"IMMIGRATION
The Texas Solution – Because of decades-long failure of the federal government to secure our borders and address the immigration issue, there are now upwards of 11 million undocumented individuals in the United States today, each of whom entered and remain here under different circumstances. Mass deportation of these individuals would neither be equitable nor practical; while blanket amnesty, as occurred with the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986, would only encourage future violations of the law. We seek common ground to develop and advance a conservative, market- and law-based approach to our nation’s immigration issues by following these principles:1. Secure Our Borders – The U.S. Border must be secured immediately! We demand the application of effective, practical and reasonable measures to secure our borders and to bring safety and security for all Americans along the border and throughout the nation.
2. Modernize the United States Social Security Card – We support the improvement of our 1936 Social Security card to use contemporary anti-counterfeit technology. The social security card will not be considered a National ID card for U.S. citizens.
3. Birthright Citizenship – We call on the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States to clarify Section 1 of the 14th amendment to limit citizenship by birth to those born to a citizen of the United States with no exceptions.
4. Create an Effective and Efficient Temporary Worker Program – A national Temporary Worker Program should be implemented to bring skilled and unskilled workers into the United States for temporary periods of time when no U.S. workers are currently available. Additional program requirements should require:
- This program would be self-funded through participation fees and fines;
- Applicants must pass a full criminal background check;
- Applicants with prior immigration violations would only qualify for the program if they paid the appropriate fines;
- Applicants and/or Employers must prove that they can afford and/or secure private health insurance;
- Applicants must waive any and all rights to apply for financial assistance from any public entitlement programs;
- Applicant must show a proficiency in the English language and complete an American civic class;
- Temporary Workers would only be able to work for employers that deduct and match payroll taxes;
- All participants would be issued an individual Temporary-Worker Biometric Identification Card that tracks all address changes and both civil and criminal court appearances as a defendant."
How anyone can come to the conclusion that this is "supporting illegal immigration" is beyond me!
“Mass deportation of these individuals would neither be equitable nor practical; while blanket amnesty, as occurred with the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986, would only encourage future violations of the law. “
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Talk about a cheesy false dichotomy! First blanket amnesty is off the table, and “mass deportation” is “spooky talk” to make people like me sound “racist.” The fact of the matter — already well-reported by the MSM — is that when serious immigration-law enforcement is implemented (see AZ SB 1087), many illegals will SELF-DEPORT.
Since this is already known, I can only say that the committee that wrote this had a soft-on-law agenda and that they slid this through.
Apparently Lt-Gov Candidate Jerry Patterson was INSTRUMENTAL in getting this language incorporated into the platform.
Bottom line for voting: Vote for Patterson’s opponent (Todd Staples) for Lt Governor in 2014.
Bottom line long term: In 2014, we need to make sure we “take the platform back” from the amnesty-light crowd.
“How anyone can come to the conclusion that this is “supporting illegal immigration” is beyond me!”
I am not going to address your sentiment, as it probably is by your own account, beyond your understanding.
This is the problem. “...We seek common ground to develop and advance a conservative, market- and law-based approach to our nation’s immigration issues...” There already exists immigration laws! Those laws were voted upon by Congress. The fact that those laws are not being enforced by the Federal Government is the big problem. Why revise something that isn’t utilyzed and isn’t broken?
Conservative is ‘enforcing existing law’, which is missing from the Texas Republican’s party platform. Seeking a “market-based approach...” is evidence present employers of illegal aliens want a pass, so they can continue to exploit cheap labor from south of the border rather than pay U.S. prevailing wages to the unemployed citizens of the U.S. It is typical of a state’s “power to politics” to keep large political donors happy, and it is NOT conservative.
“...there are now upwards of 11 million undocumented individuals in the United States today,..Mass deportation of these individuals would neither be equitable nor practical;..”
On this one, I say bull!
There already exists a means to round-up and mass deport illegal aliens. Homeland Security has plans for evacuating people in the event of emmergencies, and those plans will work perfectly for mass deportations. If Eisenhower could do it, so can we IF we have the will to do so.
“Create an Effective and Efficient Temporary Worker Program”.
Sure sounds good but it has been tried in the past and failed. Enforcement is the key. Such programs in the past allowed people entrance to this country - and they never left.
By the way, back in 1993 when hundreds of thousands of American computer and electrical engineers were out of work, the government was issuing visas to engineers from Asia at the behest of businesses who claimed they couldn’t find American workers. It was nonsense then, just as it is nonsense now.
It is time we, and by that I mean conservatives, stand up for all Americans and stop certain business sectors and the Democratic Party from destroying the United States for their own gain, personal or poltical.