Posted on 01/12/2005 12:50:36 PM PST by GOPXtreme20
Republican to Lead Immigration Revolt Against Bush
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican member of the House of Representatives vowed on Wednesday to lead a revolt against President Bush (news - web sites)'s immigration reform proposals and predicted that up to 180 party members would support him.
Bush in an interview with the Washington Times published on Wednesday said he plans to force a debate in Congress this year on his proposal that would allow some illegal immigrants to obtain legal work permits in the United States.
Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who heads the House Immigration Reform Caucus, said he was determined to block the legislation. The caucus, which had 71 members in the last Congress, argues for stronger action to stop illegal immigration and a reduction of legal migration.
"Why is this so important to the president?" Tancredo said. "Is it just the corporate interests who benefit from cheap labor? Do they have such a strong grip on our president so that he is actually willing to put our nation at risk, because open borders do put our nation at risk?
"Is it petulance, because we were able to stop it in the last Congress? Why is it so important to give amnesty to people who have broken the law?" Tancredo said.
"I'm willing to lead a fight against this and I would say there are at least 180 members of our Republican caucus who are willing at least to stop amnesty for illegal immigrants," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Bush has repeatedly said he views immigration reform as an important issue for his second term. In the Washington Times interview, he said it was near the top of his agenda.
"Look, whether or not you agree with the solution or not, we have a problem in America when you've got 8 million undocumented workers here," he said.
BUSH CONFIDENCE
Bush expressed confidence he could win over opponents, as he did in passing tax reform during his first term. "Initially out of the box, some people said, over my dead body would they pass tax relief ... If I listened to all that, I'd just quit, you know. But that's not the way I think."
But analysts agree that immigration reform could be much more divisive for Republicans since growing numbers of rank-and-file voters are becoming concerned at the continued influx of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border.
"No issue, not one, threatens to do more damage to the Republican coalition than immigration," said David Frum, a former White House speech writer in Bush's first term.
"There's no issue where the beliefs and interests of the party rank-and-file diverge more radically from the beliefs and interests of the party's leaders," he wrote in the National Review last month.
Bush insists he is not offering amnesty to illegal immigrants but Tancredo said that was a "manipulation of language, the kind of thing (former President) Bill Clinton would have done. There is an issue of integrity here and an issue of honesty," he said.
Dude the law ain't working and people aren't going to send people to jail for taking a janitorial job and there are not going to be any mass roundups.
Call me a traitor, whatever, but I think it is better to get these people above board and bring some sanity to the system rather than the 40 years of chaos since LBJ dismantled the guest worker program.
You complain and whine so much on these illegal immigration threads that I'm surprised you haven't yet keeled over from an aneurysm.
Kudos to Tom Tancredo. Don't back down.
These people don't know or care what a Constitutional Republic looks like, they are only interested in our money. Ie., taking our jobs and/or government money.
When a country is both rich and becomes stupid enough that it cannot protect itself from other countries, those other countries are going to take a huge spoil someday (no doubt about it). Either by force or via civil means. Duh.
TERRIBLY WRONG on Illegal Immigration and Border Integrity, though. Fully bumping here and supporting dissident Republican Members of the House to force this issue and prevail upon the majority's behalf.
We must take on and win over those who make a sham of legal immigration, order and respect for our laws. Not carrying out existing US law, too, as a member of the Executive Branch, is beyond deplorable.
This situation is no longer sustainable nor worthy of further defense or rationalization.
What a silly thing to say.
There are sanctions and fines and vettings involved in the regularization program.
Do you have details about the program? I'm curious how it's going to be implemented and enforced.
I personally think that you would rather have the illegals do all of the Blue-collar jobs that working Americans need to do to support their families. What part does the word "ILLEGAL" don't you understand? I would rather pay more of my hard-earned money for an American to do my job over an illegal alien.
I look forward to the outcome of this issue. It will be interesting to see if President Bush will be able to implement his proposed solution to the problem or not. If not, hopefully some other solution will be attempted. One thing is for sure, the status quo is not a good thing.
Right, leave those jobs to the sub-humans.
How about short sighted and uninformed? You seem to forget we had an amnesty for illegal aliens in 1986 and a half dozen mini amnesties since then, why not let every one from any country into the US? Heck give drug dealers and thieves amnesty while we are at it, they are just doing the jobs no one else wants to do...
Name one. If there are dozens, it shouldn't be too tough for you to come up with one "conservative" that has said they will vote for Hillary because of her (supposed) stance on immigration.
I take the illegal alien invasion as seriously as anyone, and there is no way I would vote for Hillary regardless of what she has to say.
You're wrong, but are you now going to mandate that someone has to be a janitor or housekeeper.
Also do you or any American parent want their children to be a janitor for a career.
Talk about spending political capital! (LOL) But you are exactly right.
Not the same. One is a change in the way we are taxed - he lowered them. The other will force an increase in local taxes to pay for the extra costs.
We have to stop Bush on this one.
This report doesn't mention it, but the 2004 initiative required a $1500 fee for every illegally resident foreign national who wanted to access this program. I would make sure that this penalty was in the new program as well as a punishment for their illegal entry.
I also notice that you didn't make being a janitor a career.
What's up with all the "DANE" stuff in the Keywords? I don't get it.
Anyone?
Tancredo undoubtedly has enough support to get some modifications to Bush's proposal, but he won't have the juice to stop it completely.
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