Posted on 12/17/2005 4:32:04 AM PST by Man50D
WASHINGTON – It was a victory the once-obscure Colorado congressman savored yesterday.
When the House of Representatives passed a tough new border control bill last night, Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo was all smiles.
He led an often-lonely and sometimes seemingly hopeless fight not only against Democratic opponents but against his own party and his own president.
"Today, the House of Representatives passed a bill which strengthens our border security and begins to enforce immigration laws throughout the country," he said. "Over the last two days, reformers in the House have accomplished much: we have approved a security fence along our southern border, we have taken steps to end 'catch and release' nationwide, we have slashed funds to localities that shield illegal aliens, and we have gone after employers who attract illegal aliens to the U.S."
The House voted 239-182 to stem the tide of illegal immigration by taking steps to tighten border controls and stop unlawful immigrants from getting jobs. But lawmakers left for next year the tougher issue of what to do with between 11 million and 20 million illegal aliens already in the country.
The House legislation, billed as a border protection, anti-terrorism and illegal immigration control act, includes enlisting military and local law enforcement help in stopping illegal entrants and requiring employers to verify the legal status of their workers. It authorizes the building of a fence along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.
One measure that Republican leaders wouldn't allow a vote on was a volatile proposal to deny citizenship to babies born in this country to illegal immigrants.
The issue next moves to the Senate, where Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., says he will bring up immigration legislation in February that will provide a framework for guest worker ideas that some see as amnesty for lawbreakers.
President Bush has proposed that illegal aliens be allowed to get three-year work visas. They could extend those for an additional three years, but would then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.
The House bill would beef up border security with the help of local law enforcement and military technology, impose tougher penalties for smuggling and re-entry, and end the "catch and release" policy for illegal non-Mexicans. It makes drunken driving convictions a deportable offense.
The bill makes unlawful presence in the United States, currently a civil offense, a felony. An amendment to reduce the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor was defeated, with many Democrats voting against the proposal because they did not want to make it a criminal offense at all.
The House bill would also require all employers in the country to submit Social Security numbers and other information to a national database to verify the legal status of workers.
"Some said that we couldn't do it, that businesses are too addicted to illegal labor, that the problem is too complex for Congress to tackle," said Tancredo, the chairman of the 92-member House Immigration Reform Caucus. "When it became clear that the American people's demand for reform was too loud to ignore, our political foes changed their arguments and hid their intentions behind new language. Suddenly, amnesty was a 'path to citizenship,' an 'earned legalization,' or 'comprehensive reform.' We passed comprehensive reform today: we penalized illegal alien employers and secured our borders."
Tancredo added: "The fact that Congress was forced to discuss immigration reform in itself is a victory for my allies. Such a victory has been years in the making, and credit is due to the millions of Americans who attended town halls, wrote letters to the editor, called talk radio shows, and even defended the border on their own. I thank them whole-heartedly for their efforts, and I am deeply honored by the support they have shown me and my congressional allies."
Just a year ago, Tancredo said he could count his allies in the House on two hands. But Republican lawmakers began to see just how critical the issue was to voters in their districts. A recent poll showed border security second only to the war in Iraq as a motivating issue for voters.
"Today we savor our victory, but tomorrow we must begin the fight to ensure our victory becomes reality," he said. "I am well aware that this is a three-round fight, and while this has been a good round, we haven't delivered the knockout punch. The open borders lobby and its cronies in the Senate will undoubtedly attempt to attach an amnesty to our reform bill. The American people know what the Senate's plan is, and they will bring political punishment to any official that favors it. No backdoor amnesty -- no matter what you call it -- will become law. Americans demand real reform now and, thankfully, they may get it."
I love this idea, but frist will kill it in the Senate.
Sorry Folks. The title should read: Tancredo Wins Round 1 To Build Mexico Fence.
congrats on rest-but this issue still dormant?!
India adding troops on Bangladesh border (Border fence to check migration)
One measure that Republican leaders wouldn't allow a vote on was a volatile proposal to deny citizenship to babies born in this country to illegal immigrants.
Why even bother with voting?And thet say hacks are not OWNED.
"what to do with between 11 million and 20 million illegal aliens already in the country"
This one is technically straight forward...identify, prosecute and penalize employers who have the illegal invaders on their payrolls.
When the jobs are gone, the invaders will do one of two things, embark on other types of criminal activities or GO HOME.
