Flaw in your plot: if there is never any plan enacted, those people will just stay here, period. There will never be any wholesale rounding up and deporting; never. You all need to forget that.
Nor will they have to travel back to their country of origin to apply as all of the LEGAL immigrants stand in line to do
Wrong; temporary workers would be expected to return to their home countries at the end of their authorized period of stay
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Howlin, you never fail to get the room laughing hysterically.
Flaw in your plot. If people like you accept the usurpation of law now, why should we expect you to uphold it in the future?
Really!? And what other laws are we going to "never" enforce? And why are Republicans supporting this non-enforcement of our laws? For a few votes!!? To coddle the cheap labor special interests!!?
I truly feel betrayed over this. I thought Bush heard us loudly earlier in the year and that he'd dropped this stupid and very unpopular plan. I worked hard for his re-election and was thrilled when he won. I persuaded several conservatives angry over his earlier talk about amnesty to vote for him when they wanted to write in Tancredo or some such nonsense. I can tell you that the Border Patrol agents feel betrayed when Bush or his administration talks about this amnesty plan. They've told me themselves that they feel that way. What if Bush was similarly betraying our uniformed soldiers instead of just our uniformed border guards? As Republicans we just CAN'T do this! We can't support it!
The 2004 Republican Party Platform says:
We oppose amnesty because it would have the effect of encouraging illegal immigration and would give an unfair advantage to those who have broken our laws.But this plan IS a form of amnesty!
If someone - the illegal alien or the employer - chooses not to register and participate and they get caught - they will or they should receive the appropriate criminal penalties. But if they register, pay the administrative fee, and participate in this plan, then they don't receive the penalty for being an illegal alien or hiring an illegal alien or for having hired illegal alien in the past. That is amnesty.
It is the same as if the government wanted to know where all the illegal machine guns were. There's been a criminal penalty for owning or selling a machine gun for some time. Let's say the government came up with a plan to let you register your machine gun and that you could own or sell that illegal machine gun only under their new terms. You wouldn't get criminally charged for owning it or selling it only if you registered and participated in the new plan. But if you didn't register or you did it after the deadline you would still be criminally liable for ownership or sale of the illegal machine gun. That would be a gun amnesty plan.
Since the illegal aliens were expected not to come here in the first place, whether or not they leave would depend on a willingness to enforce the law against them that has not been shown so far.
I agree with you that large scale round-ups won't happen though. What do you think of Tom Tancredo's BE REAL immigration reform proposal, which would require guest workers to apply from their home countries, along with ehanced enforcement for illegal aliens who don't leave to take advantage of that opportunity?
Since it wouldn't legalize illegal aliens in place, where they've jumped the line, and since it's sponsored by Congressman Tancredo, who has credibility with critics of President Bush on immigration matters, it would be a lot harder to call Tancredo's proposal an amnesty. It seems to me that if President Bush could incorporate that aspect into his own guest worker plan, he'd have a much better shot at passage without a lot of acrimony in the GOP.