Posted on 04/06/2006 8:33:43 AM PDT by STARWISE
WASHINGTON - In a last stab at compromise, Senate Republicans and Democrats reported progress Thursday toward agreement on legislation opening the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants now in the U.S. illegally.
"There's been tremendous progress overnight," said Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, the Democratic leader, while Majority Leader Bill Frist also expressed optimism that a long-sought compromise might be at hand.
There was no immediate reaction from President Bush, who has made immigration legislation a key priority.
The developments occurred after Frist unveiled a new bill late Wednesday night on the subject as the Senate headed into a test vote on the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades.
In general, the legislation would provide for enhanced border security, regulate the flow of future immigrants into the United States and settle the legal fate of the estimated 11 million men, women and children already in the country.
It was the fate of the illegal immigrant population that proved hardest to legislate, and it has left the Senate on the verge of gridlock for days.
(snip)
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., as well as other key senators met before the vote to review terms of a proposed compromise.
In general, it would require illegal immigrants who have been in the United States between two years and five years to return to their home country briefly, then re-enter as temporary workers. They could then begin a process of seeking citizenship.
Illegal immigrants here longer than five years would not be required to return home; those in the country less than two years would be required to leave without assurances of returning, and take their place in line with others seeking entry papers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
1.
The most important aspect of immigration reform is to secure the border. The media and the pro-illegal agenda have created the myth that we can’t secure the border unless we do something for the 11 million. All of the bills being proposed in the US Senate only delay the House bill that deals directly with the border problem.
2.
American voters want to remove the 11 million out of this country.
• The recall election of Pro-illegal immigration Governor Grey Davis was won by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also got 31 percent of the Hispanic vote after opposing SB60 (drivers licenses for illegals) and having Pete Wilson in his camp. Bustamante, the most popular pro-illegal candidate, got only 52 percent of the Hispanic vote and of course lost.
• In Arizona Proposition 200, another law blocking illegals from welfare, passed easily with a 56 percent yes vote, including 40% of the Hispanic vote
• California, a liberal blue state, voted for Prop 187 which would have denied illegals welfare. This resolution was voted for by 25% of hispanics.
• Illegal immigrant groups challenge these propositions in courts because they know that millions of illegals depend on welfare to stay in the US 3.
Forcing illegals out of this country will not destroy the US economy
• Illegals are less than 5% of the workforce, they are not a majority in any industry nor are they “the backbone” of the economy.
• Many of the companies that hire illegals make billions in profits and could easily increase their wages to hire the majority of US workers in their industry.
• The same economic excuse to defend illegal labor was used to successfully defend slavery in the US for decades, resulting in the Civil War.
• The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that illegals cost the federal government $10 billion a year. State and local governments lose even more.
4.
Republicans will not get the “Hispanic Vote” by pandering to the illegal agenda
• Hispanic activist groups are loyal to Mexico first and the socialist agenda second. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda give democrats over 90% favorable rating. A Conservative has no chance of gaining favor with these groups
• Propositions that cut welfare to illegals are supported by Americans, including many hispanics. Even more support is for securing the borders.
• The way for Conservatives to reach out to hispanics is the same way they reach out to the rest of America, by speaking and voting Conservative.
• The Hispanic Vote is 6% of the voting population
The fact that you failed to see the point, does not surprise me.
We have are own criminals, we do not need to import millions more each year or reward those that are already here.
That is just low!! The only way 9/11 terrorist would be eligible (if they were alove, of course) is if they came in before 9/11 and had laid low this entire time - even then, DHS would have had their names on a watchlist, so some of them would not be eligible and would instead be shipped to Gitmo.
With logic like that, bring on the abortions then - make them taxpayer-funded for inner-city single mothers too.
We did "walk and chew gum at the same time" - Border Patrol and interior enforcement has continued every year, increasing dramaticall since 9/11 BTW. To answer your second question, I intend to be fooled only once.
What planet are you living on?
You might want to do some research on that.
And the dramatic increase in BP and border enforcement has enabled an dramatic increase in illegal immigration. Check the numbers.
You must have me confused with another poster.
In and of itself, this says nothing. Even a threefold increase in something might be "dramatic", but if it was tiny to begin with, it still won't have much of an effect on the big picture. And the fact that it took something like 9/11 - fifteen years after the original amnesty - to even do that much shows what a sham the amnesty was.
To answer your second question, I intend to be fooled only once.
So do you think that the country was fooled once by the '86 amnesty?
Great homepage ya got there.
I do not think the country was fooled even once - especially given the 40 million unborn babies aborted, we NEED good people - that need will get even more obvious once the Baby Boomers start retiring in droves.
The '86 amnesty came with a promise of enforcement at the border, and that enforcement never materialized. There's no other way to describe it than that the people were hoodwinked.
we NEED good people
That we have a lack of good people is debatable. What's not debatable is that leaving the border unsecured so that they could come in illegally is a very wrong remedy. That brings in the bad along with the good.
What's also not debatable is that the temptation of amnesty brings in more illegals and that makes it all the harder to secure the border.
Thank you.
Good people don't sneak across the border; criminals do.
Or, good people who can't wait 28 years in line.
Try telling the 10,000 Border Patrol agents catching millions of illegals since then, or the interior enforcement agents, that "enforcement never materialized" - there has been a 66% increase in Border Patrol funding since Bush took office - tell you what: ban abortions and even I will agree to your Berlin Wall in 18 years.
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