Posted on 05/03/2006 9:50:29 PM PDT by Jeff Head
I wrote Senator Larry Craig, one of my senators from Idaho, a direct letter in March regarding the immigration issue. It is posted on the internet HERE
I received a letter in the mail yesterday from Senator Craig (I had received an email from Senator Crapo earlier), wherein Senator Craig detailed a response to my issues. In that response he expressed a healthy desire for a stronger border security but expressed doubt that the border could be sealed, and that massive deportations could be accomplished because they would also cripple major U.S. industries. Therefore he felt a guest worker program had to be a part of the solution.
This is my respectful response to him.
May 3, 2006
Senator Craig,
I am in reciept of your letter to me dated, April 20, 2006, regarding the immigration issue, in response to my correspondence to you in March. There is much in your letter that we agree on, and I thank you for the correspondence from that respect.
However, there are a couple of areas where I must take issue with you and do my best to, as your constituent, and one who has supported your campaigns in the past, to share with you my heartfelt and direct feelings.
You indicate in the letter that any nation that fails to manage its borders canoot be secure at home. This is absolutely true and our borders have been mismanaged and not strongly enforced for several decades. Despite catching more people recently, the floodgates are still open and they simply must be closed. A double fence barrier should be built along the entire length and our ostuhern border and then patrolled by reserve and National Guard units from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
We could build or re-open training bases near the border to augment this.
The fact is, we are not managing our border and any attempt to devise a plan to manage the border issue by in any way rewarding those people who violated our laws and soveriegnty to get here simply cannot be put forward. I am extremely serious about this...it has become, for me, an issue like abortion where my vote hinges entirely on a correct approach and response to the issue. Any guest worker program that in essence says, "well, if you are already here and have been for a good while, we are going to help you along to citizenship so you are not a bad statistic for us anymore," is wholly unacceptable and will be met with my vote against a candidate who puts forward or supports any such plan, just as I would vote against any candidate who in any way supports abortion.
You indicate in your letter that, "even if blanket deportations and sealing the border were possible, they would collpase entire U.S. industries."
Senator, this arguement does not fly with me. First of all, those two things are possible and wholly warranted in the circumstances. We have illegal aliens marching in our streets demanding the vote and in many cases, demanding that soveriegn areas of our country be broken away from this nation. The Brown Berets of Aztlan, a militant group calling for just that, led the march in San Diego on May 1st. They are brazen and they are crass, and they are in our faces. Deportation is called for in such instances. Sealing the border is also not only possible, in my estimation, given your own statements in the letter to me, in a post 911 era, it is required.
As to industries shutting down, if we have reached a point where entire industries are dependent on illegal activities, it is high time we pay the price to shut them down. Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry...it should be shut down. Industries hiring illegal aliens are breaking our laws and need to be adjusted, regardless of the pain, so they become legal. The way to do that is not to reward them for the illegality by changing the laws, which are good laws. It is to begin enforcing them.
I may sound harsh and disrespectful, I assure you I am not. I am just passionate about this issue as I believe tens of millions of Americans, in fact a majority of Americans, are as well.
I have thought about this and talked about it in great detail. Here are some recommendations:
1) Begin cracking down hard on companies that hire illegal aliens. Fine them, and where warranted, criminally prosecute them and incarcerate those who knowingly violate the laws. This will, as much as anything else, help alleviate the massive deportation issue because it will dry up the draw.
2) Outside of emergency services for indigent type situations, end all social services for illegal aliens, including the anchor baby interpretation of becoming a US citizen. These provisions along with those identified in item number one, would help dry up the draw and most illegals would then deport themselves.
3) Offer all illegals here a ninety day grace period to turn themselves over to ICE for deportaiton, which if they do, and pass a criminal background examination, will allow them to be favorably considered for future legal immigration after they return home and apply for the same through the legally proscribed method. It will also put them in favorable contention for the eventual guest worker program that will be available after these enforcement provisions have been in place for at least one year.
4) After the ninety days, and when items one and two are also in place, begin an aggressive program to identify and round up and deport remaining illegals. If they are caught after the ninety day grace period, make sure they know that they will never be considered for legal immigration or guest worker status in the United States.
