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."
Jorge (Rockefelle Repulican) Arbusto will very likely go down in history as the Jimmie Carter of the Republican Party.
PROTECT OUR BORDERS. PROTECT US UNITED STATES CITIZENS
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525711/posts
Every poll I've seen shows it to be HUGE.
And the desire to secure our borders cuts across party and ideological lines.
Why is it if there's an outbreak of mad cow disease somewhere, within five minutes, we know the source, the cow's herd, family tree, and the name of the date the cow took to the prom. But when it comes to illegal aliens...
None of my Visa for RNC. They can thank Mr. Continental. Looks like only citizen action will close the border and return trespassers now. I can't believe this. Is this what they want?
Wasn't it Bush's father that came up with the term 'Weasel words'?
"Immigration reform is not all that big an issue to the overwhelming majority of the public."
You're kidding right?
The man has lost touch.
If only he had pursued SSI reform with such dogged determination we might have ended up with something we actually NEED.
The BushBots will be all over this thread in defense of their feckless, err fearless leader...
I'm way past disgusted with a president who doesn't have the balls to enforce our immigration laws.I'll continue to support the war on terror and the conservative agenda but I disown this two bit chump and his administration.
According to the latest Field Poll in CA, 81% of the people, across party lines, consider the immigration problem to be serious.
http://field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/RLS2171.pdf
I think the President has gone nuts. This kind of thing can only succeed in riling up the left and the right BOTH.
The leftists are out there protesting and waving signs accusing Bush of being a racist, and the conservative base is outraged because he wants to open the floodgates. The only happy people are the factory farm owners and businesses who can get cheap Mexican labor at the taxpayer's expense.
Just a few weeks ago, it looked as if President Bush was finally pulling things together again. Then he goes off on his foreign travels again, screwing Israel without even noticing it, and now is back offending the entire country, left, right, and center, over an issue that nobody wants but the fat cats who make campaign contributions.
It should've been crystal clear on 9/12/01. ....before millions more (many of them from Islamic countries) entered illegally.
Cut off their taxpayer benefits, impose hefty fines on employers who hire them, and then watch them deport themselves.
....and get enough manpower on the borders to do the job that needs to be done.
I agree completley. Bush disgusts me.
I'm starting to think our next president has already been chosen and I think the current President is paving the way for her.
Congress writes and passes Bills and Legislation ..
Not the President
....and it very well could be true.
If you hadn't noticed, polling is rapidly becoming meaningless as the American people move to cellphone service while abandoning landline phones at home.
Exactly my thoughts.
How does it compare to other "serious" public issues? And did those guys use phone polling or a more reliable technique.
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