Posted on 07/27/2006 8:05:15 AM PDT by Spiff
Washington, DC—In a desperate effort to “get something done” on immigration before the end of the congressional session, two normally sober members of Congress have hatched a plan that is vague on details when it comes to securing America’s borders and protecting American workers, while containing specific promises to millions of illegal aliens. The plan offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) would require that the President certify that America’s borders are secure, triggering the onset of a massive new guest worker program that would allow nearly all of the illegal aliens living in the U.S. to leave the country and return almost immediately with newly created “W” visas. In addition, the Pence-Hutchison plan would authorize the issuance of an additional 200,000 W visas each year, contingent upon the Department of Labor’s certification of workers shortages in various sectors of the labor market.
While the standards for what constitutes a secure border and a labor shortage are subjective, the benefits for the illegal aliens are concrete. Under the plan, they would be allowed to work in the U.S. for up to 12 years, after which they could apply for citizenship. The plan also guarantees U.S. employers that their labor costs will be capped by assuring them access to foreign workers if Americans are not willing to accept a job at the prevailing wage. Moreover, Pence-Hutchison creates an industry of job placement companies that profit by finding foreign workers to fill American jobs.
“The Pence-Hutchison plan is being sold as an enforcement-first approach by requiring that the President certify that the borders are under control before anything else can happen. But how can you have enforcement at the same time that you are encouraging those who are breaking the law to continue breaking the law?” observed Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “Under this plan, the people who are living and working in the U.S. illegally at the time that the President certifies that the borders are under control, will be assured of being rewarded with W visas.”
“Let’s try to follow the logic here,” Stein continued. “In order to convince people to stop violating our immigration laws, we’re going to promise them visas that will allow them to stay here legally. But the best way to get one of those visas is to be here illegally. Lewis Carroll himself could not have dreamed up something so convoluted.”
Pence and Hutchison also insist that their plan will not include amnesty for illegal aliens, because W visa applicants would have to leave the country to receive them. Applicants would be required to appear at an “Ellis Island Center” outside the U.S., where they would undergo a screening process and be awarded a W visa within three business days and allowed to return. How a three-day screening process for tens of millions of people would effectively prevent criminals and terrorist from entering the U.S. legally is another area where the plan is sketchy on details.
“Like President Bush, Pence and Hutchison are looking for gimmicks to avoid calling an amnesty an amnesty,” said Stein. “The Pence-Hutchison gimmick requires illegal aliens to pass through a revolving door and wait a few years longer for citizenship. The bottom line is that illegal aliens get to stay in this country and eventually get citizenship. That’s just amnesty with a road trip,” Stein said.
“The one certainty that this plan holds for American workers is the end to upward mobility,” he continued. “Pence-Hutchison assures employers of access to new guest workers so long as they show they have offered the prevailing wage. This plan would be tantamount to government imposed wage controls by allowing employers to hire foreign workers instead of increasing the prevailing wage.”
FAIR remains a forceful advocate for a true enforcement-first immigration plan. A true enforcement-first plan means regaining control of U.S. borders and dramatic reductions in the number of illegal aliens residing in the country. “We won’t know what our true labor needs are until we have stop the influx of new illegal aliens and allow American workers to reclaim millions of jobs they have been displaced from as a result of decades of mass illegal immigration. Then, and only then, will we have a realistic idea of whether any foreign labor is needed in the U.S.
“The priority for Congress must be to enact an immigration policy that secures our borders and protects American workers, not merely getting a deal done,” said Stein.
Ping
Yep spiffy, you all know how to build bridges too good conservatives such as Mike Pence. You all use the nancy pelosio of slash and burn propaganda.
Duh!
Amnesty is not a conservative value.
Neither is spewing carvillian falsehoods from the pro-abortion FAIR.
I will agree to stop calling it amnesty, when the call it by its real name...EVIL.
FAIR is not pro-abortion. And, even if they were, that would be irrelevant to the facts in the article.
Are you aware that at least one of your FROBL allies here is also pro-abortion? Do you dismiss all of her arguments similarly?
To say nothing of the funding FAIR receives from the Pioneer Fund:
Pioneer is a nonprofit foundation that supports scientific studies in the areas of heredity, human differences, behavioral genetics, intelligence, social demography, and group differences by sex, social class, and race. (16) Some of the most controversial research funded by the Pioneer Fund has explored the IQ differences between the races. This research was published in the now widely discredited book The Bell Curve. In addition to its efforts to document the IQ gaps between races, the Pioneer Fund has also been deeply involved in funding eugenics research and in building political support for eugenics.
For an illegal to reapply to enter legally, he would have to wait approximately 5 years. These idiots in Congress want to change the law and allow them to reenter right away.
Changing the law to reward criminals is amnesty.
The current crop of illegals need to leave the country and goto the end of the line, not jump to the front of the line.
We currently have several million folks that have never broken our laws that are waiting for immigrant visas; these folks should be at the front of the line.
After them, should come the non-immigrants that want to work but not stay permanently in the US and have never broken our immigration laws before.
Then, and only then, should we allow criminals back into our immigration system.
They need to leave the country and go to the back of the line like everyone else before they're allowed back in. This plan simply fastracks and rewards those who have violated our borders and broken our laws and gives the privileges above those who have not. They should have to wait just like everyone else - at the very least. In fact, IMHO, they should be penalized for ever being here illegally and those who have never violated our borders should always be able to bump those who broke into our country.
Agreed.
See post #11.
Very disappointed in Mr. Pence. :-(
Playing the racist card.
susie
And Hutchison.
I give up, it's a losing battle and losing proposition, sad and pathetic that the pols don't get it!
Taxpayers are paying dearly because of their ignorance for all the welfare benefits etc for the "cheap" labor. Disgusting!!
If the President certifies the borders are secure, he will be committing perjury and you can bet the dims will use it to try to impeach him!
Dane,
Please explain the shortcomings in the existing laws which require reforming.
Please explain what Pence's *NEW* plan will do when these millions of illegal aliens don't go home.
Please explain what penalties Pence's *NEW* law will exact on the Executive branch when it refuses to enforce Pence's *NEW* law as they've done with the existing laws.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.