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Hi nthompsonwhitehouse,

Thanks so much for coming over for a chat. I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we appreciate the possibility of a meaningful dialog with the White House. I have a point or two to add:

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.

It is highly important to break the complicity of businesses in this matter.

I would suggest that a firm warning be transmitted via the press that the hammer is about to fall- Give a 6mo. or 1yr. grace period to allow business the time it needs to get "righteous", but thereafter I would expect serious enforcement.

I would then authorize an audit of permanent citizens nationwide, confirming I-9 and Social Security information on a case-by-case basis, be it federal or state/federal by design. Any SoSoc not confirmed by this process should be annulled. The purpose would be to refit and update employer/employee databases for the next logical step:

Each employer would be issued a PIN attatched to his FedID for the purpose of official identification over-the-phone or by the WEB. Each employee/citizen would be issued a PIN attached to his SoSoc for the same reason.

Thereafter, a simple phone call from an employer to a state or federal office would be sufficient to immediately confirm the eligibility of a prospective employee.

Likewise, upon being hired to a permanent position and within the first month, the new employee must call in to the same fed/state agency and declare himself to be himself by way of the issued PIN, and confirm any additional employers/jobs he might be tied to in the database. Any employers/jobs the employee denies would be turned over to authorities for investigation of the imposter.

The agency then would confirm that transaction with the new employer along with a transactional number as a receipt.

If the employee is not confirmed, the employer has the right to withhold payment of wage without fault, and the employment must be terminated.

This method puts the onus upon the government to certify the eligibility of the employed, as it should be. Provided that the employer called in, he cannot be held liable in any way. It also assures that any social security number is able to have ONE INSTANCE within the database, and removes the need for I-9, Nat'l Identity, or other forms.

Admittedly, this would not work for short-term workers unless hired through an employment agency... Short-term work has always been "cash" anyway, and is hard to track. But it is not where the good money is.

It also does not address the self-employed. That could be addressed by requiring insurance companies to confirm citizenship before issuing liability insurance to business entities (sole-prop, partners, or inc. officers). Contractors without insurance will perish in the service and construction industries.

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.

I can predict that your secure documents will be crap. Any document can be forged, and any chip can be hacked. Don't waste your time. Proving citizenship in voting and employment should require singular personal confirmation. the PIN system I suggest does that (and could be used in voting too, BTW).

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.

That statement is fine, as there can always be mistakes and a slap-on-the-hand can sometimes be enough. But please let me reiterate: I would expect serious enforcement.

A second issue:

I read that you work for Rove, and I suppose that your job (as is his) is to manage the "package". This includes a fair bit of salesmanship. Considering the obvious opposition to this bill, I can't imagine that y'all can't see the opportunity that this issue represents:

All conservatives don't want it.
The Unions don't want it.
The Blacks don't want it.
70% of Americans don't want this stinker.

Any salesman of any caliber should be able to see how to turn this sows ear into a silk purse. If handled properly, the man who rises against this bill and those who stand with him will OWN the next election.

That you (the Administration) choose not to take this obvious advantage leads me to question your motives.

There is no way that you are this tone deaf, and you need no bill to do what the people ask of you.

In conclusion, let me join the chorus:

Build the fence. Enforce the law. Deport abusers. No z-visas, no amnesty, no nothing-at-all until y'all get that done. I am not talking short-term here, I am talking 10 years of enforcement AFTER the border is completely controlled. If you'll do that, I expect that the rest will be easier to swallow when the time comes.

An immediate large scale military presence is needed on the border. Please include guns (and bullets) and the will to use them. Secure the border NOW or the next AQ attack will be on your heads. We will not forgive that.

Oh and BTW, Don't even start with that North American Union thing. The torches and pitchforks are close by and at the ready.

Thank you for your time.

-Bruce

First of all you should know that I helped organize and helped bring about three public demonstrations for support of the President of over one hundred people each on three succesive weekends during the recount. These occured at one of the busiest intersections in Kansas City, Missouri at rally points orignally planned to be utilized by Democrats.

With that background it is absurd that I am now bitterly opposed to the President due to his current position of foisting false reform to an immigration legal system that was actually abandoned by he and his predecessors.

This truely vile Immigration Reform Bill brings to mind a quotation from Edmund Burke when speaking of the French he says what we can style for the Senior Senators and now the President:

"It cannot at this time be too often repeated; line upon line; precept upon precept; until it comes into the currency of a proverb, to innovate is not to reform.
The..." [Senior Senators]"...complained of everything; they refused to reform anything; and they left nothing, no, nothing at all unchanged. The consequences are before us,—not in remote history; not in future prognostication: they are about us; they are upon us. They shake the public security; they menace private enjoyment. They dwarf the growth of the young; they break the quiet of the old. If we travel, they stop our way. They infest us in town; they pursue us to the country. Our business is interrupted; our repose is troubled; our pleasures are saddened; our very studies are poisoned and perverted, and knowledge is rendered worse than ignorance, by the enormous evils of this dreadful innovation."

The President can pardon and commute all he wants for equitable treatment of law breakers. I don't dispute his charity and goodwill. But let us simply enforce our laws before we attempt a plan that will break our nations economy and legal system.

President Bush, make us proud rather than repulsed!

I am utterly opposed to his administration and party until he turns from this path.