Posted on 11/29/2005 9:07:48 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Californians on both sides of the immigration debate decried President Bush's speech Monday as insufficient and called for a more comprehensive plan to deal with illegal immigrants and border security.
Bush outlined a guest-worker program that would allow migrants to work in the United States in three-year stretches, proposed tougher border enforcement and vowed to work with Congress to reform immigration laws.
He made the pitches in a speech in Tucson, Ariz., and is scheduled to talk about immigration again today in El Paso, Texas. As in California, immigration is an issue of concern for many residents in those border states.
Christian Ramirez said Bush's pro-enforcement message, "is now agreeing with the most extreme members of Congress on how to deal with the immigration phenomenon."
Ramirez, who directs the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee, which supports immigrant rights, said it appeared that Bush was favoring a harder line on immigration.
In his speech, Bush said he supported a 14-mile fence along the border between Mexico and San Diego, and also called for other border barriers.
Ramirez said that would force immigrants to take more dangerous routes into the United States and lead to more deaths along the border, which reached a record 460 in the fiscal year that ended in September, he said.
"He is siding with the Minuteman type of individuals," Ramirez said.
The Minuteman Project is a volunteer group that has monitored the U.S.-Mexico border and reported illegal immigrant crossings. The group's co-founder, Jim Gilchrist, of Aliso Viejo, was disappointed with Bush's speech, too, calling it "political doublespeak" that seeks to placate people like the Minutemen without making substantive changes.
"It's an illusion that everything is OK," said Gilchrist, who is running for Congress in Orange County as an American Independent. "We really don't want to hear anything out of the mouths of politicians unless it's, 'We have sealed the borders, increased the budget. ... We have protected your communities, your families and your pocketbooks.' "
Retiree Arne Chandler, of Murrieta, a member of the Minuteman Project, said Bush failed to propose substantive measures to catch people who illegally cross the border or crack down on employers who hire unauthorized workers.
"I'm extremely disappointed," Chandler said. "I was really looking for some movement on the issues, and he just regurgitated minor things that he's done that he has been forced to do."
Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, said he would have liked to hear Bush propose tougher sanctions against employers who hire illegal immigrants. Baca, a strong proponent of labor unions, said he also wished the president's guest-worker plan included protection for immigrants who get hurt on the job.
"They should have the same protection and rights as any other individual who is working here," he said. "We still need a comprehensive approach to immigration, and we need a true immigration reform plan."
Nothing has been done in 5 + years, and nothing will be done.
AOL Poll and article at http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051129092909990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001
What do you think of Bush's plan for stronger border security?
Too little, too late 38%
It's a good idea 37%
Not workable 25%
What do you think of Bush's guest worker visa plan?
Not workable 54%
It's a good idea 25%
Too little, too late 22%
Total Votes: 3,601
Note on Poll Results
ping
Somebody called Senor Jorges latest border babbling his Boob Bait for the Bubbas Moment.
He and Rove are determined to at all costs court the criminal alien vote and figure all of the rest of us for idiots.
He should go back to playing at such other incredible bloody insults to our nation as awarding the The Presidential Medal of Freedom: -- established by President Harry Truman in 1945 to honor service during World War II and designed to recognize individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors:" -- to the likes of the America-hating, draft-evading, faux-nation-of-islam "muslime," Cassius Muhummid Clay Ali.
And maybe he has a spare one lying around for that other well-known draft-evader, serial-rapist traitor, Billy Bubba Blythe?
"If they get hurt, then that is their problem."
I live here in AZ and I agree with your statement above.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
The current USBP could easily do their job if they had an effective border fence system to guard, instead of needing to chase illegals around tens of thousands of square miles of wide open border land.
And a fence like the one below would be dirt cheap, compared to the cost of educating, medicating and jailing illegal aliens.
So you know they are lying, when they say we don't need a fence system. You will know they mean business, when you see the fences go up.
I'm with you guys. We have no business making the commission of a crime safer for the criminal. Next thing you know, somebody will be able to break into your house and sue you if they slip on your floor.
Israel has proven that border fences can be effective. The open borders lobby should stop lying about them Israel's multiple fence, border fence system. This fence is designed to succeed!! Sensors, 
Exactly. No fence = open border policy.
Isn't this the same fence that Israel finds tunnels under -- hundreds of yards long -- every few months ?
I agree it is better than nothing, but it won't be foolproof. The type of fence that would be foolproof would be far too expensive to build.
There are two separate issues -- illegal immigration of people wanting to come here and work and soak up social services, and the real security issue of hostiles.
Denying employment and social services is the least expensive and possibly most successful solution to the first type.
The security issue is tougher. As bad as the Mexican border is, the Canadian border is no better. And the ocean approaches look like a cakewalk for terrorists in a zodiac. Or somebody just slipping over the side of a cargo ship sitting in any of our harbors. Aside from going completely Nazi and checking people's IDs at random on the street, I don't know what the solution is. How about abolishing cash and requiring a thumbprint scan for every transaction ? That would slow illegals of any stripe.
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