5) In conjunction with these steps, also plan for and implement the following:
a) Building the double fence barrier along the border with physical and electronic checking, and cleared land on either side of the fence and between the two, topped woith razor wire.
b) Reopen existing or build new training bases along the border for the California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas Reserve and National Guard and have them conduct training operations in concert with regular army units also stationed on the border to monitor and interdict any illegal entry into this nation.
c) Perfomr the above in concert with ICE efforts.
d) Develop a volunteer auxillary of civilians who assist with the monitoring function. Similar to the Coast Guard auxillary. Thosuands would sign up to assist.
6) Once the fence is complete and the other provisions are in operations for at least a year, introduce a temporary guest worker program for any needed jobs. Make sure the emphasis is on hiring Americans first wherever possible and incent teenagers to take these jobs. For what cannot be filled, then introduce the guest worker program that includes the following provisions:
a) Applicants must pass a criminal background check.
b) Terms will be for three years, renewable at the employers discretion up to a year.
c) Guest workers cannot bring their families with them.
d) Any conviction for a crime other than a minor misdemeanor invalidates the permit and the worker is returned home after serving the sentence.
e) Guest workers are not automatically on the road to citizenship. They still must apply through the normal legal method for citizenship.
7) Illegal aliens who are caught entering, or residing in the country will be, after this program is implemented, deported after a five year incarceration where they are put to work on public projects. Each additional apprehension adds an additional five years to the next sentence, up to a maximum of 20 years.
Senator, such a program could be implemented if our politicians had the will. The majority of American people already have the will. The House of Representatives is very close to these types of provisions already. I urge you to reassess your position on some of these issues. We have reached a point with this crisis, and in the current circumstances of global terror, where we simply must have the will to accomplish these types of direct and straight forward measures.
Please visit the following links and read the details of Representative Kings proposal (Iowa Fifth District) and the stories of the vistims of what ammounts to this invasion by illegal entrants to our country.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1623720/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1625726/posts
The United States always has and always will welcome those people of the world who want to come here in the legally proscribed method and accept and bear allegiance to our constitution and the fundamental moral values that make it work. That is why we are free, that is why we are prosperous, and that is why we have what we have here. By breakling the law in the first place to come here, the very essence of that compact is broken and connot be fixed until the illegal alien returns to their home and seeks to come here in the legally proscribed method. In the mean time, thousands of crinimals and potential terrorists stream across into our nation, masked by the herd of illegals, who themselves are working a fundamental and dangerous change on our culture and society by their numbers and their willful disavowal of our laws.
Thank you for your attention to what I know has been a long letter.
Sincerely,
Jeff Head
Emmett, ID
Now you're part of the problem.
Threats will guarantee that no bill would be produced, which would be just fine with a whole lot of people. Maybe even you.
Ping!
Although it is the currently implemented (and imo, foolish) practice, it is up to Congress to dictate whether a child born of illegal aliens in the U.S. is granted citizenship or not.
In fact, American Indians who were born on reservations in the United States were not recognized as U.S. Citizens untill Congress passed a bill giving them citizenship. I think that was back around 1907.
The ball is in their court. There is nothing in the Constitution and there is no ruling by the Supreme Court preventing Congress from changing the status quo.
"Neither the Constitution nor any subsequent Supreme Court decision compels birthright citizenship to be conferred upon children of illegal aliens or of nonimmigrants born in the United States."
http://tancredo.house.gov/irc/welcome.htm
And exactly how did the roofing industry in the Southwest get that way? Are the cheaper workers actually saving consumers any money, or is it just lining the contractors pockets?
I personally belive the very first step (other than securing the border to stem the flow) is to crack down on the businesses that violate the law. Major fines in addition to criminal prosecution would take away some of the profit gained from breaking the law.
And I too believe in a guest worker program - but not as a bonus to those already here illegally. Set up a guest worker program that involves a list for workers needed, allowing exactly the number needed for the jobs open. Employers, prior to being eligible to import labor, must document the need and the efforts to fill the position with domestic workers.
