Bush: Massive Deportation Is Unrealistic

(AP) President Bush makes remarks at a 'John Porter for Congress' luncheon in Las Vegas, Nev. Monday,...

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - President Bush had a blunt message Monday for fellow Republicans focusing only on get-tough immigration policies: He said sending all the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants back to their home countries is not the answer.

"Massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic - it's just not going to work," Bush said. "You know, you can hear people out there hollering it's going to work. It's not going to work."

With Congress coming back from a two-week spring recess to a long election-year to-do list and tensions flaring nationwide over immigration, Bush urged lawmakers to adopt a middle-ground policy. He called a Senate bill, which creates a way for illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States and for many to eventually become citizens, an "important approach."

"It's just an interesting concept that people need to think through," Bush said of the bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., which stalled before the congressional break.

As for Bush's comment on deportation, a Time magazine poll in January found 50 percent of the country favored deporting all illegal immigrants. But even Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., one of Congress' most outspoken advocates for tougher immigration laws, does not advocate mass deportation.

Well aware that November elections could end GOP control of Congress, Bush is walking a fine line on the emotional immigration issue, between his party's conservative base which wants a clampdown on illegal immigration and business leaders who believe the economy needs immigrants to fill jobs.

With armed citizen patrols popping up in border states, leaders in Arizona and New Mexico have pleaded for better policing of U.S. borders while other communities complain about the pressure that burgeoning immigrant populations are placing on local services. At the same time, tens of thousands of Hispanic and others - a potentially important voting bloc - have taken to streets across the country in the past few weeks to demand more immigration-friendly policies.

Reflecting that debate, when Bush turned to the audience assembled by the Orange County Business Council for questions, three of the eight queries he took were on immigration, including one from a woman who asked for his solution to emergency rooms crowded with poor people seeking routine care. Southern California's Orange County is a heavily Republican swath of sprawling Los Angeles suburbs that has been known - even parodied - as white, rich and conservative. But minorities now make up a majority of residents.

Bush said community health centers are the best place for the poor to get primary care. "There needs to be a campaign to explain what's available for people so that they don't go to the emergency rooms," he said.

He sought to highlight the contributions of immigrants to American society, and lamented the harsh - and sometimes deadly - conditions that many people face trying to illegally enter the country.

"One thing we cannot lose sight of is that we're talking about human beings, decent human beings that need to be treated with respect," the president said.

The House has passed a law-and-order immigration bill that would erect fences along the Mexican border and treat people who sneak across as felons to be deported. An alternative Senate measure would set up a temporary guest worker program, like the McCain bill, but require all illegal immigrants to leave the United States before they could apply for the visas.

As he has before, Bush stopped short of directly endorsing the McCain bill. The White House will go no further than to call it an attractive vehicle to keep negotiations moving.

The bill, also sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., would boost border security but also create three-year visas for guest workers. Those who have been in the country longer than five years would not have to return home to apply for the visas. It would also allow for the workers to apply for legal permanent residency after paying a $2,000 fine, learning to speak English and working six years.

In an apparent, though indirect reference to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Bush said the McCain measure had been derailed by "needless politics." Republicans have been blaming Reid, D-Nev., for blocking the bill because he failed to reach agreement with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. on a procedure for voting on amendments sought by GOP opponents of the legislation.

"President Bush likes to point his finger on immigration and many other issues. Isn't it about time we moved beyond that?" Reid said Monday on the Senate floor. "The Senate can move forward on immigration if the president will stand up to those in his party who are filibustering."

Bush's immigration speech, and a later event at a Las Vegas casino that raised $400,000 for Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., ended a four-day stay in California. Bush is to meet at the White House Tuesday with a bipartisan group of senators on immigration.

They created the problem and now claim they can't fix it

They don't claim that they can't fix it. It is just that kicking all of the illegals out is not logically part of the solution. Emotionally it would be the most satisfying thing, but it just isn't practical nor cost effective.

If the problem solvers from a major corporation were dealing with this problem, they wouldn't be worried about whether legalizing the illegals was just or not. They would be concerned about it being an effective part of the fix or not.

If you want to fix the problem the steps are clear cut.

1. Establish a date after which being in the country illegally is a felony with a mandatory minimum sentence. It is the only way to stop the flow of new blood.

