Posted on 01/27/2004 10:50:21 AM PST by Spiff
MESA, AZ (Talon News) -- In direct response to President George W. Bush's recent call for a temporary worker program for illegal aliens in the United States, the Arizona Republican Party overwhelmingly supported a resolution that would protect Arizona taxpayers from the financial impact this would place on them.
During the Arizona Republican Party convention on Saturday, delegates voted 317-109 for the Protect Arizona Now (PAN) petition, which was drafted to help protect taxpayers against the consequences of granting amnesty to illegal aliens including overcrowded hospitals, increased crime rates, rise in prison populations and escalating health care costs, among other things.
The petition itself states that it wants to prevent "abuse or fraud" by illegal aliens of the government services paid for by Arizona taxpayers.
Supporters of the PAN petition are hoping to get the initiative on the November ballot. If the measure is voted into law by Arizonians, then it would require proof of citizenship to be shown prior to receiving government support and benefits.
However, despite the immense support for the PAN petition by most Arizona Republicans, it is not favored by either state or national GOP leaders.
Regardless, state Rep. Randy Graf, a PAN supporter, said voting for this measure equates to upholding the rule of law by ensuring the rights of all Arizona taxpayers and voters.
"This initiative protects the sacred right of voting in this state," Graf stated. "This has nothing to do with any federal law or guest worker program. It is simply about protecting citizens."
However, state Sen. Carolyn Allen expressed her concern that supporting PAN would ultimately be detrimental to the Bush campaign.
"We want to re-elect George Bush and Dick Cheney in this state," Allen explained. "If this passes, we will suffer."
Allen added that the Bush administration is not happy with this proposal.
"The White House is very concerned about this initiative," she said. "This is not going to help our president in this state."
State House candidate J.T. Ready said concerned Republicans should realize that PAN is a common sense approach to dealing with the problem of illegal aliens.
"Why shouldn't we pass this?" inquired Ready. "After all, Blockbuster Video requires two forms of ID to rent a video."
Ready is extremely concerned that Bush appears to be circumventing the law with his proposal to allow for a temporary worker program for illegal aliens.
"I support the president, but the question is if he supports the U.S. Constitution," Ready expressed.
Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) told the GOP activists in remarks made early in the convention that his meetings with Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft helped educate him on the proposed national Temporary Worker Program.
"My suggestion is as Republicans, we take a breath, gather the facts and not criticize the president other than in our opinions," Kyl instructed.
Kyl admitted that while "virtually all Americans oppose amnesty," Bush's proposal would actually help minimize the continued influx of illegal aliens by holding employers more accountable for who they hire.
"We try hard on the border to keep illegal immigrants out," Kyl stated. "We could do a better job, but we are winking at those hiring illegals. There is a disrespect for the rule of law. It's not good for everybody or the taxpayers who end up subsidizing lower wages."
Arizona Republican Party Chairman Bob Fannin even expressed his concern that the rift between conservatives and GOP leadership over illegal immigration should not be divisive and encouraged the state executive committeemen to support Bush's plan.
Yet Fannin's call for unity was met with criticism and disgust by the committeemen. They believe Fannin should be addressing their sincere concerns with the Temporary Worker Program with the Bush administration directly.
GOPUSA Arizona Editor Dennis Durband warned national GOP leaders to listen to the concerns of the base or else risk losing them as voters in November.
"The lesson to the story is that the Republican Party needs to take in opinions and information from below and give rank and file Republicans legitimate consideration -- as opposed to dictating unpopular policy on an unwilling constituency," Durband wrote.
He continued, "The White House had better start listening to the people and re-thinking its position, because a lot of Republicans are saying Bush will not get their vote as things currently stand. The White House can choose this day whom it will serve. If the White House gets behind PAN, Arizona is in the bag for the president's re-election chances. It's that simple."
Talon News will continue to follow developments in this story.
Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
Obviously. So, please start paying better attention.
Spiffy, can you answer my question? Someone said that illegal immigration has increased 8-fold since GWB announced his immigration plan. I was curious how come we know where they are to count them but we can't seem to find them to send them back?
Do you have one that shows actual illegal immigrant population? "hispanic origin" is a bit vague.
