Bush Calls For 'Rational, Humane' Guest Worker Program

AP ^ | Feb 1, 2006 | AP

[Icelander]

Advocates on both sides of the immigration debate said President Bush missed an opportunity in his State of the Union address Tuesday night to direct Congress on immigration reform, weeks before Senate lawmakers begin to tackle the divisive issue.

Breezing by the issue in just a few sentences, Bush endorsed a program that would allow foreigners to work temporarily in this country, saying the nation needs orderly and secure borders but that the economy couldn't function without immigrants.

His brief mention drew a disappointed rebuke from Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who has led an effort to tighten the nation's borders and enforce immigration laws.

Bush could have "broken the Washington stalemate and secured the most significant immigration reform in a decade," Tancredo said.

Angela Kelley, deputy director of the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum, also said Bush fell short. "It's really important for him to step up and provide some leadership on this issue," she said.

Senators are expected to take up immigration legislation in the coming weeks.

Immigration has featured heavily in Bush's State of the Union speeches in past years. But with his own party deeply divided over the issue, he devoted just over a paragraph to the subject Tuesday.

Still several lawmakers praised Bush.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said he was pleased Bush "called for an immigration system that deals with the influx of illegal immigrants realistically. Now it's time for both the House and the Senate to rise to the president's challenge and enact meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform."

How to deal with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country now _ and the thousands crossing the border each year _ has divided Congress and is becoming an increasingly volatile issue at the state and local level.

Even non-border states are wrestling with how to provide government services, such as health care, to illegal immigrants and whether to restrict drivers' licenses and withhold benefits to illegal workers.

Jennifer Allen, who directs the Border Action Network, based in Tucson, Ariz., said immigrants she works with are watching anxiously as Congress talks about building walls at the Mexican border and increasing the penalties for being in the country illegally.

She and other advocates are loudly calling for Congress to fix the nation's troubled immigration system.

This summer, Democratic Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano, of Arizona declared a state of emergency in their border counties to free up money for immigration-related needs.

Richardson said Bush's brief mention in the State of the Union was a signal the White House would not make it a major issue in the coming months.

"The message I received is that on immigration, we're going to leave the burden on the states like New Mexico and Arizona, and it's sort of like 'You're on your own,'" Richardson said.

In the Senate, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., have proposed programs that regulate when and how immigrants can come to the U.S.

Kyl said Tuesday that he would have liked to hear more from Bush about immigration, but he was glad "the key elements were there" in his speech.

"It is a very serious problem for Arizona," Kyl said. "I think everyone in the Senate wants to get something done ... whether the president mentions it or not."

[apackof2]

Why should we reduce entitlements to our own citizens; if we are still willing to pay hundreds of billions to support enormous numbers of Mexico's citizens.

Excellent point, why indeed!?

[Howlin]

It'll surely never happen if we don't TRY.

And, yes, try AGAIN.

[mumps]

Meanwhile, execute any illegals caught in the US.

Are you just spiking the thread or what? If not, I now know of at least one person who doesn't deserve to live in the United States.

[EveningStar]

I agree.

[Disambiguator]

I think a 20 foot tall wall topped with concertina wire and guard towers with .50 cal. machine guns is humane.

The border crashers would know that their efforts are fruitless, and would therefore not attempt to cross. They would also spare themselves the dangerous crossing of the desert, especially during the summer months.

[apackof2]

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo is peaking at the Clinton Co. Lincoln Day dinner here in MI

I am going, my own county is "BIG BLUE" :>(

[Travis McGee]

I agree, the only solution is the Hunter Duncan proposal, which provides for twin 15 foot steel fences with sensors on 700 miles of the border.

To bring folks up to speed, here is my mini-tutorial, "Border Fence 101."

This is what most of our southern border currently looks like: there is no government-built fence at all. There is often just whatever is left over from some forgotten cattle fence, built privately to keep U.S. cattle from wandering freely into Mexico. For hundreds of miles there is not even a broken cattle fence, there is nothing at all.

For comparison, below the broken cattle fence photo is a sample of an inexpensive but highly effective double border fence system, with a plowed strip to reveal footprints. This type of system is very cheap and can be built with great speed.

Here is what some of San Diego County has: a wall made of rusty Viet Nam-era runway mats. The corrugations are even horizontal, (to make climbing easier?) The illegals in this photo were spotted by unexpected civilian volunteers, and jumped back over the border.

