GOP Nears Deal on Immigration

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/05/AR2006040502038.html ^

[Altair333]

Senate Republicans reached agreement last night on a compromise immigration measure that they believe will garner enough bipartisan support to break through a parliamentary impasse that has stymied progress on a high-stakes border security bill for two weeks.

Under the agreement, the Senate would allow undocumented workers a path to lawful employment and citizenship if they could prove -- through work stubs, utility bills or other documents -- that they have been in the country for five years. To attain citizenship, those immigrants would have to pay a $2,000 penalty, back taxes, learn English, undergo a criminal background check and remain working for 11 years.

Those who have been here a shorter time would have to return to one of 16 designated ports of entry, such as El Paso, Tex., and apply for a new form of temporary work visa for low-skilled and unskilled workers.

[loboinok]

"The more people the better - how else are we going to compete with China or India 50 years from now."

We won't have to compete with them, just wait a few years and start welcoming the Chinese in to do the work the Mexicans won't do.

[nicmarlo]

You seem to think that Hispanics are unassimilatable diseased drunks into the drug trade, who despite low wages will drive up housing prices, and are at once hostile to democratic values, and are Catholic bots to boot, despite all of the above character flaws. Some might think your post was a bit of a mouthful. Some might even view it as a verbal cartoon.

Others might view it without rose-colored glasses; for instance (I know...just a coincidence):

Nearly 100 Suspected Illegal Immigrants Found in Drop House

(CBS 5 NEWS) – Approximately 100 suspected illegal immigrants are in custody after the house they were in near 59th Avenue and Thomas was raided.

A neighbor alerted police to the home because of some type of family disturbance or fight. Federal authorities were called in. The suspected illegal immigrants were inside the 300 square foot home. ICE authorities were called and they were loaded into two buses.

You think they were just having a neighborhood block party? You do realize, Torie, that app. 30% of those in Federal prisons are illegals?

[oceanview]

how did we find those asian illegals in the container ship in Seattle today?

we were looking.

[Torie]

Putting aside the criminal element, who are entrepreneurs too, and attend any immigration, legal or not, I don't think you addressed my filter point. Granted, one can do it with paper, but that really doesn't factor in the entrepreneurial drive, the will, to do, despite the pain. I don't think it is an accident that illegal Hispanics work so hard. I think it is a self selected group.

[EternalVigilance]

Yes, we need guest workers but the key word here is "legal".

No 'guest worker' program in history has ever worked.

All it is is a recipe for creating a caste system.

Not a good thing if you really care about restoring and defending republican government.

[Revenge of Sith]

Also, most Hispanic Catholics, just like most white Catholics, are only nominally Catholic.

[Wilhelm Tell]

The country club Republicans voted for cheap labor and the Democrats bought themselves cheap votes. Really America has a corrupt, one-party system.

[EternalVigilance]

An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), the agency within the Department of Homeland Security in charge of adjudicating immigration benefits such as citizenship and permanent residency, is rife with fraud. The report has not been released, but a draft of the report obtained by the Washington Times says, “Adjudicators we spoke with said that management’s focused attention on reducing the backlog placed additional pressure on them to process applications faster, thereby increasing the risk of making incorrect decisions, including approval of potentially fraudulent applications.” The GAO report says that fraud in some categories of visas is as high as 30 percent.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has seen the report, told his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 2: “Let’s be realistic. Our government bureaucrats simply cannot implement a program for 11 million illegal aliens. You’d all be shocked if you learned about the internal fraud and abuse at the Citizenship and Immigration Service. I have been investigating the internal problems at CIS as well as their backlog of national security cases. The bureau doesn’t have an effective practice for reviewing these cases. Officials are being bribed. Visas are being given away. Green cards are being sold. CIS is giving out interim benefits, which is a precursor for additional privileges.... And we want this agency to handle the program in an effective manner? That’s unrealistic.”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_3670.shtml

[Torie]

Budgets are tight for illegals. Thus the tight quarters. Sure, a lot of illegals are in prison. That comes with the territory. It comes in part with being at the bottom of the wage scales, and as I said, the entrepreneurial spirit, that has a dark side. But what percent of illegals are in prison? What percent are committing violent crimes? And what percent are headed to being a permanent criminal underclass, for them and their progeny?

