ping.
I don't have a problem with what Hutchison and Pence are saying. My own personal opinion, however, is that any sort of guest-worker program and enforcement should NOT be passed in a "comprehensive" bill. Enforcement should come first, separately, and be as tough as we can possibly make it--and that includes deportations, not just closing the border but doing at least a little bailing out of the boat.
Only then, can we even *think* about implementing guest-worker program. We can plan it out ahead of time, we can have the bills ready to go. I just don't think a "comprehensive" bill is a good idea because when it gets to conference committee, the enforcement will get watered down and the amnesty program will get beefed up--but, they can hide behind the "comprehensive" label and take credit for being "tough on the border."
No. Enforcement only first. We can think about guest-worker programs once the government PROVES that it's serious about enforcement. Not before.
}:-)4
A fence from one side to the other, with secure crossing points for legal commerce and traffic, then get back to me. If it costs 20 billion dollars it is worth it.
I don't know what "WHMCBL" stands for, but there are many things rip-worthy in this plan.
First of all, to say that the 'guest' workers will fill jobs Americans won't at 'market' wage is a bit misleading. So long as there is an inexhaustible supply of cheap foreign labor ready and willing, and employers know they will have access to them one way or another, then employers will never have incentive to raise wages/benefits, and/or invest in labor-saving technologies. So the 'market' will always be set for keeping wages as low as possible. And what exactly are the numerical limits on this plan? At least the awful McKennedy bill was amended to permit a maximum of 200,000 'guest workers' per year. I wonder if this bill has any limit?
Second, talk of requiring English proficiency is likely just a bone thrown out to wary conservatives. There is little reason to think it would actually be enforced, as the proficiency requirement for citizenship that exists now isn't. We know Bush wouldn't enforce it, and looking ahead to the 2008 frontrunners, most of them (McCain, Giuliani, any Democrat) would be as bad or worse on immigration than Bush.
The plan would hold back Social Security benefits until the 'guest' returns home, but what if the 'guest' decides to stay (which he almost certainly will, as I'll get to in a moment)? Then obviously he'll get his benefits, right? Well, that's only fair I guess, but don't put this withholding idea out there in the hope of fooling people into thinking the 'guests' will be going home some day, as is most likely one of the major reasons for such a provision.
Finally, this bill continues the use of deceptive and misleading language. It speaks of 'temporary worker programs' and 'guest workers', when in fact, Pence and Hutchison know (as do McCain, Kennedy, Hagel, Martinez, Reid, President Bush, etc) that the vast majority of the 'guests' will decide to stay permanently if given the choice. Therefore, we are not dealing with anything 'temporary', nor are we dealing with 'guests.' And if there is any doubt as to the disingenuousness on display here, the plan also allows (though I don't think they bother to tell us here) the 'guests' to bring their family with them while still technically a guest. Now, if its all about much needed labor, without which our economy and nation would collapse and fall into a black hole (as conservative proponents of mass immigration usually say), then why allow the 'guests' to bring their families with them? This will increase the strain on the public infrastructure. This will almost certainly anchor the 'guest' to the US, as, for example, they'll most likely have children being educated in public schools. If its truly about our labor needs, then why not mandate that employers of 'guest workers' allow their 'guest workers' time off during the year to return home to visit their families? And of course, once the 'guests' and their families become officially permanent, then they'll be able to sponsor their extended families for immigration, thus expanding the seemingly limitless chain migration into the US.
So basically, the Pence plan, like the McKennedy plan before it, is really a multi-step amnesty, plus and more importantly, a gigantic increase (in already large-scale) permanent legal immigration. Why can't people just admit this? Why play this fiction whereby they cynically attempt to dupe the American people into thinking that the millions of guests we'd let in would someday go home? If you think the way to solve the illegal immigration problem is to so massively increase already mass legal immigration so that it satisfies all or most of the foreign demand to come here, then just say so. Be honest about it. Don't let the fact that most Americans oppose increases in legal immigration be a barrier to telling the truth.
" our plan requires the president to certify that all mandated border security measures are completed."
President Fox?
And recent European history shows the innate problems of a guest worker program. If we truly need more workers, bring them in as full legal immigrants and make them part of the country instead of a subclass.
#2 I don't truest any president to be truthful when he says the border is secure and that the guest worker program can now kick in
#3 Illegal aliens Asians, Europeans and others are not allowed to become legal guest workers. Only Mexicans and those from other Hispanic nations