Posted on 01/26/2004 3:57:19 PM PST by yoe
Republican lawmakers who generally back President Bush are not backing him on immigration. In fact, they want their leaders to know they have "serious concerns" about President Bush's proposed immigration policy.
In a letter addressed to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and several other members of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus said they won't go along with the president's plan because it "does not address the problem appropriately."
"In fact, in our view, it will further exacerbate the problem and create discontent amongst the Republican Party," the letter said.
Jones, in a press release, said he and other lawmakers would consider alternative guest-worker legislation, as long as it does not reward lawbreakers with amnesty.
Although President Bush insists his proposal does not include amnesty, Jones said he thinks it does - because it would make illegal aliens who work in the U.S. for a number of years eligible for legal status and citizenship. That is de facto amnesty, Jones and the other lawmakers said in their letter.
"Since the President's speech, our offices have been inundated with calls from dismayed constituents expressing vehement opposition to the Administration's proposal," the "Dear Mr. Speaker" letter said.
"If we do not listen to our constituents on this matter, our influence and effectiveness in Congress could be jeopardized. Simply put, we cannot continue to allow our immigration laws to be violated and ignored -- and illegal aliens are by definition criminals."
According to the letter, President Bush's immigration proposal has left many conservatives "dismayed, angry and confused."
"Mr. Speaker, it is our hope that you will recognize the problems the Administration's proposal has created for our constituents," the letter says.
It notes that "respect for the rule of law is a core conservative value," and it urges the Republican leadership in the House to find a solution to America's immigration problem "that is more in line with the principles of our Party and our national traditions."
Earlier this month, President Bush proposed a new "temporary worker program" that would offer temporary legal status to millions of undocumented workers who have jobs in the U.S.
Bush said his program would "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs."
Temporary workers would be expected to return permanently to their countries after their work stint in the United States has expired. Temporary workers wishing to seek American citizenship would be allowed to apply in the normal way, according to the president's plan.
"They will not be given unfair advantage over people who have followed legal procedures from the start. I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship," Bush said.
"America is a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America," Bush added.
Bush's proposal drew immediate criticism from conservatives, who see it as a threat to national security and an affront to the rule of law.
Ask yourself where our President is getting his ideas about "compassionate government". Could someone else who reads this stuff actually believe that the United States, OWES the rest of the world a nice living with good food and a job be coaching him?
After spending a couple of weeks amongst these reports from the UNITED NATIONS, don't get my sick attitude, thinking "Don't Breed Em if you can't Feed 'Em"
On another note, there's a brilliant suggestion by a guy named Ed Rubinstein (on a site which is STRENG VERBOTEN on FR--can't even name or link it...sorry...) for a "supply side" solution to illegal immigration. As an alternative to deportation, TAX illegals discriminatorily and disproportionately. Tax their remittances to Mexico.
You subsidize something, you get more of it; you tax it, you get less. Right now, we subsidize illegal immigration. Let's tax the HELL out of it!
I doubt anyone is naive enough to think Vicente Fox was jumping up and down with joy, high-fiving his fellow elites because he anticipates any of his citizens would ever be coming back. He intends many more will be brought over, he wasn't shouting "we're going for more!!, we're going for more!!" for no reason.
There is something interesting though. I am hearing people actually talk about this issue. People are starting to think about it. Maybe there is a method to the madness? Back in the Clinton days, if you even dared to mention this issue , you would be met with the 1000 decibel, ear-splitting, air-horn blasting screech of:
RACISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the 'Rats. It would effectively shut down any discussion at all.
We are still suffering from the effects of the Thought Police of the Clinton Years, but maybe this is making people actually think about this.?.
I thought of another solution to the problem. President Bush could offer free Bus rides to the Canadian border for all illegals wanting services(socialized medicine up there don't cha know). Then he (Bush) could put his feet up on his desk and do his best Vincente imitation "No es mi problemo!
I still think he can paint himself out by getting better on the specifics. He could say that any business bringing in foreigners will provide the foreigner and any family members they bring over their health care and medical costs, and any educational costs of those family members --- it should not be up to the taxpayers. He could also clarify better how the businesses will have to begin to offer these jobs to American citizens, in a manner in which the job will be widely and easily known to those people who need the jobs. If the job isn't one that requires literacy --- it should be posted in the low-income neighborhoods and housing projects --- not on the internet, recruiters should go to American towns before heading off to Mexico to recruit.
It was an election year political move.
He knew that when it came to objections from the conservative base, they would be forgotten soon after Congress shot down his proposal. It would no longer be an issue.
And when it came to support in the hispanic community and those who have friends and relatives who are illegals, they will be impressed that Bush at least tried to help them.
I don't believe this will hurt Bush come Nov.
My husband is in Mexico, waiting to be allowed up here on a spousal visa.
I am completely against illegal immigration
I am an American Citizen of German/Scottish descent who works as a Spanish Translator for the government here in Kansas.
