May 11 2006
Administration Not Enforcing Laws?
There are lots of myths that get repeated which defy reasoning. One is the Bush administration is not enforcing immigration laws with employers. Well we had news last month of a huge raid, and news this month of huge raid. Well, old myths die hard.
Old myths? The facts are this AJ. From 1995 to 1998 under Clinton worksite arrests of illegals were 55,646 for Bush worksite arrests under from 2001 to 2004 were 1824. You call that enforcement? Bush is deciding not to enforce the laws…he gets to choose apparently. And remember this is going on at the same time that his unfortunate or perhaps deliberately calculated decision to talk casually about amensty has brought in hundreds of thousands more illegals.
Furthermore those raids last month were a sham intended to give cover to his desire to enslave all of Mexico in workplaces run by donors who don’t like having to abide by our workplace laws.
You do no favors to those “brown” people you insinuate people like me are prejudiced against by allowing employers to enslave them.
Until recently, enforcement has certainly been haphazard, as the previous commentator notes. There is significant concern that these enforcement activites, fortuitiously timed to say the least, represent an attempt to assuage the faithful rather than a meaningful, long term commitment to enforcement of laws against hiring illegal aliens.
While I do not think President Bush has nefarious intent as apparently the previous commentator does, count me as one who is skeptical of any attempt to even discuss normalization of the illegal aliens in our midst until we have secured the borders.
Once the borders are secure, we can discuss the matter rationally. I suspect that a one-size-fits-all solution will not work. Mass deportations are unlikely, and mass amnesty is probably just as politically unacceptable.
Enforcement of existing laws on hiring in a systematic way once the borders are secure would be a first step. Undoubtedly, were that to occur, employers would become more careful in hiring and some illegals would leave rather than face arrest and deportation if there were no reasonable prospect of being able to return.
Any program that permitted some of the current illegals to remain would have to exclude those who have come most recently and would have to exclude anyone with (other than very petty) criminal records here or abroad.
Once we’ve eliminated those who have tried to ‘beat the clock’ and the criminal, a rational compromise could be fashioned. I would think that essential elements of such a program would require those seeking permanent residency and/or citizenship to: (1) have a longer ‘probationary’ period prior to citizenship than current legal immigrants, (2) pay all back tax obligations, (3) become truly fluent in English, (4) not become a public charge or be arrested for any reason during the probationary period, and (5) pass a rigorous examination in English demonstrating a thorough knowledge of American history and understanding to the American political and legal systems .
I agree with Theodore Roosevelt’s approach that those immigrants who come here (legally) and assimilate thoroughly and adopt the values of America should be treated exactly equally with any other citizen to and including descendents of the Jamestown settlers or the Mayflower descendents. But, those who are not prepared to fully assimilate should not come.
It’s become typical of hard-liners on this issue to try to distort what is being proposed. I’m no longer surprised, just angry at their distortions, and the fact that they view their pet issue to be more impotant than the war on terror.
Yea and actions speak louder than words.
One need look no further than Mexican Consulate in the Border Patrol.
Same Crap as in Iraq, Afghanistan and damn near every where else.
He will not do what is necessary, he is following a plan though.
HIS, not conservatism. Funny how you look at us as hardliners.
A true conservative believes less is more.
The less a government is involved the better. Yet when it does not do the requirements that are called for in the constitution and oaths, yes we begin to suspect. So when the camera shines and work starts to get done yes you can call us cynical.
Bush has succeeded in spite of not because of. Bad for us good for him. Any president who can call the minuten vigilantes and mean it is a hypocrite.
As an umemployed worker dying to get off disability, I would gladly do the work no one else will do. Only no one will have me when I ask for a fair wage.
As far as this being the pet issue. The human mind always looks to identify things as different and new. This is the way it impresses it self and says how smart we are.
In reality one should look at the similarities among all things to find wisdom.
Because if there are too many things and we all say it is so complicated how can we possibly handle all the nuance.
How could we possibly predict 9/11?
Easy stop looking for newand examine same, similar, components etc.
9//11 is the same as a Kamakazi attack. Only ignorant eggheads don’t get it.
