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Fred Thompson's White Paper on Border Security and Immigration
Fred Thompson ^ | 01-08-08 | Fred Thompson

Posted on 01/09/2008 8:58:04 PM PST by pgkdan

Border Security and Immigration Reform Plan

In the post-9/11 world, immigration is much more of a national security issue. A government that cannot secure its borders and determine who may enter and who may not, fails in a fundamental responsibility. As we take steps to secure our borders and enforce our laws, we must also ensure that our immigration laws and policies advance our national interests in a variety of areas, and that the immigration process itself is as fair, efficient, and effective as possible.

Securing the Border and Enforcing the Law

A fundamental responsibility of the federal government is to secure the nation's borders and enforce the law. The following policies and initiatives will put the nation on a path to success:

1. No Amnesty. Do not provide legal status to illegal aliens. Amnesty undermines U.S. law and policy, rewards bad behavior, and is unfair to the millions of immigrants who follow the law and are awaiting legal entry into the United States. In some cases, those law-abiding and aspiring immigrants have been waiting for several years.

2. Attrition through Enforcement. Reduce the number of illegal aliens through increased enforcement against unauthorized alien workers and their employers. Without illegal employment opportunities available, fewer illegal aliens will attempt to enter the country, and many of those illegally in the country now likely will return home. Self-deportation can also be maximized by stepping up the enforcement levels of other existing immigration laws. This course of action offers a reasonable alternative to the false choices currently proposed to deal with the 12 million or more aliens already in the U.S. illegally: either arrest and deport them all, or give them all amnesty. Attrition through enforcement is a more reasonable and achievable solution, but this approach requires additional resources for enforcement and border security:

  1. Doubling ICE agents handling interior enforcement, increasing the Border Patrol to at least 25,000 agents, and increasing detention space to incarcerate illegal aliens we arrest rather than letting them go with a promise to show up later for legal proceedings against them.

  2. Adding resources for the Department of Justice to prosecute alien smugglers, people involved in trafficking in false identification documents, and previously deported felons.

  3. Maximizing efforts to prosecute and convict members of criminal alien gangs, such as MS-13 and affiliated gangs. These gangs have brought unusual levels of violence to more than 30 U.S. states and have also become very active in drug-smuggling, gun-smuggling, and alien-smuggling.

  4. Implementing fully and making greater use of the expedited removal process already allowed under federal law.

  5. Enabling the Social Security Administration to share relevant information with immigration and law enforcement personnel in a manner that will support effective interior enforcement efforts.

3. Enforce Existing Federal Laws. Enforce the laws Congress has already enacted to prevent illegal aliens from unlawfully benefiting from their presence in the country:

  1. End Sanctuary Cities by cutting off discretionary federal grant funds as appropriate to any community that, by law, ordinance, executive order, or other formal policy directs its public officials not to comply with the provisions of 8 USC 1373 and 8 USC 1644, which prohibit any state or local government from restricting in any way communications with the Department of Homeland Security "regarding the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an alien in the United States."


  2. Deny discretionary Federal education grants as appropriate to public universities that violate federal law by offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens without also offering identical benefits to United States citizens, regardless of whether or not they live in the state, as required by 8 USC 1623.

  3. Deny discretionary Federal grants as appropriate to states and local governments that violate federal law by offering public benefits to illegal aliens, as prohibited by 8 USC 1621(a).

4. Reduce the Jobs Incentive. Ensure employee verification by requiring that all U.S. employers use the Department of Homeland Security's electronic database (the E-Verify system) to confirm that a prospective employee is authorized to work in the U.S. Now that the technology is proven, provide sufficient resources to make the system as thorough, fast, accurate, and easy-to-use as possible.

5. Add to the Cost of Hiring Illegal Aliens. Deny a tax deduction to employers for the wages they pay to illegal aliens, thereby dramatically increasing the real cost of employing illegal aliens. Businesses that do not play by the rules should not be rewarded under our tax system.

6.Bolster Border Security. Finish building the 854-mile wall along the border by 2010 as required by 8 USC 1103. Extend the wall beyond that as appropriate and deploy new technologies and additional resources to enhance detection and rapid apprehension along our borders by 2012.

7. Increased Prosecution. Deploy the additional assets outlined above to prosecute alien smugglers ("coyotes"), alien gang members, previously deported felons, and aliens who have repeatedly violated our immigration laws much more vigorously.

8.Rigorous Entry/Exit Tracking. Complete the implementation of a system to track visa entrants and exits, as has been required by federal law for more than ten years, and connect it to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), in order to curb visa overstays and permit more effective enforcement.

