Posted on 11/29/2005 7:21:12 PM PST by 11th_VA
PRESIDENT George Bush has proposed offering the estimated 13 million illegal immigrants in the US three-year guest-worker visas.
Mr Bush said his plan did not amount to an amnesty for illegal migrants, almost 1 million of whom are estimated to enter the US from Mexico each year.
In a speech in Tucson, Arizona, near the Mexican border, he said illegal immigration was "a serious challenge and our responsibility is clear — to protect the border.
"The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society," he said. "We can have both at the same time."
Under the proposal, the visas could be renewed for another three years if the migrants returned to their country of origin to apply.
Mr Bush announced his visa plan after saying that his Administration would beef up security along the 3200-kilometre border with Mexico and introduce the automatic detention of non-Mexican illegal immigrants, most of them from Central America, who in the past have been picked up, charged with immigration offences and then set free.
"When the date arrives for them to appear, 75 per cent of those released don't show up in court," he said.
"This practice of catch and release has been the government's policy for decades. It is an unwise policy and we're going to end it."
The Republican Party is divided over the issue of illegal migrants.
The vast majority of illegal immigrants enter the US from Mexico with the help of organised rings or family members and friends already in America. Hundreds die each year attempting the crossing from Mexico into Arizona, many of them from the harsh conditions in the desert.
The business wing of the Republican Party has lobbied hard for another amnesty on illegal immigrants, arguing that the economy would be badly damaged if there were a serious attempt to send back to Mexico millions of people who are prepared to do the jobs that Americans are not willing to do.
The illegal immigrants form the majority of America's 2 million farm workers and a significant proportion of construction labourers and service industry workers. They are mainly paid just above the minimum wage and generally do not receive health care or pension benefits. The US offered illegal migrants an amnesty in 1986 during the Reagan administration, when 3 million applied.
But the numbers arriving over the past decade have grown, leaving many Americans alarmed.
Polls have consistently shown that more than 65 per cent of Americans, most of them Republican voters, view illegal immigration as a top-ranking issue and a danger to US security.
With polls showing his support at a record low, Mr Bush has shifted ground on immigration since a key speech in January in which he said illegal immigrants were of fundamental importance to the US economy and deserved the chance to try to better themselves and their families and to become Americans.
The US Congress has spent much of this year battling to come up with an immigration bill that would receive majority support, but congressional leaders announced in October that the immigration debate would be adjourned until early next year.
Most conservative Republicans, especially in border states such as Arizona and Texas, are likely to reject Mr Bush's work visa proposal for illegal immigrants, which many see as a back-door amnesty.
Texas senator Kay Bailey, who represents the views of many Republicans in Congress, said illegal immigrants should be sent home before they could apply for guest-worker visas.
"We have to reward people who come legally and we do need certain types of workers," she said. "But we have to know who is in this country."
Hi byby...how ya doing?
I know you are being sarcastic.....
I'll leave now.....
I'm finished for tonight...........
if I get my way with administration
on the board, my nick will be finished
forever, and a new nick will be me.....
Have a great evening all.
BTW ... thank you for the thoughtful and reasonable posts/discussion on this issue and not bashing me
It's refeshing
Always my pleasure Mo1...thanks for listening and yes, very refreshing indeed.
Oh, the sky is falling , the world is at an end, we are all going to die!
Ronald Reagan must be rolling in his grave listening to you.
Bush`s proposal is just that, a place to start.Now comes the fun part, getting Congress to go along or improve his plans. Why don`t you work on that instead of slamming the President without offering realistic alternatives
I totally agree with you that deporting or otherwise getting millions and millions of people to leave is damn near impossible.
Here's the problem from my view.
The "guest workers" advocates are the same ones who have ignored enforcement year after year -- IMO they have virtually invited people to come here by any means necessary.
Now the "guest workers" advocates tell us that we have to get these people out into the open.
Most are already in the "open." Yet the "guest workers" advocates do nothing except talk, talk, promise, promise, wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
How are ILLEGALS already out in the open? There are at least two ways. One is the IRS individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) and the other is the SSA's Earnings Suspense File (ESF). Neither way can identify ILLEGAL immigrants in the "underground" economy but it's a problem identifying citizens also.
ITIN's are provided for people who cannot get a SSN as I understand it. The ESF contains W-2 data from employers. The employees' SSNs are bogus or stolen and, I believe, the ESF contains employees using ITINs. None match the SSA Master Earnings File.
The IRS / SSA send "no match" letters to employers which exceed a threshold of mismatches and they send "no match" letters to individual employees -- almost ten million letters to employees.
The SSA "no match" letters have no enforcement and the IRS does very, very little beyond sending the letters. Neither the IRS nor the SSA will cooperate with immigration authorities, to the best of my knowledge.
I don't have a plan to "make 'em leave." I am tired of government B.S.
Let the two Parties stand up, tell us that unlimited migrant labor is the way it's going to be, and we citizens can pound salt. At least they'd be telling the truth.
<< .... George Bush has proposed offering the estimated [35 million Criminal Aliens] in the US three-year guest-worker visas.
Mr Bush said his plan did not amount to an amnesty for [Criminal Aliens] .... >>
Bullshit, Mr President.
Knock it off.
No, my point was that Bush's ideas are just patchwork bandaids meant solely to pacify the masses and produce good sound bites. The $70 million he proposed for building a secure border won't do anything meaningful - it will take about $5 billion to build a real fence across the southern border.
That $5 billion would be money well spent. Bush doesn't mind asking for $20 billion for Africa, so if Bush is really serious about securing the borders, then why hasn't he asked for the $5 billion to build a fence?
Bush being pleased as punch to get only about 1% of the budget of what is needed to secure the border shows that he doesn't really care about the issue.
BTW, I met with, and worked with, Ronald Reagan in 1963 when he was supporting Barry Goldwater.
The Feds and the courts have repeatedly told the states that immigration control is a federal matter and to butt out.
How are business monitored now to make sure that follow the tax code?
The laws are already on the books, they need to assign more agents to sanctions enforcement. The problem is the illegals get fraudulent SS and other id and then the employer can say he didn't know. First part is to have a tamper proof id /ss card.
There are already plenty of laws on the books to carry it out. All that is lacking is the political will to do so.
You are aware that it is illegal to hire illegals, right?
And the administration has for all practical purposes not enforced the law at all.
It's a crime.
So have the States
The feds (INS/ICE) have told the states and local law enforcement that rounding up illegals is the job of the feds and that their help isn't wanted.
The courts have also disallowed many non-federal law enforcement officers from verifying citizenship. These court decisions could be overruled by a federal law.
It has been posted several times in this thread alone that the states are doing everything they can. Their hands are mostly tied.
It's the administration that is hasn't done it's constitutionally mandated job.
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