Border security is the same as Iraq and war on Terror security.
All involve protecting the American people from death, destruction and extinction.
I am sorry to say Harold it is you who do the distortions
Harold exactly how was anything distorted? Those numbers are from the Government itself. It directly contradicts what AJ tried to say. It directly calls into question the entire idea Bush is following the laws and enforcing them.
I mean heck Clinton initiated 55,000+ workplace arrests for illegal immigration. Bush initiated 1,800…exactly how do you spin numbers that crappy into Bush is enforcing our immigration laws. It gets worse because during Clintons years he wasn’t blathering about amnesty causing hundreds of thousands possibly millions of illegals to flood across the border. So in the face of a much smaller influx he did a much much better job. Bush blathers about amnesty and millions come across the border then he refused to enforce the law?
Not only that but his DHS is actively helping the Mexican Government avoid citizens who are trying to protect their property? Exactly how do you spin that nonsense?
Pierre
One way they are distorted is that those numbers bagan to decline in the late 90’s before Bush became presdient and one of the reasons some of the numbers declined is that new methods of both evasion and detection were employed in the late 90’s . In fact the number of workplace arrest fell dramatically in 1998. The problem is that people do not understand the laws or the programs or even the software available to people to track social security numbers etc. It seems that after a few years of high arrests, people changed their tactics to evade the law.
If I remember correctly in 1999 the rate was down to 2,8oo or there abouts from more than 18,000 a couple of years before.
But what the hell, blame it all on Bush. After all there was no problem until he came along. He created illegal immigration just like he controls the weather.
So yes, there are myths. When Democratic mayors and governors do not always cooperate with INS it is obvious this is a complicated problem.
BTW, I forgot to add that the number of people sent back is up about 300% since 9/11. But don’t belive me a lot of this information is available from the INS and other government sites. We had a blogger at Flares that gave details on the above mentioned programs noting that the number of workplace arrests fell by 80% from their high in the mid 90″s to the end of Clinton’s term.
Pierre:
You need help.
Ahh, the joys of listening to liberals minds attempt to grasp issues of the day! Sorry I cannot spend time correcting all your false assumptions, confused facts, exaggerated extrapolations, and faulty logic. But it is interesting to watch.
So now I am a liberal…you are too funny AJ. Cast me into a liberal since that is easier for you to understand even though not a single thing about me is liberal. Again with the name calling while all the time avoiding discussing the issues.
And it is obvious that I have a firmer grasp of the issue of enforcement than you do AJ since you didn’t seem to realize that arrests were significantly down under Bush.
Pierre:
This reminds me of the whole Dubai thing.
You are not getting my point. The drop in arrests began in the 90’s before Bush came along. We have deported more than 6 million since 9/11. In fact over 700,000 were turned back at the border in the last six months.
Back in the 90s’ the government allowed business access to information on Social Security numbers, letting businesses know that if they went ahead and hired certain people, they would be caught. So when people with bogus numbers came in they were not hired as often and went under ground to other jobs where people would not be asking them for information. Many of the people being charged with crimes now are being charged under rackettering laws because they are not only hiring illegals, they are giving them forged paperwork and that is what they are being charged with.
Hence the numbers were showing a huge decline before Clinton left office and would be down now whether Bush were there or not. But more people are being deported.
The interesting thing is that this is not a new issue. It has been around for decades. Reagan had an amnesty, there was the Mexican Reparation Act back when Hoover and Roosevelt were around, there was the Bracero Program which encouraged workers to come here, but now all of a sudden it is all part of some conspiracy on the part of George Bush. It is weird, stupid and hysterical.
I want to see a good strong enforcement bill but I don’t think the hardliners will be satisfied with anything reasonable.
Is the amount of traffic crossing the border up or down.
If it’s up then I guess George is not doing a very good job, especially considering we are at war.
But if the numbers are down it’s not enough but fair enough not to pick on George.
Oh come on. Something like 80% of the people who work the fields in California are and forever have been Mexican…did Clinton do a round up of them and send them packing and then demand that Okies drive out like they did during the Dust Bowl and pick fruit? This is an old problem and the truth is the traffic goes up and down with the economy.