Improving the Legal Immigration Process

The United States is a nation of immigrants. We must continue to welcome immigrants and foreign workers who come to our country legally, giving priority to those who can advance the nation's interests and common good. Immigrants and foreign workers who play by the rules need to be rewarded with faster and less burdensome service, not delays that last years. Advancing the following initiatives will require close cooperation between all levels of government, the business community, and concerned citizens:

1. Maximize Program Efficiency. Reduce the backlogs and streamline the process for immigrants and employers who seek to follow the law. Also, simplify and expedite the application processes for temporary visas. This can be accomplished by hiring more personnel at Citizenship and Immigration Services and the FBI. Caps for any category of temporary work visa would be increased as appropriate, if it could be demonstrated that there are no Americans capable and willing to do the jobs.

2. Enhanced Reporting. Improve reporting to the government by businesses that rely on temporary workers so that the government can track whether the visa holder remains employed.

3. Modernize Immigration Law/Policy. Change the nature of our legal immigration system to welcome immigrants who can be economic contributors to our country, are willing to learn the English language, and want to assimilate.

  1. Reduce the scope of chain migration by giving family preference in the allocation of lawful permanent resident status only to spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, and no one else (no siblings, no parents, no adult children, etc.).

  2. Eliminate the diversity visa lottery.

    4. English As Official Language. Make English the official language of the United States to promote assimilation and legal immigrants' success, and require English proficiency in order for any foreign person to be granted lawful permanent resident status.

    5. Freedom from Political Oppression. Preserve U.S. laws and policies to ensure that the United States remains a beacon and a haven for persons fleeing political oppression, while assuring appropriate admission standards are maintained.

    6. Service to Country. Place those foreign persons who are lawfully present in the country and who serve honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States on a faster, surer track to U.S. citizenship.



TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; border; fredhead; fredthompson; immigrantlist; immigration
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To: SatinDoll

was not slighted at all!


41 posted on 01/10/2008 4:11:40 AM PST by Friendofgeorge (Fred Thompson for President!!! Rudy and McCain suck!)
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To: Politicalmom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPvmin_dofM


42 posted on 01/10/2008 5:49:30 AM PST by TornadoAlley3 ( UNITED BY OUR CORE BELIEFS Fred08)
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To: rightinthemiddle
"I don’t want a President with a clear PLAN! I want a President who’s had Botox!"

good line!

43 posted on 01/10/2008 6:00:24 AM PST by sweet_diane (I am voting substance over style...deal with it!)
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To: DTogo
Fred's in this to win...watch him in the debate Sunday. I hear that Britt Hume is moderating, I expect he'll do a better job of including ALL the candidates present than Chris Wallace did in Manchester. Britt even asked Wallce about that afterwards and Wallace said that he purposely focused on who he thought were the main contenders in the race in NH...Mitt, McCain and Huckabee. Who in the hell is HE to decide who will and who won't have a voice in this race?

Fred won't allow himself to be left out in this next debate. He knows what's at stake in SC.

44 posted on 01/10/2008 6:00:39 AM PST by pgkdan (Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions - G.K. Chesterton)
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To: Bogtrotter52
"Any candidate who claims they can do anything to easily change the anchor baby situation is making a very empty promise. "

Like the claim to make abortion illegal upon winning the Presidency....as if it were that easy.

45 posted on 01/10/2008 6:04:22 AM PST by sweet_diane (I am voting substance over style...deal with it!)
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To: pgkdan

All right, Fred! Why can’t all these candidates say these right things?


46 posted on 01/10/2008 6:09:04 AM PST by citizen (Capt. McQueeg: "Have any of you an explanation for the quart of missing strawberries?" [click-clack])
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To: Ron H.

“he wasn’t going to court the christian conservative right, that if they wanted to support him they could find their way to his door or words to that effect.”

Fred never said anything like that! When a Christian leader came out and said that Fred was not a Christian in his opinion, Fred said that he was a Christian, was not going to “dance to anyone’s tune”. Now we know that the National Right to Life Committee has endorsed Fred over ALL the other candidates and I believe he also has the endorsement of about 14 different state pro-life organizations.
I just donated another $50 to Fred’s campaign and after seeing him on Fox this morning with Jeri, I am really looking forward to the debate tonight! The real conservative will shine through again! GO FRED!


47 posted on 01/10/2008 6:15:47 AM PST by seekthetruth
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To: citizen
All right, Fred! Why can’t all these candidates say these right things?

LOL! Because they spent too much time telling their police dept not to work with INS/ICE and too much time setting up in state tuition programs for illegals and waaaay too much time fighting for amnesty legislation. That's why.

