Bush has approached the issue on two fronts in the last couple of months...we can all debate the significance, but it's not like he has ignored the issue.
1. He met with Vicente Fox in Cancun and urged the Mexican leader to reform his country, which curroption and economic disparity drives illegal immigration in the first place....this must be done because it is the diplomatic route.
2. He has, in the latest DHS appropriation bill (a little research will point to this), increased funding to the border patrol. And has started the process, years back, to break the US up into military districts (much as we do the world)...may be the start of border militarization, which so many on FR advocate...
He has also by edict, (if not decree), ordered that current work laws be enforced...local businesses etc. shouldn't be employee illegals in the first place, however, being realistic a transitory measure is being advocated that allows illegals currently with a job, etc., to apply for work permits etc. (some are calling this amnesty, but that's not what it is)
There's a lot of hysteria going around, but this fact pattern has been around for decades...it's a political football now, because with the economy good, and no terrorists attacks on US soil, or embassys, etc...of late...immigration is the only thing Bush's enemies feel they can hit him on...and are willing to distort the facts, and pump up hysteria, to do so.
You keep calling pro-enforcement Freepers "hysterical" and
it makes me wonder, wonder wonder . . . . who's hysterical?
How can anyone be copmfortable that the DOHS be responsible for our security when it was created by the ultraliberal Rand Corporation and the NGO CSIS,and they are receiving huge grants from the government to set it up and run it?
But yet he continues to encourage illegal immigration. He supports NAFTA, He also supports the idea of one border around Mexico, US & Canada.
He has, in the latest DHS appropriation bill (a little research will point to this), increased funding to the border patrol. And has started the process, years back, to break the US up into military districts (much as we do the world)...may be the start of border militarization, which so many on FR advocate...
Only after much outcry from the public and the Senate reappropriating certain War funds. This after last year only appropriating enough funds for 210 agents . He Promised 10,000 new agents @ 2,000 a year. We have yet to get there but he has found funds for a guest worker program.
He has also by edict, (if not decree), ordered that current work laws be enforced...local businesses etc. shouldn't be employee illegals in the first place, however, being realistic a transitory measure is being advocated that allows illegals currently with a job, etc., to apply for work permits etc. (some are calling this amnesty, but that's not what it is)
He can edict all he wants without real teeth talk is cheep. The 86 bill was suppose to solve this problem and here we sit today. As for your definition of Amnesty. We can just agree to disagree because ANY bill that rewards lawbreakers with citizenship is Amnesty anyway you slice it. Look this is not just a GW Bush issue but he has been in charge for 6 years now. If he would just stand up and say to the American people I hear you and we will carry out your will and act accordingly this would all be solved but he hasn't done that and now it is too little too late. Instead he call American citizens like the Minutemen who are trying to do something vigilantes and produces reelection videos in Spanish. You are right in that it has been going on for sometime. But just like anything else it has finally come to a boil. Some people have been screaming about this issue for years. Tancredo for one, Many other people including myself since 911 and more recently Lou Dobbs (Thank God).
It all sounds great until you look at the numbers. We only have 10,000 border patrol agents and spend about $4 billion annually now. These increases are pathetic. The NYPD has over 35,000 personnel. We spent $11-18 billion a year enforcing the no-fly zones in Iiraq. You can double the border agents to 20,000 and it still won't be enough. Plus we need more personnel to enforce our visa laws domestically. Many illegals are coming in legally on visas and then just overstaying them and not going home.
When you have a water pipe break in the basement, the first thing you do is shut the water off. Then, you can figure out how to handle the water damage. My litmus test for politicians and others who want comprehensive immigration reform is their committment to secure our sourthern border thru a combination of physial barriers [fences], technical means, and an increased number of border patrol agents. The big sticking point for many is the building of fences, which is offensive to the insincere advocates who compare it to the Berlin Wall. Unless we are willing to "shut the water off," everything else is a sham, which just legalizes the illegal.