Free Republic

Romney favors more visas for foreign seasonal workers 10/13/2007, 11:23 a.m. ET By JOHN FLESHER The Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Saturday he favored issuing more seasonal visas to foreign workers in industries such as agriculture and tourism while cracking down on illegal immigration. Campaigning in northern Michigan, where many employers have struggled to fill jobs in hotels and restaurants during the summer tourist rush, Romney said more temporary workers should be allowed where there are labor shortages. "The answer to that is simple, which is issue more visas," Romney told reporters....

The GOP leadership is waking up to a persistent reality, and it's one that has fundraisers and strategists at the RNC up at night. Conservatives, the core constituency of the Republican Party, are irate. Far from a passing hobbyhorse, the illegal immigration issue has galvanized Republican voters like no single issue in recent memory, and conservatives are refusing to let it go. The Senate's comprehensive immigration bill, backed by the President and pushed by the GOP establishment, was more than a mere legislative miscalculation, is was the straw that broke the conservatives' back. Moreover, to listen to conservatives, it wasn't...

As an everyday citizen of the United States, what are your realistic options when you believe your country to be in a death spiral from which it almost assuredly won’t recover? If you are an American who still deeply believes in the promise of our republic, how can you fight back against those from within, intent on destroying everything you hold sacred by subverting traditional family values, western civilization, national security, and just plain commonsense? Shockingly, maybe you can’t. I’m told it’s basically too late to save the nation that represents the last best hope for mankind. Six months ago,...

Procedural snares and ``killer'' amendments threaten to disrupt the fragile coalition in the Senate that's holding together the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration policy since 1986. Supporters are scrambling to address the legislative obstacles before debate resumes next week. Opponents plan to try to derail the legislation by using procedural delays and offering poison-pill amendments that may split the coalition that sustains the measure. Passage of the legislation would give 12 million undocumented immigrants a chance at legal status while handing President George W. Bush a victory on his top domestic priority. ``This is a delicate balance. The wheels...

SAN DIEGO – Seven people were hospitalized early Thursday morning after a car fleeing from the Border Patrol on a rural highway collided with a tree about 50 miles east of San Diego, the Border Patrol reported. The crash occurred about 4:15 a.m. on Old Highway 80 and Ribbonwood Road, about two miles west of Boulevard, according to Border Patrol spokesman Richard Smith. Agents had “initiated a pursuit” of a car heading eastbound on Old Highway 80 from Tierra del Sol that they suspected was carrying illegal immigrants near Campo, Smith said. The driver apparently lost control of the car...

I want to pose a rather important and alarming issue to fellow Freepers and others. It's a problem with the Z Visa that I've yet to hear mentioned by a single MSM news reporter or news story. Yet it is a monumental and frightening problem that belies all of the proponents' mendacious statements about the added security we'll gain from "Comprehensive Immigration Reform".Among its many egregious flaws and insane propositions, "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" includes the issuance of the "Z Visa" to illegal aliens who "were illegally in the U.S. before January 1, 2007." (Administration-Proposed Substitute to S. 1348, May 22,...

IN THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN community, discussion, debate and uneasiness continue over how much the tide of new immigration impacts job opportunities. T. Willard Fair, president of the Greater Miami Urban League, criticized Senate Democrats for supporting the immigration bill while ignoring the concerns of African-Americans shut out of restaurant and other low-paying jobs because of immigrant labor. For that he was labeled a tool of right-wing anti-immigrant conservatives. The Congressional Black Caucus, which is on record as supporting access to citizenship, job training and fair wages for immigrants, is now finally getting around to forming a task force to address some...

RUSH: Here's what happened last night on the immigration bill, as written up by the AP and then I will give you the correct analysis of this. "A fragile compromise that would legalize millions of unlawful immigrants risks coming unraveled after the Senate voted early Thursday to place a five-year limit on a program meant to provide American employers with 200,000 temporary foreign workers annually. The 49-48 vote came two weeks after the Senate, also by a one-vote margin, rejected the same amendment by Senator Dorgan. The North Dakota Democrat says immigrants take many jobs Americans could fill." Now, why...

An Ohio sheriff who billed the federal government for the cost of jailing criminal aliens and asked Mexico to reimburse him in his fight against Mexican-based drug rings says the Senate's failure to pass an immigration-reform bill is reason enough for states to target illegal aliens themselves. "It seems that maybe the 'silent majority' was heard after all by federal legislators," said Richard K. Jones, the sheriff of Butler County, Ohio. "No one I spoke with liked the feds' idea of watered-down immigration reform." Sheriff Jones, who called on state officials last week to issue a "resolution of nonsupport" for...

