Posted on 11/28/2005 8:20:45 PM PST by 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."
Betcha he cracks down on me (grandson of Polish immigrants) before he cracks down on them.
yada yada yada
when it is all said and done, historians will look back on this time as the final, lost opportunity to maintain a serious nation state.
By 2050 the United States will be unrecognizable....for some of you older folks it already is..hehe.
I'm sure there will be a USA by the end of this century, but it'll be more like Brazil than Texas.
Masses of uneducated peons, lawlessness, crime, a collapsing infrastructure, a dwindling and beseiged middle class, cultural decay and the few smart ones who planned for the end.
But I'm a hopeless romantic..hehe.
I was born in 1945 - I'll never make it.
And you're sounding exceeding anachronistic. Channeling your talking points from the long dead KNOW NOTHINGS, now?
How do you say "Rino" in Spanish?
Uneducated peons and lawless criminals, huh? Just as some described the Italian immigrants at one time in our history.
hehe, it's officially the American Party, and I know nothing....
seriously though, we were just going over this in class and most of my students felt that it was probably for the best that America just disband and form several different nations....
the kids really see nothing redeeming about the US, it's just a big, evil, racist, corporate construction....
and that's just the conservative students...you should hear the libs!
So forgive my pessimism, but the more I pay attention, the more depressed I get....hehe
I'm tired of politicians attempting to fake us out.
The first Civil War sadly prevented that from happening. The next one, which will involve East vs. West will not.
Bring it on!
Exactly, I don't see the fire in him, that I saw after 9/11, I wish I did. Too litte, too late on this border issue, haven't we all been calling for action on this since 9/11?
The republican party keeps calling & sending me snail mail for a donation, I should print this & send it to them. Think they'll get the message?
I'm talking about the impact of illegal immigrants on the economy. Never mentioned legal immigrants.
But I guess anyone who decries the loss of our borders is an evil racist...so be it.
I'm concerned also with America's embrace of lawlessness.
Italians and Irish and a million others came here legally, worked hard, and played by the rules. Teddy Roosevelt was right, but he'd be banned today.
What happens when people stop caring?
Brazil happens.
I guess what concerns me most is the collapse of respect for law. It's fundamental to a republican form of government. I'm also nostalgic for crazy ideas like the nation state. I know it's old fashioned, and we are all just living in social constructions that facilitate commerce, but still I cling to my old fashioned ways....
I had to change the channel, exactly what I thought of his speech!
What I did was write them a little message on the solicitation which I then returned to them in the postage paid envelope. If everyone would do that just once, I'll bet they'd get the message.
I've read these same statements from others and held my tongue; however, I think that most of FR needs and instant history lesson and in spades.
The Know Nothings were against immigration and thought that they saw the USA about to go POOF. That was more than 100 years ago and we're still here.
All immigrants formed their own enclaves and many kept right on speaking whatever their language/s were, when they got here, refusing to bother to learn English. They had their own societies, their own neighborhoods, their own food stuffs, their own newspapers, and some even had their own theatres, and even radio programs. And *GASP*, some weren't even Christians and some, oh horror ( well, it was to the KNOW NOTHINGS ), some were even Catholics!
Our nation didn't implode then, and it isn't going to now, unless YOU and others actually TEACH the next generation the facts, patriotism, and stop being emotional babies.
No lie. But you want to know what is a lie? The gov't figures on the number of illegals in this country (they claim at grand total of around 10 million). Most sources report that between 750,000 and 1,000,000 people are caught attempting to enter the U.S. illegally per year, and most estimates are that only around 25% of those who make the attempt are caught. By those figures, between 3-4 million illegals successfully enter per year. ....And the gov't expects us to believe that after decades of massive illegal immigration (with the illegals breeding like rabbits) there are only 10 million total.
I'd guess more like 50 million. ....minimum.
Good idea, I just got another one today, I'll tell them when our borders are secure, with no "guest worker" bone throwing, they might see a check from me! LOL
You go, girl!
Had to dig it out of the recycle bin, but I just did it!!!
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