Give every illegal alien a cow when they cross the border? Brilliant!!!
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."
That thinking is why we have lost the war on illegals.
Illegal immigration is a supply and demand problem and you can't stop the supply unless you reduce the demand.
If we are serious about stopping illegal immigration, then we need to stop welfare to illegals and stop businesses from hiring them.
Do that and the vast majority of illegal will stop coming and then controlling the border will become easy.
CBP is doing it's job exactly as the President and his administration wants them to do.
CBP can do no more then it is allowed to do. If the WH was really concerned about illegal immigration, then it would let ICE and CBP do it's job.
Right you are. This is not a rational policy. There are parts missing and something else is at play here which has not been fully revealed.
OR...
The man is simply insane.
I tend to believe in Bush's sanity, but am seriously beginning to question where this is headed. I have some suspicions, but that's all they are so will not post it here.
::sigh::
I'm in AZ.
I'm speaking of Prop 200.
He's bought and paid for.
It's been posted on FR hundreds of times.
Stop employers from hiring illegals, cut off welfare to illegals and enforce the 14th Amendment as it was intended, and 90% of your illegals will leave on their own at no cost to the American public.
By they way; If we can deport 1, we can deport 13 million.
There should be no visas for criminals. And illegal aliens are criminals and have demonstrated that they are quite willing to break laws if it benefits them.
Give every illegal alien a cow when they cross the border? Brilliant!!!
It doesn't matter what the proportion is. Bush has made it clear once again that the only guest workers he wants are mexican. Forget the Poles, Germans, Irish, Asians, African, etc. that want to come here. We just want mexican according to Bush.
Anything that does NOT punish the crime (invading our country) is a form of amnesty. Just because you choose not to believe doesn't make it so.
Perhaps you should write to Webster's and have them rewrite their definition:
amnesty
n 1: a period during which offenders are exempt from punishment 2: a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense [syn: pardon] 3: the formal act of liberating someone [syn: pardon, free pardon] v : grant a pardon to (a group of people)
If the US is so "compassionate", we'd already be constructing an impenetrable 24ft high reinforced concrete barrier topped and footed with razor wire the length of the border. Not only would it halt those who'd otherwise die in the desert, but it'd also reduce the 70% portion Mexico and South/Central America contributes annually to the illegal drug trade and it'd funnel border traffic to more guarded areas, reducing the number of illegal crossing attempts.
Lives saved
Illegal drugs slowed
Illegal alien crossings reduced
--------
Billions saved annually
Where are our elected "leaders"?
Do that and the vast majority of illegal will stop coming and then controlling the border will become easy.
THANKS! And that folks comes straight from the horse's mouth. Marine Inspector works in either ICE or our Customs Service. He knows what the deal is
If illegals that have been here for more than 5 years are given work papers that positively expire in 3 years and they must go home to re-apply I will live with that. This must be coupled with strict enforcement of laws concerning employers. That would mean that all illegals will have left the country within a given time frame.
Haven't you heard? These are the only people who matter. The rest of us are just supposed to bend over and take it. President Bush yearns for an America that is just like Mexico where the elite control all the wealth and the power and everybody else is an easily dominated ignorant peasant.
He did not ask for those funds; Congress rammed them down his throat. There is a difference. Now he is cynically trying to take credit for Congress's good efforts. Most of us are not falling for it.
ASk your attorney just how much "common sense" could cost you if you make a mistake and deny employment to a qualified person.
Its really easy to demand the other guy do something but it can be tough sometimes to be the other guy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.