Posted on 05/26/2006 2:31:43 PM PDT by VU4G10
WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday said a Senate bill that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants is analogous to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a fine and continue driving.
"If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you're not forever a speeder, are you?" White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in response to questions from The Examiner.
"So the fact is, you have paid your debt to society," he added. "And we have come up with a way to make sure that the debt to society gets paid. Then you move forward."
The "traffic ticket" analogy raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, where many House Republicans regard illegal immigration as a grave crime.
"I don't know if Tony meant to trivialize it or not," said Will Adams, spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "But it's certainly misleading."
"The penalty for a speeding ticket is a fine," he added. "The penalty for being here illegally is being removed from this country. But the president doesn't want illegal aliens to go home."
Snow emphasized that illegals would have to pay fines, learn English and wait years for a chance at full citizenship. But Adams called that "a slap on the hand" compared to deportation.
"Here's a more apt analogy," he said. "You get stopped for speeding, and you say to the cop: "Hey listen, you're about to give me a $300 ticket. How about we make it 20 bucks and just call it even?"
Snow predicted that House Republicans would eventually drop their opposition to the Senate bill, which passed Thursday. The bill, which includes a guest worker program that would grant legal status to aliens, is headed to a conference committee for possible reconciliation with a House bill aimed at beefing up border security.
Snow suggested the guest worker program could be sold to even ardent opponents like Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
"Chairman Sensenbrenner, who's got some real problems with various aspects, has said publicly that the temporary worker program has merit," Snow said.
"There are areas in which members of the House are going to agree with the president," he added. "I certainly don't want to be speaking for Chairman Sensenbrenner, but the fact is, you know politics."
But Sensenbrenner appeared unmoved.
"What's going on now, in calling it a pathway to citizenship or earned legalization, is not honest because it is amnesty," he said at a news conference.
Amnesty. Amnesty. Amnesty. Yes sir Mr Bush, it does have a nice ring to it. /sarcasm off
Don't be asinine. What we're talking about is not "catching" them, but punishing them when caught. Here's a clue, to use your own "analogy"---those speeders who GET CAUGHT also GET PUNISHED. Thus, those gatecrashing aliens who GET CAUGHT also GET DEPORTED---not amnestied.
Once the House bill passes, when they can't find work, many of them will deport themselves. The rest can be caught "the old-fashioned way"---one at a time. If the Clinton Administration could catch and deport 1.5 million in the late 1990's with an INS budget of $5.2 billion dollars, I'm sure that doubling the INS enforcement budget will let us catch (conservatively) 2.5 million a year. Since many will have self-deported, we can probably deport the rest in five years or so.
You can rationalize anything. You would have been voting with the worst RINOs in the Republican Party and with Kennedy, Clinton, and the rest of the damned Democrats as well. You've revealed your true nature very well. Thank you.
Under Clinton and Bush you have these large deportation numbers but 95% of these "deportations" are merely Mexicans who are arrested by our Border Patrol within 50 miles of the border, processed, then sent back to Mexico. This 1.5 million you cite is not from interior enforcement or workplace raids. OTMs (other than Mexicans) arrested by the BP are usually released into the US because they would have to be deported via plane flights. A logistical & financial nightmare.
Since 90% of the problem is Hispanics coming across the Southern border, that kind of deportation will go a LONG way to solving the problem. As for the OTM's, arrest'em, put'em to work at hard labor somewhere until they EARN sufficient credit to pay for their plane flight home, or confiscate their assets for the same purpose. After all, if that's good enough for drug dealers who are citizens, it's certainly good enough for folks with a similar degree of criminality who AREN'T citizens.
There's nothing financially or logistically "nightmarish" about it. The task is trivial compared to the logistics necessary (for example) to run the war on terror.
What is extremely? Good Grief Man!
Extremely is 30 million more Mexicans in 10yrs, 60 million more in 20 yrs!!!
What would your definition of extremely generous be?
Neither - I simply don't want to post anymore. I thought that would have been acceptable to you folks?
My post #341 to you was in response to your post #285 to me - isn't that the normal reason why someone gets "pinged" around here?
Notice I will not call you "asinine" for thinking H.R. 4437 would ever result in mass deportations in the first place. As for my analogy about speeding, many of those "caught" get off with a warning (is that "amnesty" too?), some go to traffic school instead (i.e. having to learn English like under the Senate bill), or other non-punishments. Some were speeding so much that they get their license taken away or put in jail (as I've always said, any illegal alien caught breaking another law should be deported or jailed too). So, I like the analogy just fine.
I already responded to that comparison, but I also think through EVERY argument - I also pray about them - have a nice day.
You're welcome but, for the record, if the worst RINOs in the Republican Party, with Kennedy, Clinton, and the rest of the . . . Democrats voted to abolish the Department of Education, I would be voting with them on that too. Guilt by association is a logical fallacy, my FRiend.
As I said, the Senate plan calls for up to 3 million per year. "Extremely" for me was anything above the initial limit of 217 million in 20 years.
But that would be a CONSERVATIVE thing to do. Are you actually trying to argue that excusing millions of illegals for violating our borders and breaking our laws and rewarding them with jobs, benefits, and citizenship, which is what the RINOs and Democrats voted for, is somehow more conservative than enforcing our laws, protecting our borders, and putting Americans first? You are standing firmly with Kennedy, Clinton, and Specter. That's a fact. You can claim all the crap you want and rationalize all you want, but the painful fact is that you're standing with the liberals, La Raza racists, and the marxists who held their national temper tantrums over the last two months. That is the plain truth. If you don't like it, then change your leftist position on this issue. If not, then you made your liberal bed - you sleep in it.
I only have one child, and 3 million legal immigrants per year is not the end of America.
There are plenty of times in American history were CONSERVATIVES welcomed immigrants to this continent.
Then you will love this one clawrence: Raping and murdering 5 year old kids is like stealing a pack of gum from the 7-11. Same, same. amnesty is NOT THE SAME AS SPEEDING FINES. PERIOD.
Yes.
and, prevailing wage instead of minimum wage, and can't be fired without just cause.... shades of France... and we saw what happened when THEY tried to fix that mistake.
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