass anywheres near as significant as jumping across a border and falsifying documents?

Besides, Bush has NO BUSINESS proposing legislation. His job is to ENFORCE THE LAWS AS WRITTEN.

If he wants to run for Congress, more power to him. I just hope if he does get to Congress that he can then stop talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time.

[DancesWithBolsheviks]

and place them in a special income tax bracket
What type of 'special income tax bracket' do you recommend?

[Paloma_55]

=== Bush is simply not the type of person who advocates rounding up illegals and returning them home en masse. That's just reality. ====

There is a way to get illegals to voluntarily leave the country.

1) Declare that you are going to increase the number of worker visas and immigration slots
2) Declare that ANYONE caught illegally in the country will automatically be denied a worker visa or immigration slot for 10 years.

Then, long as we are at it.

Require English proficiency for citizenship
Get rid of the "Born in USA" anchor baby clause

[axes_of_weezles]

How about taxing money transfers to mexico at a rate of 30 to 50%. If they wish to take money home they can hand carry it.

[DoughtyOne]

Here's one of the obvious holes in Bush's plan.

We have a family of five, the parents of which are here illegaly. Okay, mom and dad get a work permit and begin their six years.

During the six years they invest in a home, their children develop friendships, the family develops ties to friends, the church... At then end of six years these folks are going to be so solidy entrenched here, that it will be impossible to uproot them and demand they leave. That's what our leaders are counting on.

At this point they get another six year permit, and they're essentially U.S. citizens by proxy. At the end of six or twelve years, there's simply no way these folks are going to be forced out.

Okay, this is reality. This is what is going to happen to the illegals here today. That's bad enough IMO, but what's next? The President stated today that he wants more work visas, more green cards that lead to citizenship AND more work permits. Anotherwords, three programs that lead to many more foreign nationals coming here legally, are going to be implemented or expanded.

And when the expirations for those new programs come, it is my perception that none of the people under any of the three of these programs will be asked to leave.

We're on the fast track to half a billion people in this nation, and a sea change of societal termoil that will make what we've experience up to now, seem like child's play.

[org.whodat]

Those who are here illegally will have no choice but to sign up and register if they want to work in this country.

This is a joke isn't it? I mean what they do now is not legal, so if they don't sign, are you saying it's going to be even more illegal. Just who is going to enforce this pie in the sky statement?

[DTogo]

So you want to give them a fast track over those who have been attempting to come here legally for many years?

Not at all. I guess if they have to go to the "back of the line" behind those attempting to enter legally, you might as well call it deportation.

My family has had first-hand experience with the system, it's FUBAR.

[DancesWithBolsheviks]

But then it will be double secret illegal.

[Fledermaus]

I'm sorry Mr. President...fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice....

I'm not buying this enforcement crap.

[steel_resolve]

But IMO, most illegals will meekly leave after their term is up and get in line if they want citizenship

What makes you think they will be inclined to meekly leave?

[Fledermaus]

Why should they care? They see cheap labor, illegal votes and all the "cost" is the burden of taxpayers in ever increasing budgets for "essential government services" that can never be cut even from a 6.3% increase in one year to a 6.2% increase lest some liberal whiner, like I saw Alan Colmes actually do, complain aobut those .1% that would "suffer and maybe die".

The lack of debate about reality in this country is gone.

[Tarpon]

Disappointing at best.

[DoughtyOne]

At least at the leadership level, you're correct.

As for who's paying for this, you're right there too, and no they don't really give a fig. They triangulate us every four years and we continue to be their little guinea pigs five days per week so we can participate on April 15th.

[Jim_Curtis]

But even the most die-hard supporter of defending the borders has to concede that there has to be some type of rigid, strict temporary guest-worker program here. Give the illegals who are currently here a biometric Federal I.D. that expires after two years, and place them in a special income tax bracket.

I don't concede that. There is no need for guest workers and our poorest citizens don't need their wages held down and jobs taken by these so-called guests.

[bigj00]

When we have 2% unemployment and 2% Welfare, THEN THINK about increasing work visa's.

Why can't lazy ass Joe white guy work in the fields?

Why can't fata$$ alice work as a maid in a motel?

Get them OFF WELFARE and MAKE THEM WORK.

I would even support a part welfare supplement payment for welfare receipants who take low paying jobs.

[dk/coro]

You bet. I was a Bushie for a long spell. NO more!
I am dusting off my Independent ballot -- and reserving judgement. No more straight Pubbie ticket punching for me!

The guy is really out in left field on this -- and other critical issues.

And, further, I am not really sure in my mind that El Presidente really understands the depth and magnitude of the Islamic threat to western Civilization.

for dead sure, he has not chosen to effectively convey the message. and, his efforts are really 18 months late!

A very shabby performance in basic marketing, that "W" should have learned at Harvard. It is obvious that Hughes is really MIA! Or, that her capabilities were vastly overrated.