Angelides calls border fence wrong

Phil Angelides says he doesn't favor erecting "a Great Wall of China" to keep illegal immigrants out of California, adding that he would take a "compassionate and pragmatic" approach as governor to the politically volatile immigration issue.

In a meeting with The Bee editorial board Wednesday, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said he favors granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants because doing so would make California's roads safer.

And he said he would have signed a recent bill -- vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- to allow illegal immigrants to receive financial assistance to attend California's universities.

In a wide-ranging interview, Angelides also said he still believes he can win the gubernatorial race despite trailing by as much as 17 percent in recent polls.

He defended his campaign's attempt to link the Republican governor and his policies to President Bush, a decidedly unpopular figure with California voters. And he said he is counting on Saturday's gubernatorial debate to put him back into the race.

While espousing compassion on immigration, Angelides chided Schwarzenegger for not being tough enough to convince the federal government to reimburse California for nearly $750 million for the incarceration costs of illegal immigrants.

He also said California has been shortchanged by the Bush administration's failure to meet a post-Sept. 11, 2001, promise of providing 2,000 new U.S. Border Patrol agents a year.

"A governor ought to be rolling up his or her sleeves and demanding, cajoling and working with the federal government to get them to live up to their responsibilities," Angelides said.

Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman Matt David scoffed at the suggestion that Angelides could do better.

"The notion that Phil Angelides and his partisan rhetoric would return more money to California is absurd," David said.

I love the logic of the "safer roads" argument:
A. Illegals drive without licenses anyway
B. If we gave them licenses, they'll have to learn the rules so that they can be issued one, therefore the roads will be safer.

If we believe (B), then we have to believe that, once licenses are possible, an illegal won't drive if he fails the test and can't get one. However, we already have evidence that that isn't going to happen: see (A).

What we'll really get is every illegal who's afraid to drive without a license today will suddenly be able to get one, putting God knows how many new drivers (many driving 'inexpensive' clunkers with bald tires, questionable brakes, and no insurance) on our clogged roads.

Well, Angelides is doing better than the normal Liberal moron. The wall is a bad idea. However, as soon as he starts babbling about "compassion" and "pragmatism" I have to suppress a reflex to barf.

What really pisses me off is that this piece of political doodoo got thru Congress instead of meaningful legislation that will make a difference. What REALLY gets my dander up is that the Great American Doormat signed the thing into law yesterday rather than vetoing it and beating up on Congress for sending him frivolous legislation.

So, Congress in its infinite wisdom is going to solve our immigration problems with a 700-mile fence!? Seven hundred miles of fence to cover a 2,000 mile border while we conveniently forget about little details like boats and coastlines! A $1.2 billion dollar monument to political cowardice! GRRRR!

You don't kill a market by blocking supply. You stop a market by drying up demand! Any attempt to seal the borders of the United States against illegal immigrants is doomed to costly failure! The Soviet Union used fences, walls, barbed wire, guard towers, land mines, guard dogs, and machine-guns to keep its people in and was unsuccessful! I know the US will never be equally draconian and so I am certain this 700 mile fence will inevitably and expensively fail.

We have a deluge of illegal immigrants trying to cross our borders and, consequently, a serious security problem! Herds of impoverished illegals overwhelm our border patrols and provide excellent cover for the small number of criminals and terrorists who wish to do us harm. Dry up demand for illegals and soon our border guards will only have to worry about our enemies.

Instead of a fancy fence, we should have a genuine guest worker program that meets the honest needs of our economy while allowing guest workers to keep as much of their dignity as possible and while protecting them from de-facto slavery under unscrupulous employers.

Most importantly, US employers who willfully ignore or subvert the provisions of guest worker laws should be subject to SEVERE penalties. Hiring illegal aliens should be a felony offense that guarantees employers and corporate officers JAIL time and HEAVY fines.

It must be difficult for illegal immigrants to stay in the shadows of our society. Illegal immigrants must not be able to obtain drivers licenses and access to the social safety net that is available to citizens and legal immigrants. Meals and schooling for children and emergency medical care is the VERY most that illegals should be entitled to. Employees of US government agencies (except for the Census Bureau) that fail to investigate for evidence of illegals and provide that evidence to the INS for action should be immediately and irrevocably FIRED from their government jobs.

Those who smuggle foreign nationals into the U.S. should be subject to the most severe penalties — up to capital punishment in cases where people die in the course of being smuggled into the U.S.

Simply being born in this country should not entitle anyone to US citizenship unless at least one (and preferably both) parents are here LEGALLY!

Oh, for some good Libertarian or Teddy Roosevelt Republican candidates! I'm sick and tired of these bleeping Dimocrats and Repisslican candidates that I have to pick from! The most irritating thing about both the Dimocrats and Repisslicans is that as soon as they get to DC they get a chocolate eclair for a spinal transplant and an (empty) piggy bank for a brain transplant!

Boy, this was a long one! Sure feels good to get it off my chest, tho.

I think that your post 23, especially the part about penalties for those who break our laws, makes a lot of sense. I, too, have thought that the employers (and you know who you are) should tremble at the thought of signing off on the paycheck of someone who they are not absolutely convinced is a citizen or legal immigrant.

This second paragraph is not about your post, but when I read those posts about drivers licenses for those not in this country legally, I shudder. I think you Californians and residents of other states impacted by such concerns are very brave when you get behind the wheels of your cars and trucks. Luckily, I live in a state (and in a rural area, to boot) where we don't worry about that. Whew!

I know that there are many reasons why you live where you do, but if I were you I would think about getting out of there if at all possible.

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.

Angelides says he doesn't favor building a big wall to keep illegal immigrants out.