Mexico is very upset with us about the fence issue. Why? Because not having a fence allows a lucrative income to their country to have Central & South Americans smuggled through their country and brings huge income to Mexico by their own sending the majority of the illegal income back home. What does it do for the US citizens who work so hard? It continues to tax us heavier (more policing and government programs to assist them), continues to drive all aspects of any insurance citizens with integrity pay up faster than any salary increase and hampers our educational system taking it back decades.
I guess I'd scream too if I were the corrupt government they are. We've boycotted Mexico. I GUESS THIS IS JUST TOO DIFFICULT FOR THE MAJORITY IN CONGRESS TO GRASP.
And Frist won't get my vote if he runs for President. Frist get the gist of this monster problem!
Tancredo you are the hero of this story. Build the fence and stop the anchor baby citizenship.
Come on let's do something "right" for Americans!
Mexico does quite a good job apprehending Central and South Americans who are walking en route to the USA. Last week I saw a group of 24, young girls, men and boys, some of the women were pregnant, rubbing their blisters, looked like their feet was bleeding. I think in Toluca at their Immigration minimum security they take in 25-40 daily, and they pay for their bus ticket to go South. The Central Americans say they are treated correctly and with human dignity when they are detained by Mexican Immigration officials. They said they had been 20 days working their way across the country mostly at night, in the cold. They hadn't eaten. One girl, abandoned by her father, and left by her boyfriend took it all pretty hard, I was deeply moved when I saw her weep, uncontrollably, her swollen eyes I could see she had wept much. The delegate at the Inmigration office tole me with tears in her eyes, I'd like you to help write a book, and put it in English, the sad stories that are told by these people who are only trying to improve their living conditions from misery to tolerance.
They had paid $5,000 dollars to their leaders to get them to Los Angeles. It helps for you people in America to bear in mind that this is a global phenomena, not only America. A post mentions India putting troops to keep out the Bangladesh, Spain battles the influx of the shores of North Africa, Germany has it's Turks. So no matter how tall and wide YOU or anyone else builds a wall, we are all on this GLOBE together and need to trade, work together and improve situations to relieve poverty by getting rid of corruption in government. Teach values and principles. MTV pumped into many homes in Latin America leads us all to believe that there is gold and lots of glitter in your land of the free.
" MTV pumped into many homes in Latin America leads us all to believe that there is gold and lots of glitter in your land of the free."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..................
There is but we got that way by observing the Constitution and rule of law..Contrary to PC history the majority of immigrants to this country prior to last 20 years came here legally...The USA cannot absorb millions of the worlds poor and remain what it is today.. The life boat of the world would be swamped.
I don't believe that it would require a Constitutional amendment to deny the children of illegal aliens citizenship. The notes debates from the ratification make it pretty clear that the amendment was not supposed to cover the children of those who are subject to the citizenship of another nation. Native Americans were born in the US but weren't granted automatic citizenship until the 1920s. The children of diplomats born in the United States are still not granted citizenship, even though they are here legally.
the Fourteenth Amendment states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."
There is an article about this topic on numbersusa.com that says, "The jurisdiction requirement was added to the original draft of the Fourteenth Amendment by the Senate after a lengthy and acrimonious debate. In fact, Senator Jacob Merritt Howard of Michigan proposed the addition of the phrase specifically because he wanted to make clear that the simple accident of birth in the United States was not sufficient to justify citizenship. Sen. Howard noted that the jurisdiction requirement is "simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already." Sen. Howard said that "this will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons."
If you are interested in the reset of the article you can read it at:
http://www.numbersusa.com/interests/birthrightcitizenship.htm
Tancredo Wins Round 1 To Build Mexico Fence
Yes it should. Credit where credit is due.
Take a look at what the Spanish did or the Israelis. They know how to build barriers to keep unwanted people OUT.
If it somehow emerges without an Amnesty, he'll quietly sign it on a Sunday afternoon ... and never enforce a word of it.
This is the heart of immigration control. Without this, barriers and employment restrictions will only reduce future problems but will not resolve our current dilemma.
There are enough fertile, illegal females now hiding in the US to continue to swamp our systems for decades. There is a growing wave of anchor babies approaching fertility and their progeny will simply add to our dilemmas.
Return the 14th Amendment to its original intent and 75% of the problem is solved. The rest is simple economics.
They are Invaders.
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