Posted on 05/15/2006 2:59:55 PM PDT by notes2005
WASHINGTON - President Bush is to order as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to increase enforcement at the Mexican border, part of a $1.9 billion drive to tighten security and win conservative backing in Congress for a broad election-year overhaul of the nation's tattered immigration laws.
"We do not yet have full control of the border and I am determined to change that," Bush is expected to say in remarks prepared for a prime-time speech from the Oval Office.
The speech will come as the Senate begins work on legislation to strengthen border security, authorize new guest worker programs and give an eventual chance at citizenship to most of the estimated 12 million people already living illegally in the United States.
"Tonight I am calling on Congress to provide funding for dramatic improvements in manpower and technology at the border," Bush is expected to say.
Congressional officials who were briefed in advance of the speech said the president would ask Congress to increase the number of Border Patrol agents and to support construction of additional facilities to detain illegal immigrants. They said the National Guard troops would not be involved in law enforcement, but would take support jobs currently held by federal agents, freeing them for front-line duty.
On citizenship, the White House told congressional officials the president planned to say that illegal immigrants, required to stand in line behind legal immigrants applying to become citizens, are not being granted amnesty.
Bush's plan to use National Guard troops at the border ran into criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.
"The National Guard already is stretched to the limit by repeated tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as from providing disaster assistance in their own states," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., though he commended Bush for "courage and leadership" in weighing in on the immigration debate.
Bush was to say the nation has expanded the Border Patrol from about 9,000 to 12,000 agents during his presidency and has sent home about 6 million people entering the United States illegally. Still, he would add, that has not been enough.
"We will fix the problems created by illegal immigration and we will deliver a system that is secure, orderly and fair," the president was to say.
He would also call for enactment of a guest worker program to allow immigrants to take low-paying jobs, and he was to say employers must be held to account for hiring illegal immigrants. He was to say also that a tamper-proof identification card for workers would "leave employers with no excuse" for violating the law.
I'm living right in the middle of it and I am very sick of it. Your post is right on.
Righteous indignation - I can dig it.
I dislike it, that you pointed this out. Why was i so mistaken? Where did I go wrong?
I can understand why you feel the way you do, living in the midst of the carnage and all. But it's partly the fault of the liberal attitudes of "social services" in California and other border states that the problem has gotten this huge (the more "clients" they glom onto, the bigger their "social services" budget).
And, just so the point isn't lost, the President's proposal may or may not be adequate, but he is trying to do something about the illegal influx -- unlike his predecessor, who mostly ignored this problem along with nearly every problem which crossed his desk.
"Nope, you are not mistaken, a lot of us feel the same way. It was better to have him then Kerry, but we truely didn't get what we voted for."
Just for the record the President was quite up front about his support of a immigration plan like this during the campaign. He never hid it
You "get-it". It is hard to explain to my fellow FReepers though.
I don't know where you are getting your news, but reports and articles are saying that the NG will not be arresting aliens and that the NG will be temporary.
Bush even talked with Vicenta Fox to re-assure him that the NG deployment will only be temporary.
He may be the first to send NG to the border. But lets wait and see what those troops do.
"Nope but they picked up this thread. LOL Too Funny Freepers are attacking Bush BEFORE his speech....."
LMAO
Attention vistors from DU that are lurking please ignore all post on here tonight. We are having technical difficulties as they say. Things will return to normal as we all unite in our love for the party and the President in a few weeks.
"There are none so blind as those who will not see"
Id just chime in that Northern California is also destroyed. Over.
I get it. But I don't get why you need to express yourself by profane name calling. Is that how you usually talk?
I said before that it's not what you said, but how you said it.
But you go on like you don't get it.
If you and some others are OK with calling the President a - "weasel piece of sh#t." - I'm not going to sit idly by and not speak up.
I've known a fair number of L.A.'s finest. I hesitate to think of what the city would be without you.
ROFLMAO - Too funny.
I recently moved from the People's Republic of Kalifornia. Nothing compares to the chaos caused by the illegal occupation in southern Kal.
And I respect your right to say it. But sir, that is EXACTLY how I feel about him and his behavior on the border. I expected better and got Bill Clinton. Not merely a liar, but... (you can fill in the rest).
Now we, the tax payer must assimilate (Turn Blind EYE- PAY FOR) these illegals ..and we must have the right tone in our voices.
Can you at least ask them to pick up their garbage!!!
Sometimes taking (or not taking ) a political stand can have repurcussions. Reference Jimmy Carter.
Bush - The Elite Bubble President.
Since your post # 4 was removed by the Moderator, I'm not the only one who thinks your language was unacceptable.
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