Here is what the border looks like where the runway mat wall exists. Mexico begins on the other side of the ineffective rusty wall, which actually helps the smugglers, by hiding their movements until the occasional USBP vehicle has driven out of sight.

This is how "the game" is played. Smugglers hide on the other side of the wall with their dope and/or their illegals, out of sight of the USBP. They wait for the highly visible white BP vehicle to drive over the distant hills. Lookouts with cell phones and walkie-talkies report on the current locations of the BP units. They know with certainty that "the coast is clear" for an hour or two, and the smugglers and illegals hop the fence and run into the scrub only 50 yards away. From there, they are out of sight, and they walk 1-2 miles to holding houses. Then they wait for nightfall, and are picked up and driven in vans to LA or San Diego.

Lastly, below is the Duncan Hunter 15' fence, which is already being built along a few "showplace" miles of San Diego, mainly near the ports of entry, where panderng politicians can conveniently show it off to gullible reporters. The House has approved building 700 miles of it, which would be a great start. As you can see, the rusty runway wall is seen at the left side, Mexico begins on the other side. In areas with the 15 foot fence, dope smugglers and illegals will have to cross the open sand ("the government road" as it is called) before starting to try to get over the 15 foot fence. It's extremely tough, and resists cutting. Attacking the fence would have to be done right out in the open, in full view of cameras. This type of fence, on the U.S. side of the government road, will give the USBP a barrier to patrol, instead of forcing them to chase illegals around 100,000 square miles of wide-open frontier land, which is a fool's errand.

[jackbenimble]

You know they have lost the debate, when all they can do is throw down the race card

So true. Which is probably why President Bush felt compelled to play one last night when he said:

“We hear claims that immigrants are somehow bad for the economy — even though this economy could not function without them.”

By deliberately blurring the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants he tried to imply that all of us who object to his handling of the ILLEGAL immigration issue are just a bunch of immigrant hating xenopbobes.

It really pissed me off and if he thought that would somehow shift the debate in his direction all promise that it redoubled my determination to fight his guest worker shamnesty every step of the way.

[RSmithOpt]

Already read it....another excellent post. It's not about competition as some at the top want us to swallow, it's about the bottom line, greed and corruption. It's about the US moving away from Judeo-Christian ethics granted us by our founding fathers and those consequences we are now experiencing.

Pretty simple.

Americans aren't reproducing like they use to because the cost of living has exploded as well as abortion on demand being a reality, varied forms of sexual perversion, being taxed to death when added from all levels, government overwhelming interferening with education and the family, a couple of generations of "I got to have it now", political correctness, illegal invasion, etc......

[Shalom Israel]

Are you just spiking the thread or what? If not, I now know of at least one person who doesn't deserve to live in the United States.

Bleah. Minor exaggeration. The point you may or may not get--I can't tell--is that there are two separate questions here. First, what should we do about immigration? Answer: encourage it. Second: what should we do about flagrant lawbreaking? Answer: punish it severely.

[processing please hold]

A fence like the one described would work. Back it up with more border patrol and it looks like a good plan to me.

[moehoward]

"But I'll be expecting to see you picking tomatos in the fields outside our town."

How about you use one of these.

Tomato Harvester.

[My2Cents]

Tell me, is it comfortable there in your bunker?

[Stellar Dendrite]

The border issue only matters to a small portion of right wing kooks present on FR. The average American doesn't care about it. /bayourod mode off

[My2Cents]

The harvesters in our neck of the woods require a small crew of people to clear away rocks, plant waste, field rodents, and the like, as the tomatos are conveyed onto trailers.

[afnamvet]

Except for agricultural stoop labor Americans will do the jobs.

You are correct. I did stoop labor as a child...hoeing cotton, picking cotton, cutting grapes, turning grape trays (raisins), picking peaches, oranges and other similar jobs. It was hard work but I liked the exercise.

[american spirit]

I think we're going to see history repeat itself.......another limp Bush presidency handing over the WH to a Clinton on a silver platter.

[moehoward]

LOL!!

[Travis McGee]

Nah, illegal alien slave labor is a lot cheaper. Why pay for that machine, when you can just use illegals instead?

[apackof2]

It's about the US moving away from Judeo-Christian ethics granted us by our founding fathers and those consequences we are now experiencing.

Exactly!