Modern Republican politics made easy
Posted on 05/18/2006 1:45:35 PM PDT by Kuja
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Chairman of the 97-Member House Immigration Reform Caucus, urged the President to take several steps to secure America’s border as the President visits Arizona, today.
“I’m glad that the President keeps saying he wants to secure our border, but a Presidential visit won’t do that. Press conferences without Administration action is, as border ranchers say, all hat and no cattle,” said Tancredo.
Tancredo continued, “While the President is down at the border I hope he sees firsthand what I see when I’m there—mass illegal entries, threatened ranchers, overburdened Border Patrol officers, and environmental degradation.”
“If the President takes a clear view of the situation in Arizona – scars, blemishes and all – he won’t have an excuse to stall increased border enforcement,” said Tancredo.
There are at least nine enforcement actions the President can take that require no new legislation:
Suspend the visa waiver program. Citizens of 27 countries are allowed to travel to the U.S. without a visa, which could pose a serious national security threat.
Encourage Basic Pilot Program use. DHS’ Basic Pilot Program allows employers to check the legal status of potential employees instantly through the Internet. The program is fee-based, thus wider use will not require any new federal resources.
End ‘catch and release’. Persons caught who are illegally in the U.S. but are not Mexicans or Canadians are released by ICE and told to show up at court for deportation proceedings. Not surprisingly, few return to court. Despite an announcement from DHS to the contrary, catch and release is alive and well. In fact, a majority of the persons arrested in the highly-publicized IFCO raids were released by the following day.
Instruct the Justice Department to identify local governments’ sanctuary policies. Federal law prohibits local governments from enacting illegal alien sanctuary policies. The Attorney General could easily identify such sanctuary policies and prosecute localities that violate federal law.
Do more high-profile raids on businesses that hire illegals. With limited resources, an effective way to execute interior enforcement is to go after businesses who regularly hire illegal aliens. Such raids would make other businesses think twice before hiring persons illegally.
Deploy mothballed military technology on the border. Military technology, such as mothballed UAVs, can be deployed effectively on the border, and military training can be relocated to land adjacent to the border.
Facilitate volunteers who want to backstop the overwhelmed Border Patrol. Instead of calling the Minutemen ‘vigilantes’, the President could encourage volunteers until more Border Patrol can be hired and trained.
Remove the Mexican and Canadian exceptions from the USVISIT system. USVISIT requires all non-citizens to be recorded when entering and exiting the U.S. President Clinton unilaterally exempted Mexico and Canada from the system. In addition, there is no ‘exit’ component to USVISIT for any country, which prevents the U.S. from knowing whether visa holders leave when they are supposed to. Approximately 40 percent of illegal aliens in the U.S. are visa overstays.
Begin extending the border fence. The Defense Department has the resources to begin extending the border fence which exists near San Diego.
Great post but the open border crowd will decry Tancredo as a racist, Rino, DUer in disguise and cry that we need comprehensive legislation and actually enforcing the law is impossible! Of course they won't tell you why it is impossible and ignore any suggestion as to how it can be done, they will just scream and cry and resort to name calling.
Oh joy...
I was just wondering if any of the "open border" people have fences around THEIR property? It would seem a little hypocritical to rant about open borders and no fences, when one lives behind a fence. I would love to see some of these open-border types asked that. I wonder how they'd like it if a band of homeless came to their property and camped out, hooked up to their utilities and started claiming the land as their own, rights and all. It's the enviro-green weenies (Kennedy, Kerry, etc.) who keep preaching about energy conservation (nationally) while they own a handful of homes and a handful of SUVs that hog up plenty of the oil they want the rest of us to conserve.
Perhaps we should start asking the open-border people if they live behind a fence or feel any claim or possession to the property they have paid for.
Uh,,,"It's the enviro-green weenies" should read,,
It's JUST LIKE the enviro-green weenies,,,,,,
My bad.
I think Bush should make a fence of Tancredo press releases. 1000 miles wide and 6 yards thick.
Our politicians in Washington are out of touch with the wishes of we the people.
That would be a disaster.
Good question, or if they lock their front doors against people breaking in as they are breaking in to this country.
Thing is the criminals broke the law and keep on breaking laws why are we allowing them to stay why are we rewarding them why aren't we getting them all off welfare?
If you object to getting flamed, suggest the Perpetually Pissed quit throwing fire balls. The Screamers are getting exactly what they put out. All they do is scream hate and bile at anyone who doesn't march in unthinking lockstep with their emotion based positions. All you people are doining is alienating everyone around you. Preaching to the choir does ONE thing, wears out your voice. The Perpetual Whiners would be wise to wake up. People are simply sick of the Whine All The Time noise from you people.
I'd take Tancredo's press release over Bush's anyday.
Sorry, I disagree with this from the get-go. Americans can travel to many countries without a visa, or at most visa on arrival.
True, but only for them, Not for U.S. citizens.
Don't respond to MNJohnnie, calex59....he's not worth the letters on your keyboard.
They live a couple of thousand miles away from the problem.
Bush's visit is a cheap photo op.
Don't expect any meaningful actions from him :(
ROFLMAO
Ditto...we can debate the issue amongst ourselves. There are plenty of us. Let him go back to that other thread.
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