Posted on 06/09/2008 11:46:57 AM PDT by Dawnsblood
President Bush has signed an executive order requiring contractors and others who do business with the federal government to make sure their employees can legally work in the United States.
Mr. Bush signed the order Friday and the White House announced the order Monday.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez planned an afternoon news conference to discuss the order and other ways the administration has stepped up its crackdown on illegal immigration.
The order says federal departments and agencies must require contractors to use an electronic system to verify that the workers are eligible to work in the U.S.
The order is aimed at cracking down on hiring of illegal immigrants. But people who overstayed visas or came to the country legally but do not have permission to work, such as some students or those awaiting work permits, also could be snagged with the system.
"It is the policy of the executive branch to enforce fully the immigration laws of the United States, including the detection and removal of illegal aliens and the imposition of legal sanctions against employers that hire illegal aliens," in the executive order says.
The order comes as a worker verification bill has essentially stalled in Congress. A Democratic immigration enforcement bill would require employers to check the citizenship and legal status of all their employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
If your only point is that my statement isn't an absolute then you're right. Good work. Brilliant! even. ;^)
Hi Tiger -
Here’s some snips from an article in a Dallas paper talking about the land owner issues in Texas. They do mention that 303 miles of fence have been built. Not sure what the quality of the fence is (single, double, vehicle barriers, etc.)
Also - I was surprised to see that only 670 miles of fence was called for by Congress. That leaves what - 1,653 more miles of open border?
OTOH- Duncan’s fence did cut down on the illegals, crime, drugs, etc. in San Diego where his fence was built. I’m not sure why they just don’t go around the fence and still settle in San Diego. Perhaps it was tougher there all the way around, and no need to travel the extra miles just to be at greater risk of getting caught.
********
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031608dntexborderfence.c243b3.html
02:07 PM CDT on Sunday, March 16, 2008
McALLEN, Texas – South Texas landowners fighting border fence surveys have gained traction in court and could keep the federal government from meeting Congress’ demand for 670 miles of Mexican border fencing by the end of the year.......
The Justice Department has sued more than 50 property owners in Texas this year – a total of 75 along the whole U.S.-Mexico border – after the owners refused to allow workers onto their property for preliminary work such as surveys.
No Texas judge has ruled in favor of the landowners, but a recent ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered the government to first try to negotiate the price of access with landowners.
The Department of Homeland Security has won access in 35 of those cases, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Most of the nearly 500 property owners in the fence’s path gave voluntary access to their land and as of Feb. 21, 303 miles of fencing had been built.
Communities along the Rio Grande in South Texas have fought hardest. They fear being cut off from the river and agricultural lands and bristle at the imposition of a plan hatched in Washington, D.C. .....
Hanen, a Bush appointee, has slowed the government considerably from its preferred pace. He has repeatedly denied government motions for immediate access and instead held hearings for property owners to voice their concerns before ultimately siding with the government.......
On March 7, in a 32-page ruling produced after a month of deliberation, Hanen gave the federal government two weeks to prove it had made a bona fide effort to negotiate a price for temporary access to Cameron County landowner Eloisa Tamez’s property.....
The federal government offered $100 Tuesday to Tamez through her attorney, Peter Schey, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. For that, the government would have gotten six months of access to Tamez’s one acre, a remaining piece of a Spanish land grant to her family in El Calaboz. But Schey said they will not agree upon a price until the government defines access. Will it be unintrusive surveying or will a house on the property have to be torn down or moved? ...........
“I’m anticipating that the (Tamez) standard is going to be the universal standard and (Hanen) will apply it to all the cases,” said G. Allen Ramirez, attorney for the Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District. The district sits on a 132-acre campus that extends to the Rio Grande and the fence is likely to cut through its property......
Too late too little.....
Now that you've gone beyond posting anything with any meaning, semantic or otherwise, I think I'll leave you to flounder in your own ignorance. Buh bye.
Ok, I understand . . . when you asked me “Are you saying you think a fence is being built?” you knew the fence is being built, you just wanted to play gotcha’.
What a coincidence . . . right after someone else proved you wrong. C’ya.
Thank you. That was an interesting contribution to the discussion.
First rule of debating --never ask a question for which you do not already know the answer.
I only suspect that you know nothing at this stage.
March 2008
"More than 300 miles of literal fencing, including more than 167 miles of pedestrian fence and 134 miles of vehicle fence, have been laid down. We are on track to building a total of 670 miles of fencing by the end of this year."
" P-28 stands for Project 28, a demonstration project involving one type of "virtual fencing" deployed along a 28-mile stretch in Arizona. It was designed to determine whether a certain kind of technology mix could be used to help secure the border."
Why does it appear that the literal fence is taking a while to construct?
It's supper time for me! Adios! Errrr... I mean goodbye!
And, just exactly when did this process of land acqusition start?
No, the fence is not being built. The Bush administration may have suckered you into thinking it's being built, but that doesn't mean construction has already begun or is about to.
One of Bush's first actions after his inauguration in 2001, was to meet with Vicente Fox to hammer out the details of the P4P agreement. (February, 2001)
On September 6, 2001, George W. Bush and Vicente Fox signed the Partnership for Prosperity agreement (with Mexico), which as I've already noted opened the doors for billions of US dollars to go to Mexico for economic and infrastructure development.
Whether you choose to recognize it or not, Bush's first allegience is to Mexico, not the USA.
That is less than 25% of the Texas border which is 1,254 miles. It would be interesting to know what quality it is. The last time Duncan Hunter spoke about it (that I'm aware of) he said nothing about any double layer fence in Texas having been built. That was a few months ago.
And I suspect you have your lips planted firmly to Bush's backside.
Your welcome. And in some repects a “virtual fence” might speed up some of the coverage as it would seem to me to be less invasive to the landowners. Although probably not too much during the construction phase. It would reduce some of the environmental regulations (I think there are lawsuits by the greenies with respect to the environment laws as well), and allow land owners access to their water. (Can’t they just put a gate in the fence with a lock? Plus a security camera?)
But, obviously a “virtual” fence would have lots of problems as well.
I know in my neck of the woods there have been lots of articles over the increase in the ICE raids, and combined with the construction slow down the illegals are heading home on their own. (Of course with lots of words like “uprooted, American-born children, promising musician, etc...) If only we could get a fence put up along the entire border before the economy picks up and we get Obama or McCain in office.
I know everyone is very cycnical about this move, and its timing. But I, for one, am grateful it finally happened.
In Border Fence's Path, Congressional RoadblocksNo sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts.
Why does it appear that the literal fence is taking a while to construct?Appearances can be deceiving and building is not as simple as it sounds. In order to build a pedestrian fence, for instance, a long period of preparatory work is needed. Holes must be dug, concrete poured, and posts and bollards dropped into the holes. Only then can the wire sheeting be laid between the bollards and an actual fence created.
That's one reason visible signs of progress occur in spurts. But we have built more fence this past year than in the previous 20 years.
There's a load of bureaucratic excuses.
***** “It's one thing to authorize. It's another thing to actually appropriate the money and do it,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.). The fine-print distinction between what Congress says it will do and what it actually pays for is a time-honored result of the checks and balances between lawmakers who oversee agencies and those who hold their purse strings. *******
Not exactly sure that's what the Founding Father's wanted when it came to “checks and balances”.
It is certainly useful for politicians to be able to say they're "for it" or "against it" depending on what audience they're talking to and have something to point to for whichever case they want to make.
It should be clear, even to the shut ins, there was never a desire to secure our borders and sovereignty.
Otherwise, thousands of employers would have been prosecuted and jailed.
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