48 posted on 01/10/2008 6:29:47 AM PST by pgkdan (Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions - G.K. Chesterton)
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To: sweet_diane

“Like the claim to make abortion illegal upon winning the Presidency....as if it were that easy.”

I am way far from being a rocket scientist, but am amazed at how many people are stupid enough to judge a candidate by things like that and the constitutional ammendment needed to take care of the anchor baby issue. The first requires a SCOTUS decision and it would likely be handed back to the states to decide. The second will take much longer than one or even two terms to get through, if at all.


49 posted on 01/10/2008 6:31:54 AM PST by Bogtrotter52 (Reading DU daily so you won't hafta)
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To: pgkdan
I hope Fred can go over his positions in tonight's debate.

Voting for McCain destroys what remains of our sovreignty!


I'd rather be waterboarded than vote for John McCain.
50 posted on 01/10/2008 8:15:10 AM PST by citizen (Capt. McQueeg: "Have any of you an explanation for the quart of missing strawberries?" [click-clack])
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To: rightinthemiddle

Welcome to superficial self absorbed America!


51 posted on 01/10/2008 8:25:14 AM PST by RockyMtnMan
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To: RockyMtnMan; rightinthemiddle
I'm used to the general public being absoorbed by the superficialities but I'm amazed at the number of Freepers who rag on Fred because he 'looks tired' has'bags under his eyes' or seems 'lazy'. Good grief people take a look at what the man stands for!
52 posted on 01/10/2008 8:39:10 AM PST by pgkdan (Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions - G.K. Chesterton)
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To: Politicalmom

B T T T


53 posted on 01/10/2008 8:52:27 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (Pray for, and support our troops(heroes) !! And vote out the RINO's!!)
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To: pgkdan

“I’m used to the general public being absoorbed by the superficialities but I’m amazed at the number of Freepers who rag on Fred because he ‘looks tired’ has’bags under his eyes’ or seems ‘lazy’. Good grief people take a look at what the man stands for!”

EXACTLY!!


54 posted on 01/10/2008 8:58:51 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (Pray for, and support our troops(heroes) !! And vote out the RINO's!!)
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To: seekthetruth

You’re certainly entitled to your own biased opinion just as I am to mine.


55 posted on 01/10/2008 11:05:57 AM PST by Ron H. (Conservatives have become an endangered species and are about to go extinct.)
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To: Ron H.

Except we provide PROOF for “our biased opinions”.


56 posted on 01/10/2008 11:50:57 AM PST by Politicalmom (Huckabee’s foreign policy experience consists of eating at the International House of Pancakes.)
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To: Politicalmom
Har har har.... is that what you call it? I know what I heard and saw and I see that only a very small segment of the social christian right shows much support for him.

I may or may not end up supporting Fred but he has to show me more than he has to date. To say he stands for something yet his past doesn't support what he is now saying makes me wonder what is true, what he actually did back when or what he is now saying on the campaign trail! But with supporters like you makes me wonder why an old veteran would want to support your version of a candidate if your attitude is any indication.

57 posted on 01/10/2008 1:15:44 PM PST by Ron H. (Conservatives have become an endangered species and are about to go extinct.)
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To: Ron H.
To say he stands for something yet his past doesn't support what he is now saying makes me wonder what is true, what he actually did back when or what he is now saying on the campaign trail

Then who are you for? It certainly can't be Rudy McRomabee either! Your (and our) choices are sadly limited.
58 posted on 01/10/2008 5:18:52 PM PST by CottonBall
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To: CottonBall
Your (and our) choices are sadly limited.

That's the whole problem in a nutshell now isn't it?! I really don't like any of the current field and I can barely believe that I'm even contemplating holding my nose and possibly considering voting for Fred and I may have to yet but I'm also considering voting for most anyone not affilated with either of the two current corporate sponsored and owned political parties.

As an American I'll lose no matter which one gets it with the only real difference being just which route it'll be they'll take to ruination as a nation. Rather cynical I admit but that's my take on this years election. There is no real conservative that has even the slightest chance in Hades in getting elected and there isn't a real conservative amoung the lot of them, only liberal or liberal leaning RINOs or former Democrats trying their best to corrupt America or once conservative politicians who've lost their way.

Of course everyone here thinks their guy is THE real conservative in this race. They all can't be and aren't, IMHO. What's a guy to do with choices like that?!

59 posted on 01/10/2008 6:31:47 PM PST by Ron H. (Conservatives have become an endangered species and are about to go extinct.)
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To: Ron H.
What's a guy to do with choices like that?!

I think I'll be writing someone in and feeling really sad for our next generations.
60 posted on 01/11/2008 10:11:06 AM PST by CottonBall
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