2. Commit the resources to close the border.

3. Require all illegals to register by a certain date at which time they must submit to a current photo, finger prints and a DNA sample.

4. Establish criteria for annual renewal of legal residence including progressive English proficiency exams, proof of employment, payment of taxes, , etc. Fail the criteria or fail to report for testing and you leave or become a felon.

5.After 5 years of legal residence, commit to a progressive criteria for the path to citizenship or be required to leave after the 6th year.

6. Build new prisons in remote areas of Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and North Dakota sufficient to house immigrant felons. Keep them their until they serve their sentence and then deport them.

Within 4 years, the problem is solved. The question of fair, just right or wrong doesn't enter into it. The problem gets solved and that's the real point.

Truly, had he at least maintained the status quo it would have been better for him but he let enforcement of existing laws slip to nothing. Had the illegal invasion not been allowed to become a crisis the Republican party would not be in the place it is now.

Why would you think that the media is going to play him any worse than they do already? Look what they did with Katrina. Another thing, we did not vote for the Media as our Representatives, so why are the Republicans letting them call the shots? Do we now live in an Mediarchy instead of a Republic? It is way past time for some in the Media to be tried for treason anyway. That may be the real crux of the problem and the way to start cleaning things up. Legislation that requires penalties for publishing outright lies.

America is slipping away, its culture is vanishing and The GOP is not stepping up to the plate to save it. They know what needs to be done and they will be rewarded with votes for doing it. They will pay at the polls if they don't. I will note vote for any Senator that votes for a half baked bill. America has already said that it would cheer deportation. Look at any poll. It could be done discreetly by targeting employers first. That would help by depriving the media of shots of millions of illegals in detention centers. Oh, and by the way, why are we building those if not for this?

I think this is the government's way to get more people paying into SS for our older coming people.

Two problems regarding Mexicans for the most part.
#1 With home next door, they do not IMO have much loyalty to us.
#2 They don't want to pay taxes. Rather work underground and send the money home.

Here in CA I think the average illegal makes at least $60 tax free.
So that is like making $10 an hour if it was taxed.
Plus the laws force us to educate each of their kids at $14,000 per each illegal child a year because of their special needs.

I don't mind the worker coming here legally and then going home, but they really need to give their families who don't work the special kick in their butt out of town.
Let that little place of heaven on earth "MEXICO" take care of their social needs.

We can not support the world.

BS!!! What other laws should be ignored? Why should Americans obey the laws, if illegal lawbreakers are getting off??

If you have never exceeded the speed limit, did a rolling stop at a stop sign, went through a traffic light when you know you should have stopped, then get back on your soap box and continue pontificating.

The point is to solve the problem. Amnesty was granted to draft dodgers who fled to Canada to avoid the draft in the 60's. There were many emotional outbreaks against it. I personally did not approve of it. It solved the problem though and was soon forgotten.

Amnesty has been granted to tax evaders, holders of unpaid tickets, by libraries for books overdue and video stores to get movies back. It is a tool to be used wisely to help solve problems. By itself it generally does not solve a problem, only delays or masks the effects as Reagan demonstrated with amnesty in the 80's. If used as an element of an overall plan to solve a problem, it can be quite effective.

One simple fact that pontificators seem to ignore is that it will cost at least 10x (more likely closer to 30x) as much money to round up and deport illegals than to register and legalize them. That's yours and my money, over and above what illegal immigration has already cost us.

I don't believe that for a second.

Have you got some hard numbers to back that up?

The laws and systems are already in place for rounding up and deporting, I'm not sure if the amnesty thing wouldn't result in yet another layer of bureaucracy in our already bloated gov't.

And if they are legalized, do you really think that they are suddenly going to get off welfare and stop using emergency rooms for cold symptoms? I don't.

I don't believe that for a second. Have you got some hard numbers to back that up? The laws and systems are already in place for rounding up and deporting,...

Not surprising. You did stop to realize of course that you can't legally deport anyone without a court hearing? Let's see manpower, transportation, housing, legal counsel, court administration, court facilities, ACLU lawsuits, not to mention a thousand other logistical details necessary to run a nationwide sweep of people who have every motivation to avoid capture and detention.

For hard fact comparison, go to your local city and county records and compare the cost of someone coming in to pay a speeding ticket vs. someone who has a jury trial for the same offense, 10X or more.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.