Posted on 06/14/2007 11:16:52 AM PDT by kristinn
A spokeman for the Bush administration sent an e-mail to Jim Robinson and myself confirming the authenticity of a post on Free Republic this afternoon regarding the immigration bill currently before the Senate as having been posted on behalf of the White House.
The spokesman, Nicholas Thompson, works for the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. The Politico reported yesterday that Thompson and Kerrie Rushton, associate directors in the Office of Strategic Initiatives who work under Karl Rove, would be engaging the blogosphere on the immigration bill.
Thompson's post is on the thread titled Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill, a vanity posted by philman_36. Thompson posted at comment #53.
Thompson's e-mail to Free Republic included a brief introduction and the text of his posted comment:
Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that I just posted a response to the post "Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill."
The White House appreciates the opportunity to respond on Free Republic.
Response:
I would like to point out that the Secretary is authorized to reduce or mitigate penalities against employers who in good faith are trying to comply with the law. Certainly, we understand that not all employers knowingly hire illegal immigrants; this will remain the case, especially before the bill’s new secure documentation requirements are fully phased in. We do not seek to wrongly penalize honest employers who unknowingly hire illegal immigrants, therefore we reserve the right to reduce or mitigate their penalties if the employer can show good faith compliance in following the law.
For those employers who do knowingly hire illegal immigrants, please know that we intend to penalize these employers strongly, and the Administration has already stepped up these penalties in the last couple of years. For example, a 2005 program, “Operation Rollback,” assessed $15,000,000 in civil fines to employers, an amount greater than the sum of administrative fines collected in the previous eight years and was the largest worksite enforcement penalty in US history. In the first quarter of FY07, criminal and civil forfeitures have totaled $26,700,000 for employers.
As a reminder of what’s in the bill, fines for hiring an illegal worker are $5,000 maximum per illegal worker for the first offense, $10,000 maximum per illegal worker for the second, $25,000 maximum per illegal worker for the third , and $75,000 maximum per illegal worker for the fourth. In addition, the bill increases the maximum criminal penalty for a pattern or practice of unlawful hiring twenty-five-fold, from $3,000 to $75,000, and would impose a prison term of up to six months. This represents a significant increase in fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Nicholas Thompson
White House Office of Strategic Initiatives
Yeah I look at his card it sez birth date such and and such, some simple math and I've got it figured out. However if the ID he give me turns out to be false I am not fined.
Not so with the little social security crap they are pushing on us. The government is asking employers to verify documents now. It may not sound like much to you but it is added crap on my workload because the government can't figure out how to stop folks from crossing the border.
And like I showed in another post today it is just that little bit extra and then in a year or two it is a brief history and a picture. And then maybe a thumbprint and of course DNA testing.
And like I pointed out in another post if he above sounds far fetched consider that 50 years ago my Grandfather smoked in his grocery store while waiting on customers and walked around town with a gun on his hip legally, and no one thought anything about it. If he were alive today he could end up in Federal Prison for doing such.
But see all of that Freedom disappeared just a little at a time, and just this one little bit more won't hurt anything right?
Or do you not believe in limited-government either?
lol
Damn right. And I’m a technical writer if you must know. I have NEVER worked directly for the government (a couple of contract jobs, technology related), and am pretty sure that President Bush can stick up for himself, but I’m having fun messing with people who seem to think they know all the answers.
Do you have a problem with any of this? Do I not have the right to disagree with you?
A paranoid troll no less...
Once again, you're referring to some kind of bizarre non-existant "Fuhrer Oath."
They might make you take such an oath in the Whitehouse, but I assure you, we take an oath to defend the Constitution, not the President, out here in the real world.
And we even remember this part of the Constitution, that you have forgotten:
U.S. Constitution, Article 4 Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
lol!
It depends on what type of nonsense people are hurling at her, frankly. And I am fully aware of what points people are trying to make. Don’t get it, huh? I think they are WRONG. People CAN agree on issues, and disagree on matters of civility, rationale, etc.
Proud to be gang-banging? It’s such an impressive skill set.
MY BATTLE FLAG...
Hey, whatever keeps you off the streets of the mean, mean city.
YD seems to refer to some kind of Fuhrer Oath. He says that it's treasonous to diss the Pres. Wonder where he gets that idea?
(Hint: Tony Snow's Whitehouse Blog War Room.)
That’s all you got, huh? Weak.
Quick question and you must answer RIGHT NOW: what does SQL stand for?
Bump to your Bump! That whole fiasco makes me sick to my stomach.
That's the most insulting part. The millions of people who helped him get elected, he now treats as ignoramuses who don't know exactly what he's doing to them and this country.
BTW, what does that patch represent?
I am in stitches.
You haven’t seen a good gang-bang. It takes very little skill to ask a question. It does indeed take some skill to ask a question you know another will avoid answering. Now, for the last part...it takes absolutely no skill whatsoever type “yes” or “no” into a keyboard. You have thus far not risen to that challenge, therefore everything you’ve said and will continue to say is suspect of complete and total ignorance. That’s if you look at the bright side.
It’s what your precious pro-amnesty senators are doing, sweetcheeks. Gangbanging on an unprecedented scale in US history.
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