Bush "Gold Card" would let open borders to cheap labor

Stein Report ^ | March 6, 2006 | Dan Stein

[HiJinx]

Ping!
Also discussed here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1591371/posts

[Rockitz]

Pay attention libs- THIS is an impeachable offense.

I'm tired of paying the worker benefits (health insurance, auto insurance, education, infrastructure) for businessmen who hire illegals. Cheap lettuce and lawn care is just not worth the expense.

[luvbach1]

and...they simply decided to buy a home here?

This just in: Lenders have no aversion to financing illegals.

Further, could it be that GWB is trying to "to grease the skids" for kid brother Jeb in 2008? Jeb, with a Mexican wife, may well try to make the Mexican vote key to a presidential run. But allowing another flood tide of Mexicans could backfire if they break for the Demonrats, a distinct possibility.

[Fruitbat]

Yeah, no doubt about that (sarc). All they would have to do is have a few kids. I can't believe Bush is so incredibly tone deaf on this issue. He's really acting like someone who doesn't care what actual citizens think or want.

Yeah, it's pretty incredible!

[Fruitbat]

All I know is that in 20 years our country's gonna be so fragmented by several different languages and cultures, that it's not even gonna resemble what it was in the 60s and 70s.

I'm tellin' ya, as the baby boomers die out, the swing in demographics is gonna be enormous in terms of what it does to this nation as a result.

[suijuris]

This is whacko stuff.

Not really. It makes perfect sense. The Fed gov. has absolutely no interest in ending illegal imigration; the Fed Gov. needs them around so they can be taxed.

I truly believe the Fed Gov is broke and the plan is to tax 10 million illegals to forestall the bankruptcy.

[rolling_stone]

I truly believe the Fed Gov is broke and the plan is to tax 10 million illegals to forestall the bankruptcy.


Unfoirtunately most illegals are net users of taxes not payers...and there are probably 20 million by now...

[kenth]

Then again, Bush backed Specter over Toomey to get him back in office so this deal might be a back scratcher.

[T.L.Sink]

I totally agree. Not only has the illegal invasion cost us billions in taxes for prison incarceration, social services, bankrupt school districts, and hospitals forced to curtail emergency services and depressed domestic wages -- it presents a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to national security. Bush is a lame duck and doesn't care but I'm afraid his idiotic out-of-control border policy will hurt us in the midterm election.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>The Fed gov. has absolutely no interest in ending illegal imigration;

Well, I know Bush has no interest.

[Old_Mil]

There is another thread talking of this, and it's a Specter proposal and has nothing to do with Bush.

Really? You think Bush is going to veto such a proposal if it makes it onto his desk?

[joesnuffy]

Yep before ya know it...the country will be dominated by a citizenry and leadership that cares not one whit for the history of America, her founders or her Constitution...

oops...too late...

[Moonman62]

I truly believe the Fed Gov is broke and the plan is to tax 10 million illegals to forestall the bankruptcy. Unfoirtunately most illegals are net users of taxes not payers...and there are probably 20 million by now...

Doesn't matter. One day they will sue for reparations.

[OKIEDOC]

Here is an excerpt for another Web site on H1 and J visa fraud.

Here is a statement from the US State Department on H1 fraud.

"The OIG continues to identify fraud in the labor certification program, particularly in the H-1B temporary work visa program. These cases involve fraudulent petitions that are filed with DOL on behalf of fictitious companies and corporations; individuals who file petitions using the names of legitimate companies and corporations without their knowledge or permission; and increasing numbers of immigration attorneys and labor brokers who collect fees and file fraudulent applications on behalf of aliens. Based on prior investigative and audit work that found programmatic weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the program, the OIG remains concerned about the potential for increased fraud in this area."

