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
To: devolve; ntnychik; PhilDragoo; dixiechick2000; bitt; nicmarlo; The Spirit Of Allegiance; ...
He’s singing the FREEPER’S SONG
I CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION
838 posted on 06/14/2007 7:29:16 PM
CDT by potlatch
(MIZARU_ooo_‹(•¿•)›_ooo_MIKAZARU_ooo_‹(•¿•)›_ooo_MAZARU_ooo_‹(•¿•)›_ooo_))
Boy am I ever convinced now about this bill their trying to pass. /s
Pard, what in perdition are you talking about?
He said we didn’t want what’s best for America and implies those arguing against are against it because of the color of their skin and the language they speak.
Just because he hasn’t used the direct words like Graham or Chavez doesn’t mean the rest of us have to play the fool and ignore his obvious meaning.
Have you written or called your congresscritters? Have you written letters to the editor of your local paper? FR is just one voice in the blogosphere (and no, technically, FR is not a blog). I blog at many of the most popular right-wing websites. I specifically registered at the ones that I know get media review or that members of the “traditional” media also belong to so I make sure my voice is heard. You may want to consider doing the same.
And don’t forget one very important thing, just like one may speak to family members differently than in public, to many at FR, we are a kind of a family where we have a tendency to kick our shoes off and be less formal. Sometimes that makes it a rough and tumble place and sometimes it’s just home.
could you repeat post #4??!!! A little louder? perhaps the message is not clear enough. the white house is defending the bill with that post and letter, is that what i am getting? but only the part about the employer issue.... what about the rest?!
I don’t see anyone saying that there is an easy solution to this problem. There is a simple one, though; enforce the laws we already have on the books. No one expects an overnight remedy. The problem is the government is doing nothing, zero, zilch, nada, about the problem. I simply cannot stand people who say “we can’t” or “it’s too hard”.
I mean how assinine is this? They say it’s too hard to enforce our current laws, so they want to make new ones. Do you really think they will enforce anything? All of these politicians have what I consider a “loser’s” mentality.
Gotten an earful today haven’t you?
The bottom of the post you just made has this;
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 863 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
The bottom of my post #838 has this;
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
there is NO [to #] and you won’t find it in your ping list because of that.
It is weird to see Bush in such a frenzy over the amnesty bill that will only hurt this country. The bill speak for itself, and that is why so many of us oppose it.
.
#838
It’s on “My Comments” page at 7:29pm
I hope it is a different Thompson.
Did the guy ever reply? If not, don’t we call that trolling around here?
OK, I’m glad it is. I didn’t think you saw it until the second time I pinged you.
I’m sure you saw that there is no number down there at the bottom of the post. Lol, another mystery.
Protect our nation's sovereignty. Protect the United States of America against enemies foreign or domestic, as your boss's oath mandates.
Please do not give us one more empty promise, platitude or lie about our nation's security. Ignore American citizens at your peril.
Thank you
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