Posted on 08/20/2011 1:32:05 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
ROCK HILL, SC -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) spoke for a few minutes to reporters here about his views on immigration, which have gotten him into some hot water with the conservative base he hopes to woo as his presidential campaign spools up. What he offered up was a little something for everyone.
Perry said states should be responsible for their own immigration laws, also stating that the federal government must step up border enforcement. He also spelled out his support for a national program that would allow illegal immigrants who serve in the military to become citizens.
Illegal immigration is, of course, a core issue among conservatives, who continue to reject any plan that allows existing illegal immigrants to become citizens as part of comprehensive immigration reform. In Texas, Perry has taken a number of positions on the issue at the state level that have ruffled feathers on the national anti-illegal immigrant right -- including advocating for and signing a Texas version of the DREAM Act.
He opposes the national DREAM Act debated in the last Congress.
But in South Carolina Saturday, he said he supported a main tenet of that bill -- that illegal immigrants can earn their citizenship by serving honorably in the military.
"I think there is a path to citizenship for those young men and women who have served their country," Perry said in response to a question from NachoFiesta blogger Sean Quinn. "That is a very unique set of individuals, and different than folks who have come here illegally and not given back in that particular way."
But on other controversial immigration laws, Perry said the states should be able to do what they wish.
"I am a big believer in the 10th Amendment," Perry said. He said "state by state, they need to make those decisions" about charging illegal immigrants in-state college tuition prices (as Perry has advocated in Texas) or passing laws like Arizona's SB 1070.
"I happen to believe with all my heart that the states would be best served by being able to be free to make these decisions themselves," Perry said. "I didn't think that for the state of Texas and Arizona-exact law was right for the state of Texas. I didn't want to make our law enforcement officers federal immigration officers. So, state by state ought to be the way to do that, not by the federal government making one size fits all."
But Perry said the federal government needs to lead the way in some areas of immigration, such as a national reform package.
"Once we secure the border, we can have a conversation about immigration reform in this country, but not until," he said. "You must have the federal government putting the resources, the boots on the ground, the aviation assets in the air, and secure that border so that we know that the border is secure before we have a conversation about any immigration reform."
“They use identity theft and document fraud and they often get help from the recruiters.”
I don’t believe any part of that. Recruiters aren’t under the same pressure they used to be. People are waiting in line to enlist.
I’ve heard of people having to wait up to a year for a spot to open for boot camp.
Have you been studying the Obama straw man argument tactic or simply sharing his crack pipe? I don’t claim to know anything concerning espionage: however, I think an enemy would prefer to infiltrate our military with someone here legally...tends to attract less scrutiny.
Please take a look at #189 and #239. I agree with you.
Screw the fence, Put troops on border with live ammo and very liberal rules of engagement. Illegal immigrant flood will become a trickle.
Perry 'misspoke'? Really? Is that the official word from the Perry campaign?
I don’t have a problem with this position. Back in the day, military service was the only way for barbarians to become Roman citizens.
Perry was wrong or whatever. With the lousy economy our military is easily meeting enlistment goals. Illegal aliens need not apply
Rick Perry — this is the first dumb thing I’ve heard him say.
We can’t keep the illegals out with fences or walls. If there are jobs and benefits, they’ll find a way in. If you want to get rid of the illegals, get rid of the jobs and benefits. They’ll go home on their own and not come back.
Obama is doing the opposite. He is extending unemployment beyond 99 weeks. He’s paying them to stay here without jobs.
Yeah : )
I agree. Our first line of defense deserves recognition and what better way to give it, illegal or not.
Can’t be that many.
” Rick Perry this is the first dumb thing Ive heard him say.”
How about his opposition to SB 1070 RIGHT WHEN OBAMA WAS THREATENING TO SUE US?
Yep, do it the way the French Foreign Legionaires do it, they select who they need and want in order to accomplish combat missions. Unfortunately, nowadays Congress and some bureaucrat decides who they want as a friend in the military these days, not whether they can accomplish the mission or not.
When he said he was for 'completely open borders" that wasn't dumb?
When he called for "an easing on restriction s on border traffic" that wasn't dumb?
When he echoed Cesar Chavez's slogan of: "educacion es el futuro, y si se puede" (Education is the future, and yes we can) that wasn't dumb?
