Posted on 05/21/2006 4:13:45 PM PDT by notes2005
President Bush has always been drawn to stories of Latino immigrants who came up by their bootstraps, and he has one inspiring example close to home, report Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe, White House Correspondent Holly Bailey and Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas in Newsweek's May 29 issue (on newsstands Monday, May 22).
Mexican-born citizen Maria Galvan, 53, has worked for Bush, looked after his daughters, befriended his wife and won the affection of the first family for her loyalty, decency and hard work. As governor of Texas, Bush encouraged his housekeeper to become a U.S. citizen.
Galvan got a job at the Texas governor's mansion just as Bush moved in with his family in 1995. (The White House last week refused to comment on Galvan, except to say that she is a U.S. citizen; White House aides were silent on how she entered the country and what her legal status was at the time.)
The Bushes liked Galvan so much that they brought her to Washington, D.C., in 2001. She lives in the White House, travels with the first family and looks after their beloved dogs. She is said by White House insiders, who refuse to be identified discussing first family matters, to be "part of the family," which is unusual for staff in the formal, institutionalized Executive Mansion.
Bush recognized early on that inspiring Latino family stories could be a boon to the Republican Party. "He appreciates how close Latino families are with each other," says Israel Hernandez, an early campaign aide whom Bush hired after hearing his family story. "For a long time, he's talked about how these are the qualities he thinks the party represents. He has always talked about immigration in a very compassionate way."
But the president's willingness to help illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship sets him apart from many vocal conservatives in the Republican Party and the divide could paralyze the effort to bring much-needed reform to the nation's immigration laws.
This could be true but lately dozens and dozens of those cuts have been self-inflicted by the Bush White House itself and by some republican politicians within the party. It's not helpful to the party.
What is in-freakin-credible is that you can acknowledge what President Bush has done for this nation yet think he would sell it out.
What? Bush likes his Mexican American housekeeper?! How could he admit such an awful thing? This is really going to hurt the conservative movement!!!
She's an American citizen. And now it's no one's business how she got here. Good for President Bush!
He should tell the story about the 20 Mexicans who moved in two houses down from me. Tell about how all my tools were stolen from my van shortly thereafter.
The status of Gonzales grandparents is complex. They probably came to the US before the quota/visa system we have now. They would be "legal".
Why dont you follow the thread before you start throwing out race cards.
I was referring to the media
The Salvadoran family a few doors down used to keep a Mexican housekeeper in a small shed attached to their home.
"Oh my God the sky is falling! "
Notice how now it's not just about illegals but Mexican Americans as well?
I have no idea what race card you're talking about. I'm just amazed that people here--and your post--are suggesting that Bush having a Mexican American housekeeper is something to worry about.
If you don't believe it ask John Demjanjuk
Med Time.
The problem with Demjanjuk was what he did before he got here, not how he got here. We didn't sent him back because he used fraudulent documents.
Anyone who sets out to investigate the President's housekeeper ought to be smacked down.
I told you.
The article sounds like she had already been working for the Bush family and then when Bush became governor IT WAS AT THAT TIME that he encouraged her to become a citizen (probably because he knew it would be used against him in later campaigns). It's fairly obvious that she was an illegal when she worked for Bush but when he got into the governor's office he pushed her to become legal. No wonder Bush has no problems with illegals coming here to work -- he hires them himself.
His attorney general Gonzalez -- the CHIEF LAW ENFORCER IN THE USA -- had all 3 of his grandparents come here illegally which is probably why no immigration laws have been enforced since Gonzalez got the job. Bush's love affair with Mexico is his own business but when his love affair ends up with 15 million illegals from Mexico pouring into the U.S. people are getting fed up with him real fast.
Hello?...
Bueller?...
Any takers?...
Enforcement of employer sanctions were more than 2000 the year Clinton left office and dropped down to a mere couple hundred under Bush. Last year only 3 employers were fined. Bush has let more illegals cross over into this country than any other president. Bush was President on 9/11 -- when more than ever our borders should have been protected in the name of national security. Yet still left American unprotected with open borders -- why? Because he hired an illegal Mexican housekeeper and feels all warm and fuzzy about her? Yes, Bush should be impeached. Take off the rose-colored glasses. Bush doesn't walk on water, you know.
I'm not fan of Al Gonzalez (he was on the board of a state affiliate of La Raza, which I detest), but I just don't think there EXISTED laws that would've made someone "illegal" in Texas when his grandparents would've come over (I'm assuming they came around 1880 to 1910 or so, based on his age).
I say this because my ancestors settled on this side of the border in the early-to-mid 1700s or so, and their letters and journals indicate there was pretty open settlement and "back-and-forthing" between this side of the border and that side of the border, both from a livestock and people standpoint (their old logs and journals discuss people they did business with, livestock they traded, etc.). There were even some ranches that actually straddled the border.
I think modern "immigration laws and quotas" with Mexico began in the early 1920s or so, after the Mexican Revolution. During that time, one of my great grandfather's brothers had gone to Mexico to work for an oil company, and there are letters where he's wanting to come back to the U.S., fearing that he won't be allowed to if he waits too long.
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