Posted on 01/27/2005 7:15:50 PM PST by neverdem
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 - The battle within the Republican Party over immigration policy was joined Wednesday as President Bush vigorously promoted his proposal for a guest worker program and conservatives in Congress introduced an alternative proposal to tighten immigration restrictions.
At a news conference, President Bush said again that he considered his guest worker proposal "a priority" even though Senate Republicans left it off their list of top goals. "A program that enables people to come into our country in a legal way to work for a period of time, for jobs that Americans won't do, will help make it easier for us to secure our borders," Mr. Bush said, adding: "I know there is a compassionate, humane way to deal with this issue. I want to remind people that family values do not end at the Rio Grande border."
Party conservatives, however, have strenuously opposed a guest worker plan since Mr. Bush introduced the idea in 2001, even staging a losing revolt over its inclusion in the party platform at the 2004 Republican convention. Many conservatives call the president's ideas "amnesty" - a term Mr. Bush disputes - because his plan includes ways for currently illegal immigrants to obtain temporary worker permits.
On Wednesday afternoon, Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin Republican who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, again introduced a measure to block illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses.
At a news conference, he said the committee would not consider other immigration proposals, implicitly including the president's, until his own measure passed. A similar measure was removed from a bill to enact the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission last year. Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, is expected to introduce a driver's license restriction this year.
Mr. Sensenbrenner said his bill was primarily directed at border security, distinguishing it from other changes in immigration policy. "Immigrants are not terrorists, except a few of them," he said. "The legislation that was introduced today is designed to get the bad apples out of the barrel before the barrel was spoiled."
He said a group of House Republicans had written a letter to Mr. Bush urging him to provide full financing for provisions in last year's antiterrorism bill doubling the number of border patrol agents and tripling the number of beds for detaining illegal immigrants over the next five years. The Department of Homeland Security said recently that it was planning a smaller increase in financing, drawing the ire of advocates of tighter immigration laws.
Asked about the president's proposal, Mr. Sensenbrenner said his committee was "going to be plenty busy with other priorities, a lot of which are the priorities of the White House."
In an interview, Representative Chris Cannon, a Utah Republican who supports the president's plan, said a guest worker program would not amount to an amnesty because it would include a monetary penalty for currently illegal immigrants. "The people who want to kick them all out are not reasonable people," he said.
But Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado and chairman of the Congressional immigration caucus, vowed to defeat any program that in his view would reward lawbreakers, even questioning the president's motives. "Could it be just the corporate interests, the money interests that rely so heavily on cheap labor?" he asked
Well, in a perfect world, that wouldn't be the case, but I guess it's not a perfect world. I don't argue that any "guest workers" or whatever they're going to be called should receive any kind of government aid. Their ability to stay here should be contingent on their employment and on their ability to meet their financial obligations, and that includes medical bills and all these issues that are being raised here.
But then again, maybe I'm being too ideal here.
LOL, agreed.
If anyone else has an explanation, I'd like to hear it.
Yes you do. Illegal immigration is not an issue with Jim Rob. Remember?
Hell, I even got a warning from him today.
But to be truthful again, I really don't give damn.
I like the idea. If it was tied to the potential of public health concerns, i.e. such as the spread of drug resistant tuberculosis and Chagas' Disease, there might be a chance. Either public health arguments should be persuasive, or public health arguments should have no standing, especially with respect to second hand smoke.
How old are you?
Old enough to know better, and to have seen a few things along the way.
And young enough to...
And you?
Neither do I.
YOU did? Join the crowd... :^)
Should I turn myself in? I haven't received a warning yet.
"but something called SOVEREIGNTY does begin and end there."
You got a point.
Agreed. I am curious to what you think a realistic solution to this would be - many say that fencing and patrolling the border is not practical. I don't know...
I'm thinking that the best way to combat the problem is to allow the state governments to cut off social services to illegals - with a constitutional amendment if necessary. I am not usually one to want amendments, but it seems like the courts are interpreting the constitution as giving non-citzens the same rights as citizens.
The next step would be to go after employers. I know this resembles the failed war on drugs, but the number of employers are much smaller and easier to find since the illegal workers are in public.
I also don't buy the "they do jobs that American's won't do" line. Who did the jobs before illegals?
That is the problem - Bush knows its wrong but he's doing it anyway. Look, Bush really stepped up to the plate after 9/11 and he is lot better choice that Gore or Kerry, but he has basically been in a vote buying mode for 5 years.
He has tried to buy votes with the prescription bill. Then he tried it with the "No Child Left Behind" bill. He has always tried to buy votes buy looking the other way when it comes to immigration. He gave us a litle nibble on the tax cut buy really hasn't forced through anything really meaninful in terms of tax reform.
If Bush doesn't step up to the plate on issues like really matter then we are going to get another 8 years of a democratic president.
Can you say Hillary? She's waiting to pounce on this issue in the 2008 election.
Your not trying hard enough. Keep at it.
I agree. Seriously, I would like to hear a good, cogent argument on why illegals are good for this country. The "they do work American's won't do" isn't a good one as someone had to do the work before the illegals. Its also not a fair point since illegals do the work on a cash basis without having social security, Medicare or income tax constraints.
I'm still waiting to see what the difference between a democratic president and George W Bush will be. If Bush is going to grow the government with silly, useless programs while ignoring our borders then why have him? The fight against terrorism is useless if we going to leave our borders unguarded - we would be better to just have a democrat come in a buy off the terrorists.
They're not except for the corporations who profit off of them. I do think this is the last open borders president we're going to see, by 2008 both candidates will be in competition over who can be tougher about getting all immigration under control.
Bayourod you are hopeless. Hospitals go out of business WHEN THEY DON'T GET PAID!!! It takes PAYING patients to pay the bills. Illegals don't pay, they just mooch for free.
Yep and has been for a long time...now I'LL get SUSPENDED for that. /probably true sarc
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