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
Database. Geek. Nice try.
A Fence is a temporary hindrance. A wall with armed individuals who are serious about shooting people who try to climb it is an actual Barrier to illegal entry.
Bring home all the soldiers all these eurotwits complain about and build em some nice new bases every 100 miles on both borders. then let the army core of engineers build you a wall system.
To heck with this half measure crapola I say.
Shoot, he/she/it has 7 ‘yankee dutches’ alternating posts on this thread ‘in character’. And Hill-Knowlton gives ‘em free coke.
Can’t stand it that people disagree w/ you? Josef? Mr. Stalin?!!!
Are you there?
And, um, for the record? White House is TWO words.
I can see why you need pictures and cartoons to make your point . . . just a sec, Barney is here and wants a biscuit . . . duty calls . . . !!!
I asked you what the letters STAND FOR. You don’t know.
You’re not a techical writer. You’re a shill.
------------------------------------------
Well said you treasonpus, stalinist, hateful bastard...
I just received an email from Elizabeth Dole and she stands with Inhofe, Sessions, and DeMint. She is not a happy person:
Dear friend,
When it comes to amnesty for illegal aliens, I’ve never paused, hesitated or stammered – I say I’m flat out opposed to it!
I opposed amnesty when I ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002. I fought to defeat the amnesty bill that passed the Senate in 2006. I fought tooth and nail to take down the amnesty bill that ultimately failed on Thursday.
In fact, I cast the deciding procedural vote Wednesday night that ultimately broke up the coalition of Senators who were trying to ram this bill through the Senate. (click to read article).
The immigration problem indeed raises many tough questions – and I am certain that the bill Harry Reid was finally forced to pull off the Senate floor Thursday night is NOT the answer.
This legislation put the cart ahead of the horse. It rushed to legalize millions of illegal aliens – that is NOT the urgent matter at hand. We must deal with the real crisis and first focus on securing our borders and enforcing our laws. We are a nation of laws – it’s time we act like it!
Up to a million illegal aliens cross the porous southern border each year.
No immigration reform legislation will succeed – not even good reform (which the Kennedy bill was NOT) – unless our borders are secure.
For decades, Americans have been promised a secure border, but it hasn’t happened. Consider the recent legislation that authorized 700 miles of fencing – astoundingly, just TWO miles have been constructed!
Americans are rightly cynical about any promises to secure the border.
My parameters are simple: One, we must secure the border. Two, we must enforce the laws already on the books and empower law enforcement officials to do their jobs enforcing them. Then and only then we can take up immigration reform.
I must be honest with you, many of my colleagues in Congress disagree with me. And President Bush disagrees with me.
The Democrats have promised to soon bring this bad bill back to the Senate floor, and the Democrats are planning a major political assault on me for my opposition. They will use this to try to hurt me in the upcoming election.
Be assured, I will stand firmly against this bill. I don’t care what the political pundits, the media, or the liberals say or think – because I reject the notion that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens will solve our country’s out of control immigration problem. I can wage this fight as long as I know you are standing with me.
Please let me know I can count on you:
Please use this contribution button to help my campaign fight back against the attacks that are sure to come.
[See the attached file]
Thank you so much for your help and support – and thank you for your commitment to a safer, more prosperous America.
Sincerely:
[See the attached file]
Elizabeth Dole
U. S. Senator
BWWAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...
I would give my left arm to have Inhofe representing me.
Did you ever figure out what a DD 214 is? LOL...hint, its not a gun...
Wow.
I hope Nicholas asks the Mexican president of the U.S. why he sold his own country out.
“I’m having fun messing with people who seem to think they know all the answers.”
So that’s it right? You have fun with people who “think they have all the answers”, while you deal with the fact that you have your own ongoing continual struggle to even complete a thought process, draw a conclusion and then answer a yes or no question. Don’t worry, I’ve seen this before, and no...I can’t help you. Don’t listen to the doctors either...it IS NOT curable.
:-)
That’s to you...’Ma’m
You are so right about Liddy Dole. I just received an email from her tonight going after this bill which I posted on this thread. The inference I got from the email is that she is going to have to raise her own money by going against the President but it makes her no difference because she is standing up for what is right. I have new found respect for her after reading the email. She nails it.
My understanding is that our Oklahoma delegation including two Senators and five Congressman are all against this bill.
I agree that it is probably an unlikely scenario to deport millions of illegals, but I do agree with the poster who advocated immediately deporting illegals who come into contact with ANY US law official.
Your “nerd” score may be 71, but I like you already! lol
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