"These cases involve fraudulent petitions that are filed with DOL on behalf of fictitious companies and corporations, individuals who file petitions using the names of legitimate companies and corporations without their knowledge or permission, and an increasing number of immigration attorneys and labor brokers who collect fees and file fraudulent applications on behalf of aliens. During the last six-month period, OIG investigations led to the indictmentand conviction of 12 individuals engaged in this type of fraud. In comparison, the OIG has averaged 14 indictments and 11 convictions per year for labor certification fraud over the prior five-year period." [3]

Accusations that H-1B applicants falsify job experience and education were confirmed by Jacquelyn Williams-Bridgers, State Dept. Inspector General, who said that attempts to falsify, alter, or counterfeit U.S. visas or passports and attempting to obtain false documents to obtain visas is a "constant problem both within the U.S. and overseas." [4]

William Yates, INS Director, Immigration Services, said INS mainly encounters two types of visa fraud. First, fraud relating to applications or petitions for immigration benefits. Second, document fraud. He admitted that the U.S. is "vulnerable to well-organized fraud schemes." [4]

Jill Esposito, State Dept. Post Liaison Division, Visa Office, Bureau of Consular Affairs, backed up Yates' statement that documents are routinely falsified. She said that, although many foreign workers in the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas are here legally and properly, there are "thousands of marginally qualified applicants (who) are also entering the United States in the H-1B and L-1 categories."

H-1Bs are coming into the country and taking jobs that the visa was clearly not meant for. The H-1B donut shop worker was one of the few that got caught. Ms. Esposito used this as an example and explained, explained that a company that had filed an H-1B petition was actually a donut shop owned by the applicant's relatives. Although the donut shop does exist, Ms. Esposito noted that it was unlikely the shop needed the 23 year-old recent graduate's skills as a "comptroller" to "direct the financial services of the company."

Ms. Esposito also cited examples of fraud at the American Consulate in Chennai, India, which issued more than 20,000 H-1B visas in Fiscal Year 1998 -- more than any overseas post. She detailed a year-long joint INS and Department of State initiative which found that 45 percent of the 3,247 work experience claims made to the INS were fraudulent. [4]

Nancy Sambaiew,Bureau of Consular Affairs, said that individuals from China, India, and Russia are the most frequent violators of nonimmigrant visa laws. Sambaiew also said that nonimmigrant visa categories (particularly H-1B) are attractive options for individuals who wish to enter and remain in the U.S. illegally. She said it is "worth the risk" to violators [

[montag813]

We're going to have a hell of a time in the upcoming elections...

Dont bother telling the leadership. They can't hear anything except their own slurping at the trough.

[WOSG]

"but illegal aliens holding a "Gold Card" "

Look, this is phrased in an utterly incoherent manner.
If they have a valid visa, whatever the color, then they are LEGAL residents.

[La Enchiladita]

Oh, please. How much tax money are you going to get out of 20 million (correct figure) illegals? They've wired the money they don't spend -- back to Mexico, Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- before it even touches their hands.

[OKIEDOC]

Here is something from another web site that might make you think twice about letting to many illegals come across the border.

More on the H-1B Social Security Issue:

Taking the agreement with France as an example, it appears that the interpretation I gave to the SSA statement which I quoted is correct: If such an agreement were to be made with a Third World country with a minuscule pension but who had immigrated to the U.S. shortly before retirement, that person could apply his/her years of work credit from the Third World country and get U.S. Social Security benefits as if the work had been done in the U.S. (and could collect even if not residing in the U.S.).

The present context of this issue is one in which equity would demand that an H-1B who works in the U.S. for only a couple of years and then goes home should get some return on the Social Security taxes he/she paid while working in the U.S. However, there is nothing in the agreement with France (which I am assuming is typical) which says that the agreement applies only to H-1Bs, and nothing which says that it applies only to those whose employers have sent them to work abroad. It applies to ANYBODY who has work credits in both countries, hence the scenario I described above.

The agreement with France works because the two economies are roughly commensurate. But to make a agreement with Third World countries would appear to be quite risky.

Dr. Norman Matloff
Age Discrimination Newsletter 8/1/2001

[Fruitbat]

Yep before ya know it...the country will be dominated by a citizenry and leadership that cares not one whit for the history of America, her founders or her Constitution...

oops...too late...

Agreed! In fact, they'll care more for Mexico and muslim countries. The problem is that this is irreversible and the momentum surely isn't on the side of "traditional Americans."

[gondramB]

""Gold Card" would be valid forever, similar to current "Green Cards" but illegal aliens holding a "Gold Card" would not be able to adjust their status through naturalization"

I suppose it could be worse... we could be giving them Amex gold cards.