`Fencing' in Bush on immigration

chicago tribune ^ | March 26, 2006 | Clarence Page

[Sharks]

WASHINGTON -- Question: Who has the most influence with President Bush on the volatile issue of immigration reform?

(A) The employing elites who are addicted to the cheap and docile labor pool that illegal immigrants provide?

(B) The working-class and middle-class voters, including many legal immigrants, in the Republican Party's base who are frustrated with the lax controls on illegals?

(C) The mostly minority backlash voters who, if Congress passes the sort of a tough, enforcement-only immigration bill that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) suggests, could cost the Grand Old Party support in Florida and Southwestern states for years to come?

As with the recent attempted sale of some American seaport operations to the United Arab Emirates, the president's happy talk about his proposed guest-worker program is facing hard midterm election-year questions from Republicans in Congress, prodded by nervousness and outrage from their political base back home.

"Guest worker" means that foreigners would be allowed to gain legal status in the U.S. for a set amount of time to do specific jobs, then return home without the automatic path to citizenship that true amnesty would provide.

But Frist, who may be weighing his own presidential ambitions, surprised many by proposing an alternative bill that tightens border controls without creating the guest-worker program that the president wants.

Already passed in the House is Rep. James Sensenbrenner's (R-Wis.) radical proposal for a 700-mile system of Berlin-style walls along the Mexican-U.S. border. The idea, you may remember, was widely ridiculed as "Patrick Buchanan's spite fence" when the conservative columnist proposed it during his presidential campaigns in the 1990s. It is a sign of our times that the House approved it overwhelmingly in December.

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E-mail: cptime@aol.com

[Sharks]

"You don't have to be anti-immigrant to oppose illegal immigration. You only have to be anti-lawbreaking."

GOOD POINT

"Bush continues to say that his guest-worker program would match foreign workers with American employers, "when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." I continue to wonder how hard those employers are looking."

GOOD POINT AGAIN

[Ninian Dryhope]

"But Frist, who may be weighing his own presidential ambitions, surprised many by proposing an alternative bill that tightens border controls without creating the guest-worker program that the president wants."

Good for Frist.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Bill Frist.

Doing the job George W Bush doesn't want to do.

[cripplecreek]

I agree "Good for Frist"

BUT

The time for promises has passed, the time for action is about 20 years ago so better late than never.

[stopem]

Excellent comment! ;)

[ConsentofGoverned]

"Bush continues to say that his guest-worker program would match foreign workers with American employers, "when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." I continue to wonder how hard those employers are looking."

"GOOD POINT AGAIN"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>............
The jobs Bush is talking about: the ADD for same:

Workers wanted, will pay below minimum wage, provide housing for 25 in 2 bedroom one bath dive, no benefits, no taxes paid, work hours as long as we tell you or we turn you in to ICE. Health benefits and welfare assistance provided by tax payer.

[FixitGuy]

"Doing the job George W Bush doesn't want to do."

Right on the money....Great comment!

[SC33]

"could cost the Grand Old Party support in Florida and Southwestern states for years to come?"

That will not be the case, especially in Florida.

[Ninian Dryhope]

Yes, at this point, we are closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

There are so many illegal immigrants and so many formally illegal immigrants who have been granted amnesty, that they make up an important and powerful interest group in the country today.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Frist / Rice in 2008

[speedy]

radical proposal for a 700-mile system of Berlin-style walls along the Mexican-U.S. border.

With the minor difference, of course, that the Berlin Wall was built to keep East Germans in, not to keep West Germans out. But of course such subtleties are lost on the steel-trap intellect of Clarence Page.

[Rakkasan1]

since the MSM lauds illegal immigrants to petition our government via mass protests, why not just allow foreign campaign contributions from Iran and China ,too?

ultra-amnesty , Klintoon style.

[junta]

Ol' Clarence got exactly what he asked for. He and alot of other black civil rights types probably had an epiphany the last couple of weeks when they were not invited to invey about the struggles of the African-American, and from that they glimpsed the future.

[David Isaac]

"There are so many illegal immigrants and so many formally illegal immigrants who have been granted amnesty, that they make up an important and powerful interest group in the country today."

The operable term here is fait accompli, and we seem to be presented with quite a few of them, as of late.

[Mojave]

Workers wanted, will pay below minimum wage, provide housing for 25 in 2 bedroom one bath dive, no benefits, no taxes paid, work hours as long as we tell you or we turn you in to ICE. Health benefits and welfare assistance provided by tax payer.

En español:

Los trabajadores deseados, pagarán debajo de salario mínimo, proporcionan la cubierta para 25 en zambullida del baño de 2 dormitorios uno, ningunas ventajas, ningunos impuestos pagados, horas del trabajo mientras le decimos o le damos vuelta adentro al HIELO. Las subsidios por enfermedad y la ayuda del bienestar proporcionaron por el pagador de impuestos.

[Mojave]

He and alot of other black civil rights types probably had an epiphany the last couple of weeks when they were not invited to invey about the struggles of the African-American, and from that they glimpsed the future.

There were lots of African-Americans involved in the fight to pass Proposition 187 in California. The MSM had to do some very creative photography to keep them out of its pictures of rallies.

[Dialup Llama]

"Bush continues to say that his guest-worker program would match foreign workers with American employers, "when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." I continue to wonder how hard those employers are looking."

I can't tell you how I despise that phrase. I even heard Pres Bush repeat it on this weekend's radio address. During the big post 911, post Iraw war IT jobs crash, I saw many Americans doing jobs that Americans won't do. Me among them. Sometimes more than one job.

Even during the present time when it is still difficult to get a job, we are flooded with H1B and L1 visa holders. Are these good IT jobs ones that Americans dont want to do? Its has been proposed by HMOs that they be allowed to bring in foriegn doctors and nurses. You mean the job of a US MD is another job that Americans won't do?

That evil phrase, "Jobs that Americans won't do" is a mere fig leaf. It hides the CEOs' desire for access to cheap labor and hides CEOs contempt for their own fellow citizens. It is used as a shallow justification for things like downsizing, offshoring, increasing the number of H1B and L1 visas.

I get very mad every time the phrase is used. Someone should inform Pres Bush how this phrase is actually playing in the heartland. He hangs around the Davos Republican crowd too much--- the people who make money off the interational markets. He needs to reconnect with his voters.... US citizens trying to make a living within the natioal economy.

[Willie Green]

How about D) The Mexican aristocracy who want to rid their country of excess population?

[Sharks]

"Bush continues to say that his guest-worker program would match foreign workers with American employers, "when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." I continue to wonder how hard those employers are looking."

THERE ARE ALOT JOBS AMERICANS WONT DO, TO NAME A FEW TECH JOBS. THAT IS WHY THEY HAVE BEEN OUTSOURCED.

[B4Ranch]

I think we need to put a fence around the White House and let the Minutemen take care of the problem.