Posted on 05/07/2010 4:01:55 AM PDT by hoosier_RW_conspirator
My suggestion to our Congressman:
"Dear Congressman Pence,
I would like to propose an idea on the subject of immigration reform. There are those in this country who would like to grant illegal aliens "amnesty" citizenship for what I suspect to be political purposes ... for their votes, to be blunt.
As the time to attain citizenship through the legal process can take more than two years, I would like to see a provision attached to any bill authorizing blanket, "amnesty" citizenship, that any illegal alien being granted citizenship through any amnesty legislation not be given full voting rights for a period of two years from the bill's implementation.
This would be a small price to pay for any foreign national sincerely wishing to be awarded citizenship without going through the proper channels, and would stymie the "political interest" of any party who wants to push such a bill for their own benefit.
In a nutshell, call the bluff of those who push for amnesty citizenship. See if their interest is as passionate if they have no short-term reward for their own political interests."
Obama has stopped much of the arresting at the border, and if you call ICE and tell them you have illegals, they never respond.
Obama will do nothing to thwart illegals, and if you pass new laws, he will disregard them.
Why don’t we just start an amnesty lottery?
OK, guys. Stop torturing me :)
I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS NOT GOING TO FIX THIS! And it’s not just Obama(although he is especially up to no good) , it’s also that RINO party we are counting on saving us just because now they claim they finally “Get It!”. They wont say exactly what they ‘get’ but I know we wont like it.
This post suggested amnesty as the ONLY solution. So I posted another solution as an alternative to the straw man. Washington elected WANTS illegal immigration. They want amnesty. It is only fear of voters stopping them. They are not going to fix this.
Point taken. This is just a discussion of how it could be possible to have a "path to citizenship" for illegals without committing national suicide. You and I both think the chance of that is slim to none.
However it is perfectly constitutional to deny voting rights to felon/ex-felons and a number of states still do. So why would that be unconstitutional?
You could make that argument, but naturalized citizens have been eligible to vote from the beginning, whereas denying felons voting rights has been normal forever. And I don't think it would be politically possible for any "path to citizenship" to make them felons automatically.
When I say deny voting rights, I mean deny US citizenship. How can that be unconstitutional?
Thanks for the clarification. That wouldn't be unconstitutional, I believe. However, without a Constitutional amendment, you can imagine what future congresses would do.
#1 You don't want them voting so you never let them become citizens
#2 You don't want to give them any legal amnesty (here I mean a green card) that intentionally of unintentionally costs the taxpayers more. So a guest worker program needs to make the employer completely responsible for any taxpayer paid benefits as well as making sure they dont disappear.
I do not support any type of amnesty, not now, not ever. I am getting very hard line on the border issues, years of compromising with no follow-up or honesty on the part of the government to actually secure the border has brought me to that point. My father had a saying “if you give an inch they will take a mile” and that has been the case all through the years with our politicians. I am no longer willing to give an inch.
” its also that RINO party we are counting on saving us just because now they claim they finally Get It!. They wont say exactly what they get but I know we wont like it.”
The RINO party is only interested in getting John McCain re elected.
By the way, I’m not picking on you. Until we broom all the RINOS, and change POTUS, nothing will be done. Nothing has EVER been done since 1986.
“My brother-in-law’s immigrant visa application took just short of 10 years to get approved.”
And THIS is the heart of the problem. It’s unconscionable to have a legal immigration system that is this pathetically slow. We claim to welcome immigrants and actually have a reasonably “generous” policy in terms of the annual number we permit, but then we put them through a bureaucratic meatgrinder that simply encourages people to skip the hassle and arrive as illegals.
I don’t know how other countries handle this, but I can’t understand why this process of becoming a legal resident couldn’t be done in say, 6 months, rather than over years or a decade. American citizen sympathy for illegals would plummet if we had a speedy process and all illegals were perceived as trying to jump ahead in a 6-month line etc.
I can tell you are still sore over what-her-name:)
Hey, back in 2004 GWB campaigned for RINO Spector over conservative Toomey (just to protect the party) and if you dissed him you were called a traitor. It looks like Spector cut a deal over SCOTUS picks at the time to get that support.
Nothing surprises me with the RINO party now.
You can see all the amnesty ‘conservatives’ on FNC to see how much trouble this issue is.
Why I ain’t watching Fox much anymore.
Fox business, yes.
Cavuto is still my favorite at FNC , I DVR him every day and he has a program on FNB.
Have you heard about the new “ open primary “ in Arizona?
I watch Cavuto(okay), Varney and Stossel.
Precisely how is it "unconstitutional"?? There is nothing in the Constitution about how one obtains citizenship, other than being born here. As I recall, all such provisions are federal law, not Constitutional requirements, and have changed significantly over the life of the USA. Plenty of immigrants have resided for their entire lives in the US as non-citizen non-voting legal residents.
The ability to apply for citizenship should apply ONLY to legal immigrants, though I'd allow a very few exceptions, like service in our military.
XHogPilot, you have my sympathy. A good friend just went through nine degrees of hell getting his daughter-in-law approved for permanent residency, but without the green card. She doesn't want to work, fortunately.
If more conservatives had some first-hand experience in securing visas and green cards for family and friends, they'd have more appreciation for the struggles that aliens must endure just to come into this country legally. Much of their misdirected energy might then be concentrated on getting our broken immigration system fixed.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, anything's possible if you can remove it from politics.
What I said was that granting citizenship without voting rights would be unconstitutional. So any "solution" for the 10s of millions of illegals, after the border would be truly truly sealed and secure, should never have a "path to citizenship."
As I recall, all such provisions are federal law, not Constitutional requirements, and have changed significantly over the life of the USA.
True, which is why citizenship requirements should be in a well thought out Constitutional amendment, to remove the temptation to make it easier to naturalize leftist voters.
Ah, I was misunderstanding what you meant. I can handle some form of "amnesty" to legalize those already here, but agree with you that the border MUST be "sealed and secure" FIRST, and that any "path to legalization" NOT involve citizenship. And any such amnesty must NOT invole ANY illegal with a criminal record.
I understand your suggestion, hoosierRWC, but, I don’t want anymore “amnesty”. I thought when Ronald Reagan did this it was supposed to solve the problem. It did no such thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.