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
Hey there,,,TANKS...;0)
They can spin it anyway they want, but until the enforce the existing laws I will not satisfied, secure the borders NOW!
Sen Inhofe has a plan called ENFORCE that these same people who want a plan offered are keeping pigeoned holed in Judiciary.
da pigs purddy but its still a pig mon :)
This is a must read.
A yet unanswered question is “Why is the open borders lobby pushing for amnesty?” After all, they had it pretty good with no federal enforcement.
Chertoff and Kyl both seem to have answered that question recently, Kyl in his Wall Street Journal interview and Chertoff on Fox News yesterday: because businesses are starting to worry about efforts to enforce immigration laws at the local level. One state in the vanguard of that effort is Kyl’s (and McCain’s) home state of Arizona, where the legislature has passed numerous laws (usually vetoed) on the issue, and where the public voted for Prop 200 back in 2004.
To me that says something far more ominous than that Congress is being disingenuous or naïve on the matter. Far from simple being empty promises, this amnesty bill is actually a blatant attempt to head off any attempts at enforcement at all. After all, states and cities can’t deny services or enforce laws against illegals if the government makes them all legal.
Much more at the link...
That is in Senator Inhofe’s bill ENFORCE along with doing away with Anchor Babies. Sen Inhofe has been pushing English Only for a long time to no avail.
If you have to speak and write English to become an American citizen, why are the ballots printed in Spanish in some areas?
The Passport service just announced it can’t process the aplications for American citizens this sumemr who needed passports to travel to Canada and Mexico, so they are “temporarily suspending” the requirments....yet we are told to believe the same beaurocracy will do the background checks on ten million or so illegals in 24 hours
Of course, I'm sure that it's just a coincidence that the big spike that started in 2006 happened right around the time Bush started pushing to get immigration "reform" passed.
Not.
And since Bush is only executing on enforcement to get his way on amnesty, why on Earth should we believe he will continue enforcement once he gets his way with amnesty?
Do you and Bush really think freepers are that stupid to fall for this song-and-dance routine?
Where’d this info come from?
Really?
Argh! How many times must it be stated that Bush knows exactly what he's doing? Sheesh.
None so blind as those who will not see.
Wake up and realize that our elected political leaders hate this country & everything it stands for. Once you begin to see their actions from that perspective, everything makes crystal clear sense.
“this strikes me as the very same argument the “south” used in the slavery debate.”
Are you trying to equate illegal immigrants who are paid, to slaves? Jeesh!
My grandma always told me that you had two ears and one mouth because you were supposed to listen twice as much as you talked. So far the Bush administration has been blind and deaf to the people who sent him to the White House.
Most illegals are using other people’s real SS#s, not fake ones. This is how it came to pass, a few years back, that my then 80 year old father, who is a retired Foreign Service officer living in the Washington DC area, got a notice from the IRS for failing to report and pay taxes on a portion of his income. A restaurant in Brooklyn had dutifully filed the usual information with the IRS, re how much they had paid to a certain busboy who was using my father’s SS#.
Unfortunately, putting a stop to this (and a lot of other problems involving criminal activity by both illegals and citizens/legal residents) will require a massive federal biometric database. Until there’s a reliable way to determine exactly who a person standing in front of you IS, there is no way to verify anything else about them — citizenship/residency status, past felony convictions, current arrest warrant, etc. This is how criminals who have gotten fired and even convicted for abusing helpless patients in one nursing home easily get jobs in another one. They just use the name and other info of another real former employee at their previous employer or some other employer. They can even get a good reference this way.
bttt!
nthompsonwhitehouse
#1 You don’t have the manpower or funding to enforce the fines you talk about
#2 I see zero evidence of a serious deportation apparatus being built. There is no provision for deportation of —>>
a) Those who refuse to sign up for Z visa
b) Those who due to criminality are denied Z Visa
c) Those who commit crimes while holding Z visas
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.
I agree whole heartedly. Build the wall, Deport all of the illegals. If you want guest workers let them apply and go through PROPER background screening, fingerprinting, and medical screening; then allow them to come to work.
Tell them that anyone we deport cannot apply to work and some will leave on their own. (hopefully)
Enforce the LAW!!!!! Illegal is Illegal. They broke the law. They should be dealt with as such. CHILDREN BORN HERE TO ILLEGALS SHOULD NOT BE CITIZENS!!!
!!!
Funny, that, eh?
Ping to #455
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