Change of Heart on Immigration? The White House thinks it’s calling America’s bluff.

National Review Online ^ | August 13, 2007 | Mark Krikorian

[org.whodat]

The same sort of thing happened half a century earlier, when the textile industry predicted disaster if child labor were ended. At a Senate hearing in 1916, one mill owner said that limiting child labor would “stop my machines”; another said “investors would never receive another dividend”; while a third said that ending child labor would “paralyze the country.”

And before that it had something to do with picking cotton! Pack'em up send'em home.

[expatpat]

As far as I am concerned, this is OK. We probably do need to hire some Mexicans here in the US, but let’s do it legally, with no special path to citizenship, or welfare and other special benefits.

[Hazcat]

Stand firm and keep the phone handy. It’s not over.

I agree. Read my tag line.

[servantboy777]

We keep focusing on Bush....but he’s not the only pro-union elite. Once he’s gone, another globalist will just take his place.

There gonna get their way.

[donna]

Or as DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff put it, “There will be some unhappy consequences for the economy out of doing this.”

The non-English speaking economy.

[Radix]

Gosh, the Government is thinking about actually enforcing Laws that they created?

Oh we’ll all be sorry now.

As far as the SS BS is concerned, if you have a spouse and try to jointly electronically file Federal taxes and the spouse has not reported the name change (assuming there was one) then guess what...the IRS will not accept your return.

That is a fact.

[Normal4me]

Does this mean us white guys might start getting more construction work again?

[AmericanExceptionalist]

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

This Mencken sentiment appears to be the guiding idea behind the administration’s announcement Friday of stepped-up immigration enforcement. After its relentless six-year campaign for amnesty crashed and burned in June at the hands of the common people, the White House has come up with a new plan: to start enforcing some of the laws they should have been enforcing all along, and so thoroughly scare the public with the consequences that there will be a popular groundswell for amnesty that will finally vindicate the administration position. You can almost hear the president thinking, “be careful what you wish for.”

This explanation strikes me as a bit Machiavellian for this administration, which has generally seemed rather principled.

Still, the immigration debate may be an exception. The Bush Administration has appeared more concerned with the rapidly growing Hispanic vote than with matters of principle, as concerning this particular issue.

So maybe Krikorian is onto something, after all...

[lapster]

Finally, someone has had the courage to get to the bottom of the entire, disgusting mess. If we tell the dregs of society that the Gravey Train just derailed, we may all be very surprised at the number of jobs Americans will suddenly want to do.

We have spawned an entire sub-culture (perhaps sub-species would be more precise) of lazy bums in this country who now think they are “entitled” to live off of the rest of us and wring their bread from the sweat of our brows. It’s time to tell them to work, or die — before they finish sucking us dry!

[3AngelaD]

Hilarious. Wonder if they have seen that Rasmussen poll showing 79 percent approval of the administration's immigration crackdown. See

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880477/posts

[dennisw]

bttt

[longtermmemmory]

lets be serious too.

Many of these letters will mean nothing because much of the illegal alien work is done by service companies. Lawn care, day labor, or painters hired by homeowners do not hit this radar.

This effort is sleazy and will only backfire when the base understands the reason for it. They are NOT going after the illegal aliens who are committing felonies by killing people. They are not focusing on gangs or terrorists. A triage approach is required.

[backtothestreets]

Not quite true. Most of the "jobs Americans will not do" require the employee to speak Spanish. Most US citizens do not speak Spanish. In some perverted twist, our government funded schools are required to offer MANDATORY bilingual education to children from households where English is not the primary language, but offer no comparable bilingual Spanish language courses for children from households where English is the primary language. Since the majority of children in bilingual classes are from households that are Spanish speaking AND non-citizens, and businesses continue to make the ability to speak Spanish a requirement for employment, the government assures is assuring the demand for non-citizen labor. These businesses must make themselves more accommodating to English speaking job applicants.

Also, I'm no attorney, but it would seem to me the mandatory bilingual education in public schools is in direct violation of laws and court rulings requiring equal education opportunity as it prepares only some children for future employment. In this instance the inequity is toward children that are born US citizens.

[longtermmemmory]

I think Rove’s departure is going to be very bad on this.

James Baker apparently is one of the proponents on this illegal alien amnesty. (per a comment on FNC today)

[Delacon]

“This explanation strikes me as a bit Machiavellian for this administration, which has generally seemed rather principled”

Well the Bush administration has had its conniving moments even with its base. Do you recall how they passed the campaign finance reform bill in the middle of the night? How about even how they tried to push through the amnesty bill. Honestly though, when reports first started coming out about the intended crackdown, I thought it was just Bush finally waking up and smelling the coffee. But something didn’t sit well. I mean I could see Bush doing a bunch of half measures. But doing a 180 degree turn? It didnt make since. All the while he and Chertoff have been whining about the lost reform bill. This article makes much more sense as to Bush’s motives in my opinion.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Holy cow ! My poblano peppers will got to $.25 pound...eye yi-yi !

[tennteacher]

Amen to that.

This has been orchestrated all along.

Mechanize. It’s cheaper in the long run.

[Blue State Insurgent]

Iâ??ve spoken to a grower about how the ag industry could get around this.

If the â??no-matchâ? comes up with a name and SS number conflict that must be resolved 30 days, then the growers will fire the illegal on the 3Oth day and hire him again the next day under a new phony name and SS number. As this will eventually prompt another no-match the same worker will get yet another name and SS number.

[Grunthor]

“as DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff put it, “There will be some unhappy consequences for the economy out of doing this.”

Do your friggin’ job and quit whining. We are watching.

[lightANDlaw]

My ancestors were greeted at Ellis Island where they were asked to sign their X next to the name the government official thought he heard. There are no ports of entry along the Mexican border, wouldn’t that be the first step? Wouldn’t it be better if we registered each immigrant as they sought to come in rather than rounding them up to deport them, thereby threatening the well-being of our industries? We have full employment with 13 million illegal immigrants, the government goofed but no one is being held accountable.