Does that site also have Germanic origin maps? That would be interesting to see. Or even how Germanic origin people spread out of Germany and all over Europe and the world. I guess I am one of those kids of crazy poor German immigrants who had to overpopulate the United States. (isn't that terrible? And they are still reproducing!)
Willfully encouraging the importation of poverty into my country on a massive scale is most certainly NOT in the national interest.
An ill-educated, low skilled & very low paid work force + big families = poor families "living in poverty" and on various taxpayer assistance plans.
And please don't feed me the "they are going home in three years" crap. Jose isn't here alone for 3 (or 6) years, Mrs. Jose will be here birthing 14th Amendments U.S. citizens. They aren't going anywhere but they will still be poor with big families and a huge burden on this country.
Plus, if Vicente Fox has his way with his good friend Bush, they'll be sending our Social Security money right on down to Mexico.
***Reluctantly, an ex-Republican base voter***
Maybe it is spreading. Check this guy out.
If Oberweis can win in Illinois, it will be a shot heard around Carl Rove's world. Though I can't vote in Illinois ( I'm not a democrat and I'm still alive ) I've been promoting him with some of the downstate Illinois residents I work with.
In a word, YES. I have great passion for immigrants. I love to hear their stories. What it was like in the old country, what brought them here, why they are here. I've lived in foreign countries and I've always been amazed at the level of detail they want to know about life in America. We are indeed a melting pot. We've been like that since the country was established. I don't want this to cause a flame war, but thats how I feel. Just walking through Chinatown in NYC, you see America at its best even though all the merchants were born thousands of miles away. Its an impressive sight and something that will forever impress me. If I can help the president extend those opportunities to others, I'll do my darnedest to see he's successful.
We were the formerly silent and quietly supportive conservatives who elected Bush, and appreciated his moral stand... and that a President finally acted like a real man in taking on those Islamists who have been attacking us for years.
But his lack of will to respect and protect our National Sovereignty, our National Security and our American Culture, has personally left me to question his committment to protect our National self-interest before the promotion of his Globalist agenda.
Please stick to the new rules and leave the poster names alone. Your constant attempts to belittle people by playing with their names or by outright calling them ignorant are annoying, to say the least.
As for how the figures are determined: they are determined through sampling and extrapolation. The Border Patrol reports the number of apprehensions and they also have an idea of how many get past them. They know that they catch only 1 out of every 5 or so border intruders. So, they figure how many they catch and multiply it by that figure (which I can't seem to find right now). So, if apprehensions go up without any significant change in border control tactics, then they can say that crossing increased by a certain number.
You know, this should be obvious to you. Are you being obtuse?
I'm working to get better reporting from the Border Patrol and related agencies. They are not very forthcoming with information about WHO they are catching and specifically WHERE. I want everyone to be able to read how many Afghanis or Yemenis were found in their own backyards the week before. I want them to read how many felony fugitives from Mexico, convicted rapists and murderers, etc were found in the wash next to their kids' bustops the day before.
Thats simply not what it does. But on this we'll have to disagree. There are wonderful people that immigrate to this country. I see them everyday. These are just like the people that founded this country and have given it life over the past 200 or so years. They're no more troublesome than some of our nativeborns.
I too have a German backround. When the Germans immigrated to this country there was no welfare waiting for them unlike today. For the most part, the German immigrant was the very prepared to make it in this country for they were well educated and good farmers.
Alot of them took off right to the mid-west and started many successful farming commuities here. I wouldn't compare them to todays immigrant.
I'll have to break the rules on this one. I do it out of affection for you rather than anything disrespectful. Plus it helps loosen things up a bit. I've noticed how your threads often get out of control. I don't want to contribute to that.
It's difficult to believe that when Vicente Fox who seems to know him very well was jumping up and down with glee, high-fiving and shouting "we're going for more!!, we're going for more!!". It's obvious HE --- Vicente doesn't believe Bush intends to stem the flow of the Mexican citizens that he wants out of Mexico.
What a freaking idiot!
Screw the constitution!
What important is the rtelection of W.
Burn the constitution!
Fair enough. It was a serious inquiry. I really had no idea how they did the surveying or came up with those numbers. I trust them a bit more coming from the border patrol. However, I hope the sample is big enough. I wouldn't trust just a sample from one entry point or area. That totally ignores another country on our border and doesn't lead to a high level of confidence with the numbers.
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