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.
But they aren't the same people. Tancredo and Bush are proposing to reward illegals for ratting out their employers.
Those ratted-out employers will then be subject to IRS compliance for tax withholdings, union lawsuits for failing to pay union scale, ACLU lawsuits for failing to pay minimum wage, Insurance lawsuits for failing to have workman's comp insurance, etc.
Those *clearly* aren't the same people as our border enforcement personnel.
The rewards in Tancredo's and Bush's competing immigration plans encourage illegal aliens to turn in their employers. Once an employer is turned in by an illegal, that employer is going to become subject to a host of U.S. laws such as minimum wage, union scale, workman's comp, tax withholdings, etc...all things that are effectively enforced against employers already today...that will then be effectively enforced against those illegal employers that get ratted out.
...And it's no "daydream" to think that the IRS isn't going to ignore such a ratted-out employer.
You are right it is no daydream it is a whacky tobacco pipe dream.
IRS already can't keep track of 10 million no-filers, throw in 20 million wets/guest workers and what have you got? IRS doesn't enforce immigration laws and right now won't tell ICE crap about anyone.
I see you still can'r read and comprehend...where is your head at?
Okay, there is a big difference between a personal attack and attacking one's policies. Republican attacks upon Bush's policies though, will still be used by the MSM and the Dims as a big hammer with which to bash him.
Eagle's Up!
God Bless Tom Tancredo!
Then one would think that the Republicans pushing another alien-alien-in-free would cease and desist.
Any Republican going along with this should have a *very* contested primary... just for starters.
Hillary will try to get to the right of the Republicans on this issue. Also, look for her to appar carrying a very obvious bible with a large gold cross on it for photo ops at evangalical churches to establish her "Morality cred". Her base will know she's lying to get elected and consider it perfectly acceptable, expecting her to take a sharp left turn once elected. The imoportant thing for us to do is to make sure the Republicans nominate a true conservative for a change instead of trying to pander to the liberals, and to ensure that the truth gets out about Hildabeast.
No, they're only the people who are in charge of the border enforcement personnel and dictate policy.
I've really had it on the illegal alien issue... without some basic control of our borders, it doesn't matter who is in the Whitehouse... it's simply a question of when the Pax Americana fails rather than if.
OK....? And whose fault would that be? The lovely Ms. Clintons or the Republicans (rhetorical question) ?
Grownups have to deal with the consequences of their own actions. A politician who proposes destructive policies, be he Republican or Democrat, will sink with them. NOBODY is above open, public criticism. NOBODY is entitled to your style of fawning servility. That only breeds delusion, self-importance, and bad policy.
To you it is about US vs THEM, not about facing facts and telling the truth. Well, this is a policy that is very bad for the US that matters most to me. Americans. No politician or party is more important to me than that US.
The idea of us against them may seem infantile to you, but it is a fact of life that the Dims are as one in their them against us philosophy. One thing is for certain, everything the dims have planned for us is worse than any thing Bush may have on his agenda that disturbs, you , McMain and Gingrich.
United we stand and little by little undo the screwups the democrats have created. Fragmented we lose and the democrats move back in and continue shoving all thise agenda's of theirs down our throats til hell freezes over.
I just heard on Dobbs that Duncan Hunter took a "group" of other congressmen on a tour of the border. They're getting serious about this. There's a new poll up as well.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/
Do you believe legalizing illegal workers will take pressure off U.S. borders, as President Bush suggests?
Yes 4%
No 96%
Then you should pay better attention. I haven't misrepresented Tancredo's immigration plan, in fact, in the 200-series of posts on this thread I even provided a direct link to his 4 point plan so that readers could see it verbatim for themselves...something that you haven't done, I'd suspect.
Nor have I made allusions to Germany. I have merely compared the *scope* of what it will look like from a logistics viewpoint between the last large round up of people (e.g. Germany between 1938 to 1945 of 6+ million people) to what it would take here in the U.S. to round up 8+ million illegals for deportation if we pursue a "deport them all now" brute force approach (an approach that hasn't worked in the recent past, wouldn't get funding from Congress in the present, and that would require more manpower to implement than we've got in the future).
That's not saying that I'm a NAZI because I want illegals deported, nor are you are NAZI for wanting them deported; all that's saying is: "Open your eyes to the massive SCALE of such a proposed operation."
Now, if you aren't proposing to "deport them all now," then my comparisons of the scale of one roundup to another don't apply to you, but other posters here would be well-served to think about what sort of operation they would be funding if they voted for that sort of "deport them all now" nonsense.
Clearly we have to act smarter than merely running around senselessly championing pure brute force. Tancredo and Bush have both put out thoughtful, competing immigration plans that are much, much more clever than using pure brute force.
You should read them. The rewards for illegals to turn in their employers, a common feature to both plans via the registration that both institute, is a clever method of changing the massive dynamics of this problem; reducing the scale of this issue down to a more manageable size.
This could be the issue that puts Tancredo in the White House.
People are rallying around Tancredo not because they've read his immigration plan, but rather, because they've heard rhetoric from Tom that they like.
Likewise, the liberal news media is gleefully publishing every Tancredo slam of President Bush, and that's got 3rd Party radicals excited.
But the differences between Tancredo's immigration plan from President Bush's immigration plan are minor. Tancredo wants to give out 1 year work permits, available for all illegals and all foreigners to apply; Bush wants to give out 3 year work permits. Tancredo requires that all illegals leave the U.S. to apply for a U.S. work permit; Bush offers that same option to illegals if they want to avoid paying a $1,500 fine...or they can pay a fine and apply here.
So clearly people aren't energized in their opposition of one plan or their advocacy of the other plan over the "differences" between the two immigration plans. Quite frankly, either plan, or any compromise plan between them that passes this year will work just fine to strengthen our control over our borders...due to the innovative *registration* process included in both plans that rewards illegals for ratting out their employers.
It's no insult. Logistically, rounding up and deporting 8+ million people today will be a LARGER operation than what the Soviet Union did in in WW2 gulags or than what the Germans did with 6+ million people between 1938 and 1945.
Nor did I use any such hyperbole such as "death camps." That's your hype, not mine. I'm talking about the logistics of rounding up and moving millions of anonymous fugitives...and I'm doing so in a way that will allow the average reader to grasp the massive SCALE of such a movement of people.
You do no one any favors by tossing such phrases as "death camps" at me.
There are two viable, professional plans to fix our immigration issues. Both plans will work. Even a compromise between the two plans will work. Either plan will work. One, the other, or both will work. Any combination of the above will work. Both plans are from respected minds in the field.
If you have *another* plan, a different plan, then it is going to be up to you to garner support for it...and there is no question that even if you managed to cobble together such support that the problem will be solved, yes, solved by the time you were taken seriously in D.C...simply because one of either Tancredo's or Bush's immigration plans will pass into law *this* year, and both such plans contain the one necessary feature (e.g.registration of illegals and their employers) that changes the scale of this issue down to a more manageable size.
Then perhaps you would be willing to lead the fight to either force the Federal government to pay for the services it forces states to provide for immigrants (remember we are talking about low wage jobs that don't offer benefits like health care), or change the laws that require the services to be provided.
And millions of American citizens will back you all the way. Except for those who promote slave labor, and those who want to destroy our culture, and those who want to suck our system dry....those who want to take over our country, and those who are traitors to America.
Vicente Fox claims there are 25 million of his citizens here --- and they've been coming in at a rate of over 1 million a year since the late 1980s --- so add that up.
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