You can talk about FOUR borders, but we all know which border is the problem!
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."
hehe...well you are certainly fired up on this topic, and that's a good thing.
But if I hear you correctly, we should allow anyone who wants to live in America come here...legal, illegal, trans-legal, bi-legal..whatever.
Is this really a rational policy for a nation state?
I ask this in all seriousness...
If you find it irrational, then you are suggesting that America should indeed control it's borders and set up rules for immigrating...and enforce those rules.
(And this sounds hauntingly familiar...to my position)
Border control, enforcement of laws, and continued, even expanded "legal" immigrantion that serves American interest...this is what I, and many others are advocating.
But I don't think you and I actually have to worry about it. These decisions are made at much higher levels than simple folks like you and I, we just put up with the consequences.
Someone needs to tell him "Conservatives are not appeased"!!!
I agree!
I think I upset nopardons with the Know Nothings jokes...
Dangit, I'd like to go one day without offending a fellow freeper...hehe.
I received my Platinum Member card from the RNC earlier this year and of course a request for $. I wrote on the request that when borders are secure I will respond with a donation.
Hear-hear!
Nope, I'm absolutely against illegal anything and everything; including aliens. But I'm not against LEGAL immigration.
What I AM also against, is mordant stupidity and FORTRESS AMERICA types!
There are four, COUNT 'EM...FOUR, borders and we aren't doing a good job on any of them. Partly, that's because it's an impossible task and partly, the problems of illegal immigration is the states' problems and NOT the president's or the Fed Gov's. How is that? Well, many states and communities now have laws which prohibit teachers, cops, firemen, social workers, nurses, doctors and everyone else, who comes into to contact with illegals, to turn them in.
Sooooooooo...what do you want the president to do, invade every state/community with armed military and root out every single illegal? That and walls around the nation, with NO planes or ships being allowed in and out?
Do I think that something MUST be done? Well, of course I do; just not what some here claim they want, because it is impossible and childish.
And instead of allowing the kids you teach to grumble and muse about things they know nothing at all about, why don't you do your job and actually TEACH ?
I will keep sending them so long as our party keeps selling us out to the illegal invaders.
Here's the missing component. They find ways to legalize them. That's why there's a perpetual ten million figure. Sure about ten million have come over since 2000, but I'd wager they've legalized about half of them.
Good, I just did the same thing, but what good will it do, if todays speech was any indication, he thinks he is appeasing us! HAH!
Great idea! I'll do that from now on. Thanks for the tip.
Unless we stop the downward slide now, the United States won't exist in 2050. It will be a divided land conquered by Mexico, Eurabia and China. By 2100, America will be seen as nothing but a myth; spoken of in the same way as one speaks of Atlantis today.
Driving home today, Hannity had the speech on. I had to change stations. Who is he trying to appease?
Didn't appease me.
They're only paying us lip service now because it appeased us in the past. Soon they'll understand that we're not being fooled and they'll try a little tougher talk. And when that doesn't fly, they'll try token measures.
Our job: keep the pressure on. This is an issue we cannot afford to compromise on. We've comprised far too much already.
My pleasure! That's what I made 'em for! :o)
You can talk about FOUR borders, but we all know which border is the problem!
Well...ok, then...hehe.
While I certainly appreciate your "enthusiasm", it does not appear likely that you and I are able to discuss illegal immigration without your penchant for insults. Therefore I think it best that I simply wish you continued success and all the best in your future endeavors.
Cheers,
The Woefully Un-Educated
Will_Zurmacht, Ph.D. Candidate, ABD.
Obviously you are wearing blinkers, if that is what you think. There is a VERY serious problem with Chinese illegals coming in via ship and boat, in cargo golds and just stuffed into the holds without being stuffed into shipping crates. And then, there are all of the Africans and Islamonazis coming in on planes. And more Islamonazis and Pakistanis coming in from Canada.
American history isn't your major, I take it. :-)
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