When he said "We must say to every Texas child learning in a Texas classroom, 'we don't care where you come from, but where you are going, and we are going to do everything we can to help you get there." that wasn't dumb?
Perry has either said some really dumb things or he's a raging liberal. Which is it?
Perry stinks on illegal immigration but is the best of bad lot. He can beat Obama by 12 points
Get Obama out then deal with Rick Perry later
Garbage? Any one with two eyes can see that's how the US Government has been trending in its policies for the last 40 years.
But reviewing your posting history, I can see you are one of those "we're all the same, we is the world we is the peeples" types that consider themselves "respectable conservatives".
Those of us who actually see how this "diversity" game actually plays out in the real world are just troglodytes knuckledraggers in your estimation.
There was a time when any foreigner who served in the US military was granted immediate citizenship. a DD214 was as good as naturalization papers and a birth certificate.
No more.
Well they don't pay their own freight, they pay the in-state rate. You're right that they pay the same rate as legal residents of Texas, but in every state, the in-state tuition rate does not come close to covering the entire cost of the education offered. The state subsidizes the education from the general fund because of the belief that offering an affordable education to residents of that state will help them become more productive and make more money and pay more taxes. Anyway, illegal immigrants often do not pay any state income taxes, so many times they have contributed nothing to the general fund. Besides the moral arguments against giving them in-state tuition, namely the fact that they are lawbreakers and have unfairly jumped the line ahead of people waiting to legally emigrate, there is also an economic question to ponder. Quite a few studies have found that illegals use more social services than they pay for, and having a system in place to encourage illegals to emigrate across the border with their kids so that they can one day pay in-state tuition seems to be a bad idea.
Why are state universities barred from asking if they are legal? This seems to me to be ridiculous. I mean that's kind of a rhetorical question, I know why they're banned, but that's a ridiculously stupid policy.
And I'm not just bashing Rick Perry here. As I think I mentioned, I live in NY, where we also have in-state tuition for illegal immigrants as well as sanctuary cities. I'm against these policies in general.
While I recognize that it is not feasible to deport 12 million people, I don't think that justifies providing them with benefits that other U.S. citizens are not able to access, as well as with benefits that those who seek to legally emigrate here cannot access. Many people in the world would like to study at one of our fine universities but they cannot afford the fees for a student visa or the access is simply unavailable. It sends a very bad message when we are letting our own illegals attend the universities at subsidized rates.
What we should be doing is reining in the federal government when it tries to stop states from doing the job that the feds refuse to do. We should have every statepass laws similar to those in Arizona. I'm not talking about SB1070, which I think it counter-productive, but their other law -- the law that cracks down on employers. If states would investigate and heavily fine employers who hire illegals, you'll see the illegals voluntarily deporting themselves back to their countries of origin. We also need to pass a federal statute that clarifies the 14th amendment and neuters the footnote from Plyer V. Doe in 1983 that Justice Brennan used to give us birthright citizenship for the children of illegals. Right now, they are unquestionably U.S. citizens. That MUST be changed. I don't think we need a constitutional amendment to do it either, because it only took a Supreme Court footnote to give us this monstrosity. A statute should suffice. If the Supremes strike it down then move for a constitutional amendment, which they cannot strike down. But yeah, do those two things (states cracking down on employers and the feds ending birthright citizenship), and you'll see illegals leave real fast. We could also consider ending the ridiculous war on drugs and letting the states deal with that, because part of the reason there are no jobs in places like Mexico is that there are so many jobs with the cartels to supply the American demand for illegal drugs. If working for a cartel was no longer an option, you might see some actual businesses spring up in rural Mexico.
Were you being sarcastic or were you trying to create a really good, non-sequential, ahistorical nonsequitur.
Evidence shows illegals establish several identities with phony SS nos and fake documents (which "impoverished immigrants" buy from itinerant document brokers for several thousand dollars).
Earned Income Tax Credit is also available to immigrants who obtain legal work status. But the law allows immigrants to claim EITC for up to three years prior to obtaining that status. Workers simply file a tax return for the years in which they were not legally eligible to work in the US. The most widespread abuse stems from the requirement that children live with the worker for more than six months of the year. IRS does little to verify the claim.