[oceanview]

legal Hispanics work just as hard I am sure. so do Asians.

I think this is mostly a result of placing persons into a system where they have economic opportunity - where their work manifests itself with pay, wealth building, etc. Mexico offers none of this, their economic system is wholly corrupt.

[SealSeven]

But who's gonna pick the fruits and veggies? Work the construction jobs, cut grass, babysit kids, clean houses?
/SARC
I stand to be corrected.
Just out of curiosity, how many 'guest worker' programs have been tried?

[kabar]

You can put all three of those countries INSIDE the border of Texas and still have room left over. Take a look at the map of USA and the magnititude of its borders. It is not feasible to fence US in or THEM out. Need another plan.

There are two kinds of "fences." One is physical and the other administrative. We need both. The only border that matters is the 700 mile one between the US and Mexico. This is where the vast majority of illegals cross into the US, not to mention drug dealers and other nationalities. We can erect physical barriers at key spots supported by surveillance and detection systems and border patrols who are now picking up a million illegals a year. We have the means to protect our borders, just not the will to do it. It is not impossible.

Administratively, we need to go after the employers, develop better identification documents, and empower state and local authorities to enforce our immigration laws. We need to elimiate municipal sanctuaries. We should no longer grant citizenship to babies born of non-citizen parents.

After 9/11, the politicians screamed about protecting the homeland. They wanted to make our ports and airports more secure. Why go through the charade of objecting to the Dubai port deal when the bad guys can come streaming through our southern border?

FYI: Saudi Arabia is 1,960,582 sq km (about 1/5 the size of the US.) Texas is 695,674 sq km. You could place almost three states of Texas inside Saudi Arabia.

[Torie]

Clearly. Thus the flood.

[MaineVoter2002]

You're not one of the all-powerful SWING VOTERS like Latinos so you don't count

Most latinos do not support amnesty for illegals. So, if there is a gain, it would be a slight one. Personally, I think the GOP loses more than they gain. We will see in november. The GOP is all but counting on losing 5 seats in november already.

[nicmarlo]

If illegals would have stood in line and waited their turn, like all the others who do, they wouldn't already be criminals for being in America.

But they want to jump ahead and then demand rights, demand health care, expect benefits, such as schooling, paid by American citizens and those legally here.

Making excuses for illegal behavior is inexcusable.

[nicmarlo]

So, they're crying the blues because they have too many papers to process? And this is because....there's no effective barrier between the United States and those who are illegally entering. And then illegals are constantly recruited to keep coming over because shamnesty has occurred, and continues to occur, under all the Presidents, going back to Reagan.

[MaineVoter2002]

What a waste of a majority!

What a waste of our time actually going and voting for them. I think a republican loss for one or two terms will help them want to improve as a party. This is NOT conservativism. It's a sellout!

[Nova]

"The country club Republicans voted for cheap labor and the Democrats bought themselves cheap votes. Really America has a corrupt, one-party system."

You make it sound like they sold us out cheap!!

You forgot the $2,000 + back taxes.

Not just any whore charges $2,000.

[Doc91678]

Could be. Although they may be in a bind. You know damned if you do damned if you don't.
But the majority of Americans. I believe over 70% want stricter laws and a fence.
The liberals don't want none of that. They want to bring down the US. Just like what is happening in France. But they're too blind to see.

[MaineVoter2002]

Thanks for the numbers! I will call mine. You may want to also check out these two websites!

http://capwiz.com/sicminc/issues/alert/?alertid=8486336&type=CO

http://www.numbersusa.com