Posted on 03/06/2007 6:23:57 PM PST by AuntB
Stephen Dinan reported Friday in The Washington Times that Senator Ted Kennedy claims he is reaching across the political aisle to include Republicans in his effort to create a “comprehensive immigration bill.” On Wednesday, Dinan had reported that Senator Arlen Specter had accused Kennedy of being secretive regarding the drafting of the bill. Of course, this “comprehensive immigration bill,” which includes a 1986-like Guest Worker Amnesty program, compromises our national security and provides incredible incentives for millions more illegal aliens to come streaming across our nation's borders to receive life-long Social Security benefits, will require bi-partisan support to pass the Senate.
The Guest Worker program would provide official identity documents to millions of illegal aliens whose true identities cannot be verified. These aliens would be able to “jump the line” in front of other would-be immigrants who have gone about the process the proper way. They would be able to bring in their family members and travel freely in and out of our country while they wait for United States citizenship. Of course, that’s if they even want to naturalize, while so many other aliens patiently wait in their home countries to join their family members who are living in the United States legally.
Dinan lists several high-profile Republicans to whom Kennedy says he has reached out include such luminaries as John McCain, the would-be Republican nominee for President in 2008, who is as great a champion of Kennedy's wacky and outrageous amnesty program as you are likely to find. Kennedy has also included George W. Bush for the obvious reasons. In fact, these Republicans are all of the same mind-set as is Kennedy himself.
Immigration is a highly contentious issue with far-reaching implications for the future of our nation. There are members of both political parties who are absolutely ecstatic that our highly porous borders have enabled millions of illegal aliens to enter our country. The Democrats are happy because they see millions of potential new voters that they believe will, for the most part, vote for Democrats. Several Republicans, on the other hand, want these illegal aliens to provide their constituents with an inexhaustible supply of cheap and compliant labor. That is, I suspect, why George W. Bush wants these aliens to participate in a "Temporary Worker Program." Under Bush's plan, these aliens would not be entitled to United States citizenship and would be unable to vote.
Of course the term "Temporary" is extremely disingenuous. If this nation is unable to arrest and deport millions of illegal aliens, how would the President make certain that these "Temporary" workers leave when their authorized period of employment expires? What would prevent more crafty illegal "temporary" aliens from engaging in fraud schemes, such as marriage fraud, to gain resident alien status and be put on the path to United States citizenship? These “guests” would be “temporary” only in as much as no one lives forever.
The Government Accountability Office has issued report after report about the abysmal situation at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is incapable of properly adjudicating millions of applications for various immigration benefits, such as the conference of resident alien status. Last year USCIS "lost" more than 111,000 alien immigration files, including 30,000 files related to aliens seeking to naturalize. Yet even without potentially derogatory information those files could have contained, USCIS approved those aliens’ applications. And now that the USCIS has rammed those applications through in an effort to “improve” customer service and clear their backlog, it’s unlikely anyone’s doing any further investigating of these new resident aliens.
The USCIS is the same agency that would be pressed into service to administer the Guest Worker Amnesty Program. This would be akin to NASA recruiting mathematicians for the space program without knowing who flunked algebra.
Senator Kennedy has been the Democratic Party's most visible proponent for providing lawful status to millions of illegal aliens to whom he refers as simply, "The Undocumented." George W. Bush wishes to "legalize immigrants" and insists that since we are a "nation of immigrants" we must "honor immigrants." Open borders advocates have been framing the debate by using this same language, which is deceptive and inaccurate. For example, these people have demonized the use of the term "Alien," even though the immigration laws of our nation define an alien as simply being "Any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States."
Those who express a desire to identify properly aliens who seek to enter our country are branded "racists or xenophobes." In this politically correct atmosphere, such accusations have impact. If you want to know what it feels like to be an alien or a foreigner, all you need to do is travel to Mexico, Canada or any other country on our planet. When we, as Americans travel to other countries, we are referred to as aliens or foreigners. Many of those countries, especially Mexico, from whence a large percentage of illegal aliens in America have come, also make it clear that you must abide by their laws or face imprisonment or expulsion.
The term alien is not a pejorative but rather a term that properly describes the status of a non-citizen who is present in our country. Immigrants should be honored. They entered our country in accordance with law to share the American dream and in so doing built our nation and provided still more opportunities for more immigrants. Among those immigrants were members of my own family. The difference between an immigrant and an illegal alien is the difference between a houseguest and a burglar.
The amazing thing about this desire to reward illegal immigration is that a program that would legalize this human tidal wave flies in the face of both parties’ basic principles. The Republican Party has always presented itself as being the party on the side of strong national security and effective law enforcement. Common sense makes it clear that open borders endanger our nation's security, so this position contradicts the objectives and priorities of the Republican Party.
