Posted on 05/20/2006 7:30:46 AM PDT by La Enchiladita
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week, I spoke to you from the Oval Office to lay out my vision for reforming our Nation's immigration system. And on Thursday, I went to Arizona to visit with the men and women of the Border Patrol. I wanted to get an update on their efforts because a secure America depends on a secure border.
I believe America can be a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time. We must enforce our laws while honoring our proud immigrant heritage. So I support comprehensive immigration reform that will accomplish five clear objectives.
First, America must secure its borders. Since I became President, we've increased funding for border security by 66 percent, hired thousands more Border Patrol agents, and caught and sent home about 6 million illegal immigrants. Yet, we have much more work to do.
So this week I asked Congress to provide funding for dramatic improvements in manpower and technology at the border. We'll hire thousands more Border Patrol agents. And to help these agents do their jobs, we will deploy advanced technologies such as high-tech fences in urban areas, infrared cameras, and unmanned aerial vehicles. We'll also draw on the expertise of state and local law enforcement in our border communities and give them new resources and training so they can help secure our border.
Putting these new resources in place will take time. To help during this transition, up to 6,000 National Guard members will be deployed to our southern border. They will assist the Border Patrol by operating surveillance and communication systems, installing fences and vehicle barriers, building patrol roads, and analyzing intelligence. The support of Guard personnel will allow Border Patrol agents to use their skills to focus on securing the border.
Second, to secure our border we must create a temporary worker program that provides foreign workers a legal and orderly way to enter our country for a limited period of time. This program would reduce pressure on the border, meet the needs of our economy, and allow honest immigrants to provide for their families while respecting the law. And it will help us make certain we know who is in our country and why they are here.
Third, we need to hold employers to account for the workers they hire by creating a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility. The system should include a new tamper-proof identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card would help us enforce the law and leave employers with no excuse for breaking it. And by making it harder for illegal immigrants to find work in our country, we would discourage people from crossing the border illegally in the first place.
Fourth, we must resolve the status of millions of illegal immigrants who are already here. They should not be given an automatic path to citizenship. This is amnesty, and I oppose it. Amnesty would be unfair to those who are here lawfully, and it would invite further waves of illegal immigration.
Some people think any proposal short of mass deportation is amnesty. I disagree. There's a rational middle ground between automatic citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a program of mass deportation. Illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty, pay their taxes, learn English, and work in a job for a number of years. People who meet these conditions should be able to apply for citizenship -- but approval will not be automatic, and they will have to wait in line behind those who played by the rules and followed the law.
Fifth, we must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot by helping newcomers assimilate into our society. Americans are bound together by our shared ideals, an appreciation of our history, respect for our flag, and the ability to speak and write in English.
We will work to ensure that every new citizen fully embraces our common culture. When immigrants assimilate, they will advance in our society, realize their dreams, renew our spirit, and add to the unity of America.
Congress is now considering legislation on immigration reform. That legislation must be comprehensive. All elements of this problem must be addressed together or none of them will be solved at all. The House started the debate by passing an immigration bill, now the Senate should act by the end of this month, so we can work out the differences between the two bills, and Congress can pass a bill for me to sign into law.
We should approach this debate with confidence. America has shown before that we can enforce our laws and uphold our values, and we will do it again. Our Nation honors the heritage of all who've come here because we trust in our country's genius for making us all Americans, one Nation under God.
Thank you for listening.
END
If the election were held today, I would stay at home.
We will do it again? Fer crying out loud. We should be doing it NOW!
And Hillary will be our next President... and we will hear you complain for the next 8 years....
Big sigh. I love GW, his big heart, his goodness and decency. (God help him and the US.) That's all I'm going to say.
Okay, one more comment. We should have had this debate three years ago.
How about over 200 years ago?
They'll have any national I.D. card faked in five minutes.
True, and most Tories packed up and left.
Bush ended any possible debate in 2000. His mind was made up to build a "new America".
| We are now one of the largest Spanish-speaking nations in the world. We're a major source of Latin music, journalism and culture. Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago or West New York, New Jersey ... and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago, or San Miguel de Allende. For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America. As I speak, we are celebrating the success of democracy in Mexico. George Bush from a campaign speech in Miami, August 2000. |
Here is an excerpt of a good critique of that speech:
In equating our intimate historic bonds to our mother country and to Canada with our ties to Mexico, W. shows a staggering ignorance of the civilizational facts of life. The reason we are so close to Britain and Canada is that we share with them a common historical culture, language, literature, and legal system, as well as similar standards of behavior, expectations of public officials, and so on. My Bush Epiphany By Lawrence Auster
How about twenty-three years ago? Three years ago, the economy was in the dumpster. Putting more pressure on small business probably would have been a disaster and no way would be seeing at less than 5% unemployment as we are now. No excuses, however. One makes tradeoffs as President. Bush, however did try and get Congress to move after winning in 2004. His tactical error was talking about guest workers before border security.
"I'm opposed to amnesty." Now listen closely while I tell you of my plan to reward people have been breaking our laws everyday for a decade or more.
Oh and I love the part about claiming credit for deporting massive numbers of immigrants. What he forgets to mention is that most of those same people just walk across the border the next night.
I know the Dems think all of us Rubes in flyover country are idots, but I'm not sure I've heard anything from San Fran Nan, or Hillary that is more insulting to one's intelligence than this load of fertilizer that the President seems intent on selling.
Man, if I had heard this I would have stayed home in 2000.
This equals amnesty, Mr. President. You stated the above right after saying "illegal immigrants who are already here... should not be given an automatic path to citizenship," which is amnesty by your own definition. We need clarity, not mealy-mouthed "comprehensiveness."
Dust off the immigration laws sitting on the shelf and enforce them.
Since I became President, we've increased funding for border security by 66 percent, hired thousands more Border Patrol agents,
Mr. President once again overlooked this: Bush budget scraps 9,790 border patrol agents ... which occurred a mere 15 months ago.
Is a fudging and twisting of facts going on?
Good post!
(And per your tagline) the anchor babies have already taken over towns and school systems on the central California coast. Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Croatian, black, German, Slovenian, etc. have been forced out. Our nearby town has lost its historic diversity. Farmers are nervous.
Anchor babies combined with public schools is a prescription for disaster as all the teachers seem to be able to teach is victimhood, entitlement, and baselesss "self-esteeem."
The end of the line is in another country, Presidente Bush, not in the U.S.!
Those are the word he dare not speak.
To me, the entire address is an avoidance of the FACT that law requires illegals to be DEPORTED. Period.
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