Posted on 06/02/2006 3:46:47 PM PDT by kellynla
President Bush yesterday rejected House Republicans' stance that illegal aliens must return home, calling it "wrong and unrealistic" and saying many will have to be allowed to stay.
Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a block from the White House, Mr. Bush also directly challenged businesses to hire only legal workers, and said those that don't should be prepared to face increased fines. In addition, he said both the House and Senate will have to compromise, but said voters expect a bill and he said that bill should tackle both enforcement and a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens.
"The difficulty of this task is no excuse for avoiding it," he said.
Mr. Bush was making his first in-depth comments since the Senate passed its broad immigration bill last week, setting up a showdown over immigration policy with the House, which passed an enforcement bill in December.
Last Friday, and again on Sunday, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he cannot accept any approach that allows illegal aliens to stay in the country with the government's approval.
"The words 'path to citizenship' is a buzzword for amnesty. We ought to be honest -- it is amnesty," Mr. Sensenbrenner, a key House negotiator, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. He contends that more enforcement against employers would make it hard for illegal aliens to get jobs, encouraging them to go home. But Mr. Bush dismissed that argument.
"Listen, I appreciate the members are acting on deeply felt principles. I understand that. Yet I also believe that the approach they suggest is wrong and unrealistic," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Yeah, and the tooth fairy is going to leave something under your pillow tonight.
A lot of them will care after the next election but it will be too late.
You really need a new screen name and a new identity. No one takes you seriously.
We still need one more.
He's a lawyer. Explains quite a bit.
No esta, el es. :-}
Think bankruptcy for some of these companies....
It's a real possibility.
GW has been dishonest on a few main immigration points
#1 Denying it's an amnesty because the 12-20 million illegals turned "guest workers" don't get automatic citizenship. This is absurd. They are amnestied into a legal lawful residence here. People wait decades to live here legally, meaning they wait decades to immigrate here legally
#2 Calling illegals simply "immigrants". I expect this tomfoolery from liberals.
#3 Not telling his true motivations for allowing entry to and legalizing millions of illegal alien Mexicans and others. There's been much speculation about WHY. The truth is too awful for GW to be straight up with the American people. If he were his bill and the Senate bill would be roundly rejected.
"Employers have no means of verifying citizenship documents."
BS
I have owned my own business in CA since 1979.
If some clown shows up with no ID & no valid SS number;
he/she is showed the door.
The only people who are working without valid ID are the ones employed by employers who don't want LEGALS!
"Current law also makes it very costly to deport anyone who hires a half-competent immigration lawyer."
More BS.
It's costing us a hellofalot more to keep 'em then deport 'em.
Check out the earlier stats I posted.
Truer words were never spoken. I like the way you characterize the tactic as a fait accompli approach, because that's exactly what it is. "We can't deport them all! Never mind that it's my fault they're here in the first place."
Thanks. I really believe that's case. GW is very clever and so is Karl Rove whose mission in life is to turn millions of Hispanics into Republican voters. A fool's errand IMHO. GW presented his first attempt at amnesty before 911 and it got derailed by it. So he bided his time. Lay in wait for millions more illegals to cross our Mexican borders, for millions more visa over stayers to plop themselves down here, for the stars to line up for a new illegal immigration bill that would be based on our inability to "deport 12 million hard working people". Never mind that 20 million is more like it.
Bill Clinton had more workplace raids than George Bush and fewer Mexicans/Central Americans snuck in each year
I hate to interrupt a good Bush bash with facts but someone asked:
"Today, more than 25 million Americans — or about one in ten — is foreign born. This is somewhat lower than the historical average of about one in eight Americans being foreign born. Our historical experience thus suggests that increasing immigrant quotas would not cause unprecedented immigration.
The birth rate in the U.S. today is slightly below replacement levels. For many industrialized nations, low birth rates are a huge long-term demographic problem. Thanks to immigration, our demographic problems are less severe than in Japan, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France, to name a few. As the Baby Boomers begin to retire in 10 years, America will need young workers through immigration more than ever.
Policy recommendation: Historical experience shows that the United States can easily sustain an immigration level of one million new entrants per year. For at least the next 20 to 30 years, because of America’s changing demographic profile, more workers will be needed to sustain the U.S. economy and pay the retirements costs of current workers. This can be achieved in part by modestly raising immigration levels. Certainly, it would be contrary to the national interest to be reducing immigration levels at this time. "
from radical leftist Stephen Moore, former director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute, now serves as president of the Club for Growth.
Let me further say that Pat Buchannan is an idiot.
I hope this helps this debate.
How do you know the SS number is valid, and how do you know the ID isn't fake?
I know the 1986 bill set up a voluntary pilot program for SSN and ID verification. Are you using that? If so, my hat's off to you. However, it's not available everywhere, and it's not mandatory. There are a lot of people less patriotic than you who won't use it unless forced, and there's no provision in current law to force them.
The penalties for hiring illegals under current law are also a joke. For many greedy employers, hiring illegals is a money winning proposition. We can't change that unless we raise the penalties.
The only people who are working without valid ID are the ones employed by employers who don't want LEGALS!
Well, employers without access to the verification program can't know whether their employees papers are fake. And furthermore, the law doesn't punish willful ignorance. So long as someone presents a boss with papers, under current law he can't be punished for hiring them.
More BS. It's costing us a hellofalot more to keep 'em then deport 'em.
Oh, I agree. Don't get me wrong. I meant the costs of deportation are too high from the bureaucrat's point of view, not the American people's. But that's becaue current law allows endless appeals and too small a budget for the DHS. Get rid of the appeals, and the deportation process becomes much less onerous. But that can't happen without new legislation.
Yeah, I saw those stats. Clinton had somewhere on the order of 2000 raids a year, and Bush no more than 200 even in his best year! A differnce of a factor of 10!
Sycophant...
Pres. Bush should be talking more with Tony Snow who has a better slant on the illegals than the President has.
It seems astounding that he hangs on to his mistaken belief that the illegals have any status other than as breakers of our laws.
Another point, why is nothing being said about the thousands of illegals that are living at government expense in various prisons throughout the country.
They should be tattooed for future identification and deported to Mexico regardless of their country of origin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.