[SuziQ]

I was referring to the President's speech about what he expects from Immigration reform. It didn't sound much like what folks have been claiming about his views that I've been reading here on FR the last few weeks. I think people have gotten themselves worked up about it based on mis-information, and are attributing ideas to the President and bashing him for them, when they may not be his.

[nicmarlo]

I think there's no misinformation about what the President wants, other than what he, himself, says. The President calls illegal aliens everything but "illegal aliens" (i.e., "undocumented workers," "temporary workers," "good hard working people," "decent, hardworking people," foreign workers to fill "jobs Americans don't want," "people here working hard for jobs Americans won't do").

He calls them "guest workers." Guests means they're INVITED. Illegal aliens aren't "invited" any more than trespassers or burglars are "invited" into your own home. They're criminals; they're lawbreakers.

He further insults our intelligence, and those of law enforcement, by saying things such as, "we want our Border Patrol agents chasing crooks and thieves and drug runners and terrorists, not good-hearted people who are coming here to work." (Aw...those Border Patrol agents are such meanies....going after those "good-hearted people.")

There Are No Jobs Americans Don’t Want

The President again engaged in his double talk "that rejects amnesty," but “permits temporary guest workers. This is an outright lie. The way you can tell if it is amnesty or not is "Does the illegal have to return to his home country and come back?" There is no such requirement for Bush’s scheme. Therefore, it is amnesty.

The President does everything but flip over backwards to obfuscate what he wants for illegal aliens: amnesty. He refuses to state that illegal aliens are illegal aliens, much less criminals. On the other hand, he's more than willing to demonize the Minute Men by calling them "VIGILANTES."

Compare the above language to that of Tom Tancredo's:

"People who are here illegally -- they need to be deported," Tancredo said. "People who hire them need to be fined. If they keep doing it, they need to be sent to jail. It's against the law."

Amnesty by any other name
Jan 19, 2004
by Phyllis Schlafly

...The dictionary defines amnesty as a general pardon for offenses against the government, and illegal aliens committed crimes by entering the United States illegally and then using fraudulent documents to get a job. The Bush plan excuses them from prosecution and punishment, so isn't amnesty the proper term, or shall we call it stealth amnesty?

The amnesty of 1986 was promised to be a one-time deal, but it proved to be not a deterrent but an invitation to attract more illegal aliens, so we now have four times as many illegals as we did then. Can anyone believe that the Bush amnesty will be any different?

Will those who get temporary worker cards also get driver's licenses? If so, what kind of ID will be acceptable?

Bush's plan includes support for the State Department giveaway package called "totalization," a bureaucratic code word for a plan to make illegal aliens eligible to receive Social Security benefits even though they committed fraud in using a Social Security number or failed to pay into the system for 10 years (40 quarters) as U.S. citizens must do. Will illegal aliens who get temporary worker cards be treated better than Americans who fail to comply with Social Security regulations?

[snip]