Posted on 03/08/2002 1:24:33 PM PST by sarcasm
Friday, March 08, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo takes credit for thwarting the Bush administration's last effort to offer partial amnesty to thousands of illegal residents, but Thursday the outspoken immigration foe said he may have been outmaneuvered by the White House.
President Bush has struck a deal with the House leadership to place legislation that offers an extension of amnesty on its consent calendar before Bush heads to Mexico for a state visit next week, the Colorado Republican said. That action should ensure quick House passage of legislation that Bush has repeatedly sought from Congress. It would allow an undocumented person to receive legal standing, such as a valid green card, by filing a declaration with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. It presumably also would require the person to have been in the United States by a certain date and have filed a declaration with the INS from an appropriate sponsor, such as a relative or employer, and pay a $1,000 penalty. "The terms are still up in the air," said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration, a group that has been allied with Tancredo. "We've heard to the effect that the president wants something to bring down to Mexico." The initial Bush proposal, designed exclusively for Mexicans, once was high on the president's legislative wish list, but it was delayed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. However, as the president noted Wednesday in a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, he now is pushing for the extension of the amnesty program known by the section of immigration law that covers it, Section 245I. The president hailed it as a way to reunite family, separated by the border. "If you believe in family values, if you understand the worth of family and the importance of family, let's get 245I out of the United States Congress and give me a chance to sign it," Bush told the chamber members. Tancredo, the head of a congressional caucus on immigration issues and proponent of halting virtually all immigration, said he had blocked a previous attempt by Bush to push an extension of the amnesty program through the House. But this time, he said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had agreed to place the issue on the suspension, or consent, calendar, making it difficult to defeat the proposal. The Senate might be more favorable to the bill than the House, expanding the numbers of individuals who can apply, Tancredo said.
LET'S ROAR!
You got it - your in!! Thanks.
Aren't these criminals free to rejoin their families in Mexico anytime they want to? I don't understand. Nice try W.
We believe in laws.
"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law." - G.W. Bush Austin, Texas, Nov. 22, 2000, Slate
Regardless of how much we like Bush, we can't allow him to take away power from our Legislative Branch...because we won't like it when Hillary does the same thing in 2008.
Excellent! Does this mean Washington might actually be listening?
John Warner is running for re-election this fall in VA UNCONTESTED and our Repubbies are herding us along to the polls to insure the bad DEMs don't get votes. This is a good example of the opportunity we need to get counted.
There is NO threat of "giving it to the evil Dems" in this race but we could prove to be a painful splinter the Republicans can not ignore nor take for granted. If we could show anything over 5%, it would label us as a force to be recconed with in close elections in the future...
We can't win in the close elections for we will be labeled as "spoilers" even when the RINOS have lost the hand themselves (as they did in the last Govorner's race in VA).
Why would sombody make such an ignorant statement...just because we don't want our neighborhoods to all look like Nogales? I agree with you. It is ludicrous!
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