We have a HUGE hispanic population here, 99.999% illegal. MOST of them are here because they came from extreme poverty (Some, but I have to be honest, not that many, are here to live wrecklessly and commit crimes....other than being illegal to begin with).
My husband went several years as a kid where they were lucky to eat stale tortillas once a day. His mother suffered a stroke, and his father left the family. There was nobody to make money. In Mexico, a skilled labor job will make $100 per week max. Rent for a SHACK costs $100 per month. Clothing that costs $18 up here, goes for $60(US) in Mexico.
Things are not comfy cozy down there. When we hear about mexicans living 10 to an apartment up here, they are happy to live that way. They are sending their money down to Mexico to provide for their families.
Don't get me wrong. I don't like to see money going to other countries, but most of that money they send IS earned by them. We wouldn't want the government to control where we put OUR money, would we? There are sooo many problems caused here by illegals, but there are also huge benefits. After speaking to immigration officials here, I understand that they are severely understaffed, and cannot just go deporting people by the busload on a whim. They go after the murderers and major criminals. There are some crappy Mexicans, and I am unfortunate enough to have met them. I know a Mexican woman who has been caught stealing at her job twice...shoplifts on a daily basis, has kids with any guy who shows up, steals license plates just so she doesn't have to register a car in her own name...Ooops! She is an American citizen. Too bad we can't deport her too.... We can't even bring our own people to justice.
Rest assured that once an illegal criminal is deported, that doesn't mean he won't come back. I know one illegal who has commited about every crime in the book, has been deported, re-entered, was incarcerated then deported again, and lo and behold, he has made it up here the third time.
Shall we spend all the government's money to hire a government employee for every 5 illegals to monitor them for the rest of their lives? It is impossible to monitor these people. How can we monitor 11 million illegals when California can't keep track of 30,000 sex offenders?
Perhaps building a Berlin Wall on the border would be neat. Would that keep people out? I am all for it if we were promised nobody would come over ANY border again. That would be wishful thinking, though. What would that wall do for our trade with Mexico and everything South? That would make enemies in our own hemisphere. That's something Al Qaeda drools over.
I believe that Bush's address was thought over more than what people have given him credit for. I don't believe in giving those people amnesty, and the temporary jobs "that Americans don't want" will end up being a fiasco, but I believe that Bush is responding to some serious messages from employers of illegal Mexicans, and some cries for help from illegals who have been most notoriously abused in their quest to just help their families survive.
Last, I would like to appeal to the people who say that Mexicans should wait for a "visa". At this time, it can take YEARS for a Mexican national to make it up here through normal INS protocol. It costs LOTS of money and time, which almost all impoverished Mexicans don't have.
I cannot imagine all of the employers out there who will be without their cheap labor. Many illegal Mexicans up here make as much $$ as Americans do, but work without health insurance, knowlege of OSHA rights, retirement, overtime, raises, or social security benefits that they paid into. Yes, many are paid under the table as are MANY MORE Americans. If we don't want illegals paid under the table, we have to eliminate the Americans who are paid that way as well. We have to look at how we overlook our own citizens' crimes if we want to seriously do something about undocumented aliens. If we want them to come here legally, we need to at least help them do it. The 3 year guest worker program sounds reasonable...the question is how many more illegals will keep on coming over the borders? We have to be ready to deport on the spot, out of our own pockets...who is willing to spend money on this?
I have seen both sides of the immigration war. I have been staunchly against illegal immigration, but one must walk a mile in their shoes to get a molecule of compassion for their struggle. Has anyone here as a kid prayed on Christmas that Santa would bring you a couple PEANUTS so that you wouldn't be hungry? My husband did as a kid. He is against illegal immigration as well, but understand that for many it is their only resort. He tends to be more of an activist against hunger/poverty, and I am more concerned with criminals in general. We can't catch and prosecute our own citizens....how will we keep track of people who have no identity?
Don't deport every last one of them --- some would be too hard to find --- but deport many more than are being deported now. Even in this town where deportations commonly occur --- no Americans care, pictures of Mexicans walking back over the bridge after being let back into their own country through that gate by the INS, don't raise an eyebrow. If they do print a photo of it, it doesn't raise too much interest.
I think that should be done of their employers who brought them over here and hired them instead of trying to hire Americans. The employers will claim they need them so badly --- then let them pay for their total costs to this country. $5,000 to $25,000 per illegal employee would start to make a dent.
Well, we'll see. This whole thing feels like busting up with your best girl after you catch her sleeping with the gardener. You've chucked her out, but you keep waiting by the phone for her to call and say: "I'm sorry. I must have been crazy...Please take me back..."
I have found, like you, that usually there aren't any group of people more against illegal immigration, than legal immigrants. They are hurt the most by it.
I'm sure some will think this is an attack, but it's not meant that way. There are times when I am convinced Bush and other leaders have no clue what what illegal immigration has done, and is doing to citizens of this nation. They just DON'T get it.
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