Posted on 12/09/2005 12:09:51 PM PST by Checkers
The Denver Post this morning reports that Tom Tancredo is unhappy with the immigration reform and border security bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. I hope the House Rules Committee allows for every Tancredo amendment to get a vote and for many others as well. Unless the debate is wide-open, there will be no belief among the border security voters that the bill is other than a band aid. Tancredo will not be satisified with any bill because to pronounce any bill acceptable would end his headline appeal. But the Congressman's endless grandstanding and self-promotion should not obscure the real need for the security at the border to be dramatically upgraded.
The most important thing that needs to happen right now is the fence expansion program. The law needs to provide the Border Patrol open-ended authority to fence wherever such barriers will lead to enhanced security, and it needs to provide overruling authority so that opponents cannot use environmental laws to delay or cancel fencing/barrier projects. (The San Diego experience is the best example of this nonsense.)
The idea of a comprehensive fence program on both the northern and southern borders has been gaining momentum in Congress for some time, and California's Duncan Hunter has the lead on the issue and is making progress. Congressman Tancredo's absolutism should not be allowed to derail this crucial proposal...
...Hunter's proposal is collecting critics from among the usual suspects. Watch for astonishingly stupid arguments, like this one from the Nashville Tennesean:
"Forget the cost of a border fence, which the Bush administration puts at $8 billion. Forget the fact that other walls in history — the Berlin Wall comes to mind — succeeded only at being monumental symbols of oppression.
A fence wouldn't work. It wouldn't prevent people from renting boats and sailing to U.S. ports. It wouldn't prevent them from entering the country from Canada. It wouldn't prevent people from tunneling under it, flying over it, or blowing up pieces of it and walking through the rubble."
So allegedly serious writers want you to believe that a border fence won't substantially halt the flow of illegal entries? Even though the San Diego border fence has done so and in dramatic fashion? And because planes can fly over fences, and fences can be blown up --presumably without anyone noticing the detonation-- the whole project should be abandoned.
Presumably the ediorial staff at the Tennesean also oppose prevention efforts because of the 40,000 cases of Salmonella poisoning that occurs each year.
The border is too important to be left to the absolutists on both ends of the debate.
I agree that Tancredo needs to sit down and work with people, but that does not mean he should sell-out his principles and beliefs, which I and many others agree with.
Fact is, President Bush has not been good on immigration and border security. I truly hope he will get tough, but I don't want to hear any talk of a guest worker program until we start enforcing already existing laws, and any program adopted should be absolutely TEMPORARY, unlike the McKennedy amnesty plan.
As so far as an amnesty program, unless every illegal is dragged to the border and thrown over the fence, there will be some procedure that will allow some to stay.
That's doubtful as long as the GOP is in charge of the House AND the pressure is kept on. We may eventually see some kind of a guest worker program, hopefully limited to perhaps agriculture but current illegals will not be allowed to stay or given amnesty, at least according to Sensenbrenner, who holds most of the power on this issue since it has to go through the Judiciary.
If it wasn't for Tancredo, we'd have alreadyd had a guest worker amnesty.
Border Security
---By the numbers quoted in this forum on a previous thread, you wouldn't know we had ANY border security at all.
I do too!!!
"They (Tom Tancredo, Bob Beauprez and Marilyn Musgrave) called for adding a dozen 30-mile fences between the United States and Mexico at key border crossings, barring financial institutions from accepting ID cards issued by the Mexican consulate to open accounts, and denying automatic citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants."
We could use more of this "grandstanding" Hewitt!
My question was what are the specific polices favored by Tancredo that you feel would hurt legal immigration?
The strategery is for the House to pass an enforcement only bill and for the Senate to pass a comprehensive (comprehensive = shamnesty) solution. The House and Senate will then reach the "Grand Compromise" in the House/Senate reconciliation conference with the objective of that compromise contain as much amnesty and as little enforcement as possible. I am fully in favor of the House bill containing as much enforcement as possible as a starting position for that bargaining process.
The only reason anybody is talking about enforcement is precisely because Tancredo has refused to turn down the volume.
Tancredo has proposed guest-worker legislation, fool. Anyone who claims that he's just stalling for name-recognition should back up that accusation by at least making an attempt to say what supposedly is so wrong with his proposal.
Or, you could just act like the Democrats and pretend that mere allegation constitutes evidence of anything.
A third option is to cut off the flow of illegals into the country, and then work on reducing the numbers here through attrition. Such basic common sense, but unfortunately beyond the reach of a certain minority on FR, apparently.
Nothing new there. Tancredo is unhappy with every immigration bill unless it has his name on it.
I used to like Hugh, back when he was a conservative. When was it, I wonder, that he decided to go RINO on us.
Your idea works for me.
The terrible truth is that there is nothing to be gained by playing nice with the cheap labor lobby. They will bribe and lie in secret, behind closed doors. So the only way to fight them is to bust down doors and shout from the rooftops what they conspire in secret.
What do you base this statement on?
Have you ever attended an event where he spoke?
Have you ever sat down with the Congressman, and discussed the the immigration problem?
BTTT
Wooly Bully Bully BUMP!
Tancredo does have a guest-worker proposal out there, designed to promote attrition, as we discussed above. Where are you getting the idea that he doesn't have a solution?
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.