Posted on 06/28/2007 10:32:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
PHOENIX (Reuters) - For day laborers seeking work in a sun-baked parking lot on Thursday, defeat of U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for an immigration overhaul has set back their dreams of a normal life.
The bill, which sought to give legal status to many of the 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, failed to get enough support in a make-or-break vote in the U.S. Senate.
Workers standing around in searing heat outside a building materials store in Phoenix said hopes of an aboveboard life in this country of immigrants had crashed following news of the morning vote.
"Bush wanted to do something good, but the Senate wouldn't let him. It's disappointing," Miguel Gonzalez, 37, who has been in the United States for five years, said in Spanish.
"I have heard nothing but proposals and more proposals since I arrived ... but they all get thrown out for one reason or another," the Mexican national added with a shrug.
Bush has sought an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws for years and this bill may have been his last chance for a significant domestic legislative victory before leaving office at the end of his second term in January 2009.
It tied tough border security and workplace enforcement measures to a plan to legalize illegal immigrants and create a temporary worker program sought by business groups.
For Juan Carlos Esquivel, 36, a day laborer from Mexico City with a wife and three children, the defeat made no sense.
"There's work to be done, we want to do it, and now we can't. So how can that be a victory?" he said, standing in the shade of a mesquite tree in a straw sombrero. "Everybody loses, and the economy will suffer."
'WE'RE TRASH TO THEM'
Bush was unable to overcome fierce opposition from fellow Republicans who said the measure would reward an estimated 12 million immigrants for taking up residence in the United States illegally.
In Los Angeles, Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony, a key supporter of immigration reform on the West Coast, expressed regret about the Senate's decision.
"Without reform, our current system will continue to permit the exploitation of workers, the separation of families, and will handicap efforts to secure our nation's borders," he said in a statement
Janet Napolitano, the Democratic governor of the border state of Arizona, said she was "sorely disappointed" by the Senate's failure to act on the issue.
"By leaving it unattended, Congress is shirking its responsibility to not only Arizona, but the entire country," she said.
Back in the parking lot, where the temperature hit 107 F (42 C) in the shade, day laborer Bonifacio Sosa said the Senate's move would keep him on the margins of society and on the run from police.
"We are illegals, we are just trash to them, and we'll just have to carry on here in the shadows hiding from everyone," said Sosa, 58, who has raised four children since arriving in the United States 14 years ago.
"I have neither a voice or a vote, except when I pay fines or taxes," he added as traffic roared by in the street.
That should be Spanish...
If he heads south along I-10, turns left in Tucson, and heads toward Nogales, he can find work building the damn fence that Bush has failed to build. After he’s done,all he has to do is continue south. Eventually, he’ll come across everyone who speak nothing but Spanish.
I wonder if this will have an effect on the phone systems saying “for espaniol marke ocho”. i get so sick of that.
Should be: ILLEGAL Workers standing around in searing heat outside a building materials store in Phoenix said hopes of an aboveboard life in this country of LEGAL immigrants had crashed following news of the morning vote.
I just called to test it before I posted it again (to demand they build the fence). It’s still working as of 15 minutes ago...
Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Toll free to the US Senate:
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)
Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!
Hey Bonifacio, I'm pretty sure that would be my status if I was to sneak into Mexico illegally. Funny how that works, eh?
I thought it was “marke dos.” How many languages do you have over there?
What's your point, Jose?
Legal immigrants pay fines and taxes and don't have a vote either.
spanese?
I don’t know....marke dos...marke ocho...marke cinco..I just get really irritated by it.
“over there”?
Where are you?
I am in Mexifornia. Where are you?
Forget the blarney fence. Erect a stinkin’ wall! If it worked in China, we can certainly do the same.
Although I am thankful the president strongly supported pro-life policies, I now have a lesser opinion of him as a result of this anti-American bill as well as his NAFTA Superhighway.
Oh, I see that you divide your time between Seattle and Portland. The illegals are slowly migrating their way up to you.
Yes, assimilation is not on the Mexican illegal caravan.
See the parade of Mexican flags outside homes, anytown U.S.A.
Whatever happened to the idea of the “melting pot”?
Why should one group garner special privelges. If they were citizens would’nt this be in violation of the constitution?
Illegal means they are illegal. Why are they so vituously depicted by the annointed?
Republican congressman must address this issue. the party might dodge a fatal bullet by bringing a better proposal to the floor. If not Bush and the republicans could hang for this terrible fiasco.
They’re here, I’m sure not as many though...probably partly because of the weather...
I grew up in Southern California, it used to be nice.
Yes, I don’t think we should be complacent with the killing of that horrendous bill. We still have a mess to clean up. We need to push for the wall and for enforcement of the border. I hope talk radio can inspire us to continue our calls and emails before the Fairness (aka censorship) Doctrine sets in. If talk radio is afraid, we’ll have to continue the fight.
There, fixed..
I get the scent of the Jayson Blair syndrome in these “immigration pieces”.
These yearning erstwhile “Americano Nuevos”, who shall remain nameless and placeless are no more real that the “Rashids”, the “sources” of information of reporters/journalists in Iraq.
These are composites. Not real people, but the way reporters channel ghosts of what they think subject ILLEGALS would say and think.
Fake but inaccurate reportage from real but constipated media whores.
Just like we can’t be the policeman of the world we can’t be the employer for the world.
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