Posted on 06/14/2007 11:16:52 AM PDT by kristinn
A spokeman for the Bush administration sent an e-mail to Jim Robinson and myself confirming the authenticity of a post on Free Republic this afternoon regarding the immigration bill currently before the Senate as having been posted on behalf of the White House.
The spokesman, Nicholas Thompson, works for the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. The Politico reported yesterday that Thompson and Kerrie Rushton, associate directors in the Office of Strategic Initiatives who work under Karl Rove, would be engaging the blogosphere on the immigration bill.
Thompson's post is on the thread titled Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill, a vanity posted by philman_36. Thompson posted at comment #53.
Thompson's e-mail to Free Republic included a brief introduction and the text of his posted comment:
Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that I just posted a response to the post "Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill."
The White House appreciates the opportunity to respond on Free Republic.
Response:
I would like to point out that the Secretary is authorized to reduce or mitigate penalities against employers who in good faith are trying to comply with the law. Certainly, we understand that not all employers knowingly hire illegal immigrants; this will remain the case, especially before the bill’s new secure documentation requirements are fully phased in. We do not seek to wrongly penalize honest employers who unknowingly hire illegal immigrants, therefore we reserve the right to reduce or mitigate their penalties if the employer can show good faith compliance in following the law.
For those employers who do knowingly hire illegal immigrants, please know that we intend to penalize these employers strongly, and the Administration has already stepped up these penalties in the last couple of years. For example, a 2005 program, “Operation Rollback,” assessed $15,000,000 in civil fines to employers, an amount greater than the sum of administrative fines collected in the previous eight years and was the largest worksite enforcement penalty in US history. In the first quarter of FY07, criminal and civil forfeitures have totaled $26,700,000 for employers.
As a reminder of what’s in the bill, fines for hiring an illegal worker are $5,000 maximum per illegal worker for the first offense, $10,000 maximum per illegal worker for the second, $25,000 maximum per illegal worker for the third , and $75,000 maximum per illegal worker for the fourth. In addition, the bill increases the maximum criminal penalty for a pattern or practice of unlawful hiring twenty-five-fold, from $3,000 to $75,000, and would impose a prison term of up to six months. This represents a significant increase in fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Nicholas Thompson
White House Office of Strategic Initiatives
Ice and KY jelly.
Well, then...I'm glad I was otherwise occupied.
I think that would have ticked me off to no end.
Thanks, I’ll admit to overstepping my bounds too;)
True Dat,,,Remember Ho’Hay Had “First Shot”...
When will our taxes be going up? Retroactively, no doubt.
I'm so tired of the double standard, where ordinary citizens are required to obey every law, no matter how trivial, while illegal aliens are catered to in every way possible, with a wink and a nod to the numerous laws they are breaking.
“Grow up!”
“Back off!”
That shill must not be getting paid enough in Tony Snow’s Blog War Room.
He/She seems quite peeved that the peasants are getting all uppity, and forgetting “their place.”
You’re probably correct....and those quoting the 80 miles are disingenous at best....
Yeah, continue to take all references out of context w/ your propaganda. Please. One’s place? Phhhtt . . . I repeat myself, grow up.
Again, I agree. I must admit that it wasn’t until I left the FReepin’ forest and stared back at it from a distance, that I realized how diseased this forest has become. I want the same things that most conservative Republicans want, but the path to those things via FR has been closed.
“What is it of your concern? Was I directing it at you? Back off.”
You’re right man. Sorry about that, I’ll figure out where my place is around here one of these days. Until then, don’t worry, I’ve got your back! Thanks for keeping me straight!
Fascinating that I should simply ‘trust you’ (sounds like Hillaryspeak) and you need to use big pictures/cartoons to get your point across.
No problem at all, sorry for being ‘snippy’;) And it’s ‘ma’m, but I’ve been called worse. Not here, surprisingly. Not yet, anyway . . .
Yall fighting?
Darn, does that mean we are about done here?
Amen! The ATF or the IRS will spend literally millions giving an electron microscope rectal exam to any of us mere citizens.
Meanwhile, hawkers openly sell fake IDs to illegals outside of every Federal Building, ignored by the passing agents.
“Actually the mouse is the anchor baby and 10,000 mice are now coming over to eat the cheese that American mice won’t eat.”
Government cheese, that is. Paid for by the taxpayers.
It’s a pretty good bet when you have a mexican employee who does not speak a word of English, that he might be an illegal.
Ho'hay?
So, what other criminals do you hire? Why the hell should anyone ever do business with you. Really. Do you hire illegal aliens in your business?"
All of the people who work with me have so for 10 years or better and lived in this small town for over 20 years. I am fairly sure they aren't here illegally.
The reason people do business with me is they know I am in business to give the customer good products and service for their hard earned dollars. They have little care if I jump through the many hoops the government gives me. (which are more and more as the years pass)
But you mentioned all the tax things I have to file to satisfy the government which increases each year and is a strong reminder why this tiny little add-on you seem so find of backing will turn into another government boondoggle business will get burdened with.
My grandfather commented once on the few forms he had to file in the late 40s and early 50s to satisfy the governments requirements. Now My wife spends the majority of her time satisfying what the government demands in way of paperwork and compliance, so we won't get fined.
But hey, just a little bit more won't hurt right? Of course we gladly do all this for Free as well as all the other businesses in the US. We would never pass along to our customers these added unfunded mandates.(for the clueless out there the preceding would be sarcasm of the dripping variety) And this is just 50 cents more per social security card called in. Right?
Till next year when they will need just one other form and maybe a picture. Then after that maybe a short family history of the prospective employee. Then later after the mandatory DNA testing for all employees goes into effect well of course we will just have to provide DNA kits and have a certified Test giver make sure that the sample is harvested in the proper manor before we send it in.
Think the above is far-fetched? Grab your time machine and go back 50 years and tell my Granddad he can't smoke in his privately owned grocery store. Or carry a gun openly on his belt into any downtown business he wanted to shop at.
Nutty ideas like this little jewel start out sounding great then the next thing you know your employer is going to be checking your car to see if there is cigarette butts in the ashtray when it is in the parking lot at work. And, when he finds evidence of such he will be obligated to report it to the proper authorities, can't be having criminals working for him ya know. He could get fined.
Or maybe we could just have the government actually STOP illegals from coming into the country and we could solve the problem that way. Nah lets have the Professionals do it. American business people as our front line in getting the criminals is always the way to go! Right?
I wonder do you even have a concept of what limited-government means?
Here is a hint: It doesn't mean MORE rules and regs requiring private citizens to do more and more at the governments behest.
In fact it is just the opposite!
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