As for the Democrats, they traditionally were seen to represent blue collar, middle class America. Yet, the onslaught of these millions of illegal aliens would undercut wages and working conditions in the United States. The President claims often and vociferously that these illegal aliens "Do the work Americans don't want to do," and the Democrats refuse to speak out and challenge this infuriating assertion.
The men who perished in the coal mine disaster at the Sago Mines in West Virginia less than two years ago were all citizens of the United States. Americans will toil in dark, filthy and potentially deadly coal mines in which they may well contract dreaded "Black Lung Disease" from inhaling coal dust; Americans will work in hellish steel foundries; Americans will work as "sandhogs" and perform hard, back-breaking, dangerous work digging tunnels; Americans will drive filthy garbage trucks; Americans will work as firefighters, racing into burning buildings at great risk to their own safety to rescue total strangers. I submit that there is, in fact, no job an American won't take as long as he or she receives a paycheck at week's end.
Yet, when was the last time you heard of a Democrat having the decency or chutzpah to stand up for working men and women, who are supposedly their constituents? I am a life-long Democrat. My dad was a construction worker and a plumber. I spent many wonderful days with my dad as a teenager visiting his construction site and meeting his construction worker buddies. They embodied the "Can do" spirit that built this nation. My parents were members of the Democratic Party because in their day, that party was most likely to represent the best interests of union members such as my dad. How things have changed!
My dad died of cancer when I was 19 years old. I suspect that the lung cancer that caused his demise at the age of 57 was caused by his exposure to asbestos during his many years in the construction trades, exacerbated by his having been a three-pack-a-day cigarette smoker. During WWII, he attempted to enlist in the military but was found to be physically unfit for military duty. Additionally, his brother was already in the Army Air Corps. After the terrible tragedy in which the five Sullivan Brothers perished on the same U.S. Navy warship, the military was reluctant to take my dad because he would be the only surviving male member of the family should his brother die.
My dad was so upset he could not fight for the United States that he decided to use his skills as a journeyman plumber to help repair war-ravaged naval warships that had returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He also traveled all the way to Louisiana to work on warships down there. Those ships were laden with asbestos, which also probably contributed to his exposure to that deadly toxin. Shortly before he passed away, he told me that he did not regret being ill, if it was because of his work on those warships. He said he hoped only that his work had helped our nation at a desperate time in its history.
My dad and his buddies will always be my heroes. They were a bunch of proud men who, I assure you, would be outraged to listen to the President of this country talking about jobs Americans won't do.
Thus far, the immigration debate has been about illusions and accusations. It needs to be about law, facts and the will of the American people. And the fact is, these aliens are breaking the law, and the American people do not want another amnesty program. There simply is no justification for Kennedy’s and McCain’s “Guest Worker Program.”
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
Why does he need more Republicans aka RINOS,? He has the El Presidente Bush.
This should be warning enough. If you ever, EVER, find yourself in agreement with Ted Kennedy, then whatever it is you are doing is wrong.
When Kennedy introduces a bill the only question about McCain's position is did he have time to put on the knee pads before he got down there in front of The Swimmer.
Janet Reno was a much better AG than Gonzales.
Yesterday on Lou Dobbs, there was a Rep. from Seattle Washington who has a bill in congress telling the AG how to do his job. Cracked me up. LOL. If the bill passes, the AG will have to identify the top 3 gangs in the U.S. I'll bet Gonzales doesn't have a clue.
Kennedy has a nice fence around the compound in Mass. Differenct strokes for different folks.
Did we ever think we would say that? Never say never, eh?
Janet Reno took responsibility for her actions. This little ----- is a mealey mouth and in Mexico's pocket. He can't be trusted at all.
Call it the US Sovereignty Party.
A while back I found myself in a state of near shock as I wrote a letter of thanks to Debbie Stabenow. If I recall correctly she voted to end chain immigration.
A few of the democrats are actually listening to their constituents. 2 of them went to Duncan Hunter and asked to sign onto his pardon bill for the border agents. I think he has 90 cosponsors now.
She was real good... Covering her boss you know what..
She also liked to ship little kids back to Cuba and attack people who own guns...
Part of the problem is that people disengage and whine when democrats are in power. Not me, I'm still a constituent whether either of us likes it or not and I talk to them like the employees they are.
When we disengage it gives them free reign to do as they please.
Ping!
It's what they live for and too often get.
Here's another problem evidenced by this AOL poll.
You get to vote on all the candiates/pro/con. It also asks if you know about the candiates record. All of them show that people have no idea who they're voting for.
http://news.aol.com/dailypulse/030507/_a/rate-the-field/20070305105509990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001 Hunter is #10 on the poll I believe.
What would you expect of him---his last name tells all
SwinneySwitch does South Texas/Border; gubamyster and I do Border/Aliens Ping List.
Maybe I should be on your ping list so I can remember that.
Looking...looking...nope, you're not there...yet.
Let me just fix that oversight.
I would put a caution on this article that it is written by a Democrat. Just sayin' .....
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