And Shove That New World Order Where The Sun Don't Shine !!
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
75% of Honest Americans are against this bill and the elitists in DC want to pass it anyway for our own good? What the hell is wrong with you people?
As an armchair accountant 10 to 20 million people added to the social security system which is commonly known to be on the ropes financially is a brilliant idea? what other social services will these people require? What is the economic impact of all this to Me? They as low wage earners will never put in as much as they take out.
Soooo, my taxes go from 53% (state and federal combined) to what? 60%? 70%?
I registered as an Independent and no longer making donations to the Republican Party as they do not represent my ideals anymore.
This bill is a huge mistake and I do not think you will convince anyone here as we seem more intelligent than our elected representatives
When you say “secure the borders”, what do you mean?
My brother went with some business associates down to Mexico this past week. They were on a business trip in Arizona, and they wanted to be able to say they had been to Mexico. On their way back, they went through the border with minimal trouble. About thirty minutes to an hour later, they were stopped at a another check-point, and they had to reproduce their identification proving they are Americans. I see this happen regularly, and I see Border Patrol seize folks and send them back to Mexico via the Big Bus(es). So my question is what more do you want them to do?
If Americans en masse are so serious about this issue, then they should turn in all the illegals that they come across. And be vigilant about it. Take pictures. Post them on the internet. “These people are in the country illegally.”
But I’m REALLY AND TRULY just a stay-at-home Mom who is a political junky.
Well then as a Freeper let me say the following
We were at this same point 20 years ago, we were sold a “fix” to the illegal immagration problem then that was then called, and should still be called amnesty. That being said-I can say without a doubt that we will once again find ourselves in this position in another 15 or 20 years-(read: the next “generation” of illegal immagrants).
This bill is not a fix, by waving a magic wand over illegal immagration will not make it legal.
I love immagrants-they are great-but they should enter this country LEGALLY and not break our laws when coming to this country.
They broke a fundamental law of this country by entering it illegally, what in the world makes the adminsitration think that they will obey ANY of our laws.
Why are you letting that POS Harry Reid call out the Prez regarding his failure to get the neccessary votes. Last time I checked Harry Reid is the majority leader, his party controls the Congress-if Reid thinks this is such a good deal, why can’t he get his party-who is in the majority to pass the legislation?
Hey kristinn here’s an idea. If fences don’t work take the one down around the White House. That will save a few taxpayer dollars. Then all the illegals can come over and cut the grass, that will save even more.
And Shove That New World Order Where The Sun Don't Shine !!
BRAVO! I appreciate your eloquence. LOL!
I like your steps in that order.
#6 - Let’s review the current legal immigration program to make sure it is balancing people from all over the world and not just south of the border.
I have a tip for you...
You should listen to Fred Thompson and secure the border before you ask support for a new bill that will work the same as all the others before it.
Build a REAL fence and not the “Invisible fence” that is being proposed.
They make a product of the same name to keep pets in your yard but the pet has to wear a special collar for it to work.
Until you can convince the Mexican President to put those collars on the illegals we want a real fence and a secure border.
If the government enforced illegal immigration a fraction of what they do to a citizen over an unpaid parking ticket then we can talk about immigration reform.
Cool! Is that a magnet or a sticker?
1) BUILD THE FENCE
2) DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS
3) FINE / PROSECUTE EMPLOYERS BREAKING THE LAW
4) INCREASE BORDER PATROL
5) CONTINUE LEGAL IMMIGRATION
This is the job we expect you to do. Thank you.
Nice, concise, definitive summation. I concur.
>>1) BUILD THE FENCE
>>2) DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS
>>3) FINE / PROSECUTE EMPLOYERS BREAKING THE LAW
>>4) INCREASE BORDER PATROL
>>5) CONTINUE LEGAL IMMIGRATION
Add to the above
>Stop listening to the Chamber of Commerce, Home Builders and Contractors (aka the people that profit from illegals)
>Free Ramos, Compion, and Hernandez and put them in charge of Border Security
>STOP SAYING WE CAN’T and do all of the above
I worked for the Bush campaign in 2004, and I would work for a campaign to impeach Bush at this point. Bush is a total failure and is destroying our country over his love for illegal immigration.
At this point, I don’t even care to get concessions. I just want the WH to answer one question.
WHY?
Magnetic. I bought the material at Staples and printed out my message. I put wide clear strips of tape over it to protect it from the weather. There will be many more adorning my car in 2008.
100% agree with you. As President of a company with 375 employees, I know WE have the capability to verify and comply with the law in this respect. If we can do it, so can the construction contractors, hoteliers and meat packers. THEY JUST DON’T WANT TO.
Not to metion this little thing about the border being wide open. It’s all dog and pony until the bordered is secured.
Any increase in the penalty applied to those employers who do knowingly hire illegal invaders is certainly welcome, so is any information about stepped up enforcement actions.
NONE of these facts in any way increases the palatability of a proposed law which would in effect grant blanket amnesty to between 12 and 20 million illegal invaders already here, or make the concept of a guest worker program acceptable to most Americans. I can’t SERIOUSLY believe that anyone already here and working would voluntarily turn themselves in, return to their country of origin, get in line to immigrate, and pay a $5,000.00 fine.
And what about back taxes not paid?
If the Bush Administration were listening to me, my advice to them would be to jettison this bill and present a series of new bills, each addressing different aspects of this problem.
I would humbly suggest:
1) An initial bill to fund the construction of the entire southern border fence, hiring of more border guards and a Presidential pardon for those border guards currently imprisoned for helping protect our borders.
2) Perhaps a bill to allow some illegal invaders who have been here for a specific period of time, say 5 years for example, have jobs, have been paying taxes, haven’t been convicted of a crime, HAVE FAMILIES, WANT TO BE AMERICAN CITIZENS, and know English or are learning English, be allowed to remain on the condition that they become citizens and renounce their former ties.
3) If we need more people as workers here, - and I don’t know that we do,I believe “guest workers” is not the answer. It will generate a permanent underclass of unassimilable individuals living in ethnic enclaves who will be a source of social unrest and a drain on the social support system.
The strength of America in the past was its ability to assimilate people who wanted to come here and BE AMERICANS.
Consequently, in this situation we should raise immigration quotas for ALL countries across the board to prevent masses of people, all coming from the same ethnic and social milieu. Doing this would accelerate assimilation. I do not believe we owe Mexico anything. Also, I believe we should give some preference in immigration to those skilled and educated individuals who will contribute most to our technological advancement.
4) Local governmental jurisdictions which refuse to cooperate with national immigration laws and apprehending illegals should first face a cut off of all Federal funds and then indictment of those specific individuals responsible for not so cooperating.
5) Those individuals and organizations who participate in “sanctuary” movements should face indictment and prison as accessories in a federal crime.
6) The cost of apprehending, incarcerating, and deporting illegal invaders should be billed to those countries from which they originate. If they refuse to pay, seize their U.S. assets and/or deduct it from foreign aid payments to that country.
7) English should be made the official language of the U.S., and all immigrants should have a working knowledge of it.
Maybe it would be worth it to ping whoever this spokesperson is just to make sure he knows how we feel about his response to the previous post...
Duncan Hunter’s son, Sam, posts on FR as “Duncan Hunter Ambassador”.
Absolutely! That is one of the unaddressed issues in this whole debacle.
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