I’ve concluded that John Edwards and Laura Ingraham are right. That may sound like a strange source of consensus — a liberal presidential candidate agreeing with a conservative radio talk show host — but bear with me. Edwards has made his “two Americas” theme the cornerstone of his presidential campaign. He should know. A multi-millionaire former trial lawyer, Edwards lives in a mansion and sports $400 haircuts while charging in excess of $50,000 for speeches on the subject of “poverty in America” to breathless university crowds. But he assures us that he has never forgotten his meager origins and wants...

The most controversial component of the Senate's Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 is Title V1 euphamistically entitled,"Nonimmigrants in the United States Previously in Unlawful Status." It would create a new "Z" visa exclusively for illegal aliens..... www.heritage.org/Researdh/Immigration/wm1468.cfm

The issue of illegal immigration has been a red-hot topic in my hometown community of Newport Beach/Costa Mesa, Orange County, Southern California. Sincere and heart-felt arguments have been made on both sides of the issue. However, many of those who write letters to the local paper in support of illegal immigration make it sound like Costa Mesa is the only place in the nation whose people favor the enforcement of our immigration laws. They suggest that those elected officials supporting these laws are just a small local band guilty of meanness, bigotry, and racism. Nothing could be further from the...

As the Senate is mulling the details of a compromise immigration bill hammered together by the odd couple of Sens. Edward Kennedy and Jon Kyl, and as members of Congress hear from their constituents over the Memorial Day recess, it may be worthwhile to put the issue in historical context. For most of our history, the United States had no restrictions on immigration at all. I am told that my Canadian-born grandfather was a "nickel immigrant": He took the five-cent ferry from Windsor, Ontario, north to Detroit roundabout 1896. This situation resulted from America's strong demand for labor, coupled with...

Senator John McCain has anger issues with the American people. In days past his foul temper has erupted with less than perfect timing. But now he would have you believe, that you don't believe, what you truly believe you believe. Let me explain. Senator McCain has been willing in days past to curse the wishes of the American people. It happened in January of this year. In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine when pressed on what he was willing to actually do to stop illegal aliens from coming into the country McCain responded. "I think the fence is least...

Kathryn, that Cornyn amendment is a good example of the kind of final "bipartisan compromise" Congress may settle for: The 12-20 million illegal immigrants will get legal residency in the United States by the end of the next business day (and, incidentally, I'd love to see a list of other US agencies which guarantee full service within 24 hours - or is the express line only available to lawbreaking foreigners?), but terrorists will have to be subjected to what Sheila Jackson-Lee described to me as an "ongoing background check". The more you look at this bill the more it seems...

The immigration reform bill recently announced in the U.S. Senate should be titled the Act to Destroy the Republican Party because it pits President George W. Bush against the majority of the Republican Party that elected him. When Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., appeared as the centerpiece of the photo-op announcing it, that told the grass roots all they needed to know about the politics of the deal trumpeted as bipartisan. The Bush administration has been tone deaf about how offensive some find the words "comprehensive" and "compromise." The American people want border security that they can see with their own...

Around much “celebration,” the U.S. Senate announced on Thursday that a “deal” had been reached on “comprehensive” immigration reform. As I heard the details of the bill, I could feel the collective groans of the conservative movement, just as if we were all punched in the stomach. Why did we work so hard to build Republican majorities? Why did we spend so many hours at phone banks or going door to door? The past six years have seen an erosion of everything we’ve worked for, and now our “leaders” give us immigration “reform.” Following announcement of the deal, President Bush...

TGIF peeps. Let's get right to the news: In a spectacular show of bipartisanship, Senate members of both parties have finished drafting broad immigration legislation. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and chief sponsor of the draft, said at a news conference, "This agreement is the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders, bring millions of people out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America." In an embarrassing open microphone incident afterward, Senator Kennedy added, "...you bet your ass that sunshine will be in my front and back yards. Damn, those Beaners can...

Around much “celebration,” the U.S. Senate announced on Thursday that a “deal” had been reached on “comprehensive” immigration reform. As I heard the details of the bill, I could feel the collective groans of the conservative movement, just as if we were all punched in the stomach. Why did we work so hard to build Republican majorities? Why did we spend so many hours at phone banks or going door to door? The past six years have seen an erosion of everything we’ve worked for, and now our “leaders” give us immigration “reform.”Good breakdown on the bill and politico's positions...

Sources on Capitol Hill tell me the Senate may be very close to a deal on comprehensive immigration reform. But as the immigration deal comes together, Senate conservatives are growing uneasy about the state of the negotiations, fearing that Republican leadership will sell out to the Bush Administration and liberal Democrats to give amnesty to illegal aliens. The issue boils down to whether Senate Republicans leaders, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.), will give Democrats a free pass to bring up the bill without ever giving Republicans a chance to review it. Sen. Teddy...