Go to for your perusal:
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=ID&VIPID=248
IMHO we need to replace everyone on the Hill ASAP.
Yes. Section V of that amendment gives a Congress with balls the authority to enforce the provisions contained within the Fourteenth. That also means the regulation of its application exactly the way the First and Second Amendments are regulated, however, the First and Second have a provision that those rights shall not be infringed nor abridged unlike this one that clearly has made that distinction. Yet Congress sees fit to do so. So, again - it falls upon a Congress with balls, of which America has probably seen her last.
Some history, not quite what we're looking for.
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:dgTrQtLo57AJ:www.aca.ch/hisuscit.htm+us+citizenship+1964&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
My understanding is that there has never been a court decision granting citizenship to the children of foreigners. There was an 'opinion', by whom I don't know, granting the rights.
A foreign ambassador whose wife has a child in the US while he is assigned here does not get the citizenship rights granted to his child but a criminal who sneaks across the border does?
I have a friend who is very knowledgable on the subject, I'll get in contact with him and brush up on it.
The Indian Citizenship Act. (1924)
http://www.usconstitution.com/IndianCitizenshipAct.htm
No strawman; if congress can be allowed to dissolve any law that becomes sticky to deal with, without being held accountable, we have no standards. Your position is surrender.
'No Bill' would be preferable to amnesty, which would be surrender to a foreign power on our own soil, and evaporation of our culture.
NOW you've made a valid point without misconstruing what my point was!!!
Jeff Head's letter hinged on the point that illegal aliens should be dealt with on the basis that they are illegal. I think that illegal aliens should be dealt with because by their past actions indicate that they are not desirable immigrants--ever.
"Holding Congress Accountable" is a great goal. Expand on that.
----
But then, you revert to misconstruing my statement.
My position is not surrender. My position is that you should base your laws on what is right and what is wrong, not make the precarious argument (as Jeff Head's letter did) that something is right or wrong based on whether it is currently defined as legal or illegal by a flippant Congress.
If you'd stop being so reactionary, you might even recognize that this is not incongruent with your position.
then hand out 400,000 green cards per year only to people who want to become Americans, and who pass a background check.
I definitely agree that intent to become a citizen or proof of citizenship needs to be a requirement to work in America post 9/11. Change green cards to "work license"that is to be issued from a any US port of entry. Make sure all licenses are in a national tracking data base for employers to check by just a phone call. Anyone who is a non-citizen will be required to get one who intends to work here. The only people who would be exempt from this would be valid visa holders.
Employers need to be held responsible for making sure that all their their employees who are non-citizens have a work license. Employers will be held liable if they fail to check the national data base to validate a license. This will cut out the possibility that more then one person will use the same license.
At this juncture, our best hope is that the illegal alien issue will ultimately do them both in.
It can't happen soon enough.
I wish we had you as our elected representative. Soneone who believes in the rule of law and can think things through.
What ever happend to "We The People" Well 65% of "We the People" want to close the boarder and deport all illegal aliens.
No, we get RINO and Liberal Senators who will sell this country down the road.
Yes, your right, I can't vote for someone who will allow this to happen
the truly beautiful part about the FairTax is that below a certain level, there is a rebate...which can force the alien to begin the process of entering the system...It penalizes those who remain here illegally, and rewards those who follow the law. I am convinced that their tax-free earnings presently, in conjunction with "free" social services fuels the problem and impedes those who might otherwise attempt to come legally
Good point here. I admit I haven't really delved into the FairTax but having to register to receive a rebate would provide an incentive for them to get on the books.
I will admit, I'm more of a flat tax proponent, but that's primarily because I haven't really done significant research into FairTax. In contrast, I've read Forbes book "Flat Tax Revolution" and found it to be a decent proposal.
I've always worried though about a point-of-sale tax which takes out of the mind of Americans what they actually pay. It's so easy to pay a bill and not realize the amount of tax which is added on. Much like health insurance and co-payments, when you take those numbers out of the daily thinking of Americans, it can be easier for FedGov to fleece us. Unless we are really vigilant.
Excellent point though...and any alternative would be better than what we have currently.
thanks for the info.
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