Many immigrants claim non-existent children, or claim children who theyve left behind with relatives. Those with two or more children and income below $32,121 could get as much as $4,008. It is estimated that illegals got $22 billion EITC refunds.
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Recent news report say L/E closed down three California upscale townhouses operating as a maternity center for Chinese mothers---the mothers paid $35,000 to stay there. Their families back home paid their fare so they could have their babies born in America; to have the children automatically gain US citizenship.
You have to ask: why would they fork over thousands of dollars to give birth here? B/c it's an investment for the lucrative future--- when the US tax dollars start rolling in. Those "anchor babies" give the mother, father, and extended family, free entry into the US---- they then get on the US gravy train, and suck-up benefits from here to eternity.
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Americas "welfare state" is not a "principality." It is a vast empire bigger than the entire budgets of almost every other country in the world. Just one program, Medicaid, cost the federal government $275 billion in 2010, which is slated to rise to $451 billion by 2018. Counting state Medicaid expenditures, this one program cost taxpayers $425 billion in 2010, soaring to $800 billion by 2018.
Under Obamacare, 85 million Americans will soon be on Medicaid, growing to nearly 100 million by 2021, according to the CBO. But there are 184 additional federal, means-tested welfare programs, most jointly financed and administered with the states.
In addition to Medicaid is the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Also included is Food Stamps, now officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nearly 42 million Americans were receiving food stamps in 2010, up by a third since November, 2008. That is why Obamas budget projects spending $75 billion on Food Stamps in 2011, double the $36 billion spent in 2008. Read more at blogs.forbes.com
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La Raza Funding Skyrockets After Obama Hires La Raza VP
Judicial Watch | June 17, 2011
FR Posted on Friday, June 17, 2011 by jazusamo
A Judicial Watch investigation reveals that federal funding for a Mexican La Raza group that for years has raked in millions of taxpayer dollars has skyrocketed since one of its top officials got a job in the Obama White House. The influential and politically-connected National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has long benefitted from Uncle Sams largess but the group has made a killing since Obama hired its senior vice president (Cecilia Muñoz) in 2009 to be his director of intergovernmental affairs.
Ignored by the mainstream media, Judicial Watch covered the appointment because the president issued a special ethics waiver to bring Muñoz aboard since it violated his own lobbyist ban. At the pro illegal immigration NCLR, Muñoz supervised all legislative and advocacy activities on the state and local levels and she was heavily involved in the congressional immigration battles that took place in the George W. Bush Administration.
She also brought in a steady flow of government cash thats allowed the Washington D.C.-based group to expand nationwide and promote its leftist, open-borders agenda via a network of community organizations dedicated to serving Latinos.Among them are a variety of local groups that provide social services, housing counseling and farm worker assistance as well as publicly-funded charter schools that promote radical Chicano curriculums. Judicial Watch published a special report on this a few years ago.
This week a JW probe has uncovered details of the alarming increase in federal funding that these NCLR groups have received since Muñoz joined the Obama Administration.
In fact, the government cash more than doubled the year Muñoz joined the White House, from $4.1 million to $11 million. Not surprisingly, a big chunk of the money (60%) came from the Department of Labor, which is headed by a former California congresswoman (Hilda Solis) with close ties to the La Raza movement. Since Obama named her Labor Secretary, Solis has launched a nationwide campaign to protect illegal immigrant workers in the U.S.
Just this week Solis penned declarations with Guatemala and Nicaragua to preserve the rights of their migrants. The NCLR also received additional taxpayer dollars from other federal agencies in 2010, the JW probe found. The Department of Housing and Urban Development doled out $2.5 million for housing counseling, the Department of Education contributed nearly $800,000 and the Centers for Disease Control a quarter of a million. Additionally, NCLR affiliates nationwide raked in tens of millions of government grant and recovery dollars last year thanks to the Muñoz factor. An offshoot called Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) saw its federal funding nearly double to $18.3 million following Muñoz appointment.
A social service and legal assistance organization (Ayuda Inc.) that didnt receive any federal funding between 2005 and 2008 got $600,000 in 2009 and $548,000 in 2010 from the Department of Justice. The group provides immigration law services and guarantees confidentiality to assure illegal aliens that they wont be reported to authorities.
Cecilia Munoz
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