Jun 25 2006
GOP Utter Failure IV
While the democrats want to cut and run from Iraq, Republicans cut and run from our border security and left us open to terrorist attack by a stubborn fear of immigrants possibly becoming US citizens in 10-15 years (the so called ‘amnesty’ which only someone with severe obsession would confuse with the liberal goal of immediate citizenship).
Sen Bill Frist attempts again to make some in-roads on this issue in apiece out today in the Washington Times (h/t RCP). He is mostly right, but very wrong in some place. He realizes we need a multi-pronged solution.
Simply strengthening physical border security or beginning a guest worker program will not fix the deep, underlying problems in America’s immigration system. Any bill Congress sends to the president must enhance border security, create an operational temporary worker program, provide for work-site enforcement, and address the status of the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country.
It is a reasonable checkist (though some things overlap). All of these fronts need to be addressed to even have a prayer of working. Those people who try to get just one element passed (i.e., stronger borders) and try to hold off issues they cannot face are kidding themselves. Personally, I am not buying the silver-bullet excuses. I stopped believing in those not long after I realized the tooth fairy is not real.
Fritz points to one of the biggest problems we have right now – workable work-site checks and enforcement.
Workplace enforcement stands atop my list of concerns because it’s a prerequisite to any other type of immigration reform. Right now, employers have no effective way to verify whether an individual has proper permission to work in the United States. Unless we develop an effective work-site system, the economic pull of jobs will lead both illegal immigrants and employers to evade whatever barriers we place in their way. While the Senate bill contains some good ideas, I believe its work-site enforcement provisions need improvement.
Well, the jab that employers are too greedy to check is patently unfair. There is no way for an employer to resoundly determine if someone here is legal. Employers have been saying for decades that if the government would provide the system (like gun owner checks) they would use it. But people who run small businesses do not have the revenues to pay for detectives on every employee.
What I do not grasp is the idea that someone who has paid into Social Security should not get that money back out. It is not hard to believe more than half (if not all) of the people in social security have a record of breaking a law, for example speeding, uninspected car – much more dangerous actions to me and mine than someone working for a living and paying their taxes. In the grand scheme of things a drunk driver is much more of a risk to society than someone working without permission. So are we going to set the precedent that you can lose your social security because you broke a law?
This is the kind of mindless ‘severe punishment’ mentality that tries to equate working without permission with robbery, assault and murder. These punishments will set a precedent that can and will be used by politicians in the future as things that are ‘good for the gander’. We treat people equally here. So laws that apply to one group can be broadened out to apply to all of us at any time. Are we ready to have some bureacrat in DC tell us when we break certain laws they will take all the hard earned money they forced from us originally and now keep it?
Folks, those immigrants who are real criminals need to get the boot. We need to stop releasing immigrant workers (who are indistinguishable from vacationers I must point out) at the border as best we can, but what we really need to do is bring the underground workers into society so that they do not undermine our way of life but join in it. No stick you would not use on yourself for equally bad transgressions is going to be seen as fair and measured. The irony of this one sticking point is this is a case where these illegal workers paid their fair share of taxes, and now some in DC are trying to find a way to punish them for this. We want the tax cheats folks, not the tax payers.
Someone needs to show some sanity on these issues. And soon. We are still completely exposed to terrorist attack from our borders and from within this underground society that has been building up for decades. This was an inexcusable failure by the GOP. Fear of an immigrant becoming a citizen in 2016 or later is no excuse for leaving Americans at risk for terrorist attack today. Any attack that does succeed through this path will be laid on the heads of those who made this mistake.
Addendum: I see the ‘do-nothing’ crowd are still rationalizing the GOPs disasterous blunder. Seems they don’t like the point I keep making and keep looking for cover in polls which mean nothing to the issue. How many people in this country would agree that fear of immigrants becoming US citizens in 2016-2021 is a higher concern or priority than stopping terror attacks here in the US today? Sorry folks, but the American people are not obsessed. Very few minds would conclude it is better to risk a terror attack today (which kills and maims) than risk people whose only crime is making a living becoming US citizens in the far future. The only reason the GOP is not being decimated on this issue is the Dems keep trying to surrender to Al Qaeda in Iraq. One party is surrendering and the other party is fixated on immigrants being nationalized in 10-15 years. Neither is thinking straight. Please don’t bother and try and impress me with how correct all of this is. That just destroys your credibility. There is nothing admirable in any of this.
Cross I have no idea where you are getting your numbers from but that is not Israels experience
But we are not Israel and we don’t have problems with Palestinians. 50% of all illegal aliens in the US cross legally at regular border checkpoints … they just don’t go home. They don’t sneek across the border. If you built a fence, you could stop 100% of border sneekers … of 50% of the illegal aliens … for as long as it takes the coyotes to switch to boat or hot air balloon.
Left by crosspatch
EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES if you don’t want it, just say so for goodness sake.
To even suggest that many in this country are not opinionated by this issue more than anything demonstrated by the comments on this thread.
I wish to thank all the commenters for their civility and reasoned thoughts on their positions they have taken.
You people done good!
Now only if our guberment could do the same!
Wellll I certainly don’t consider myself to be opiniated. But I feel like I may be beginning to be.
Here is my proposal for a compromise immigration bill
1) Get rid of the “anchor baby” provision in the law
2) Secure the border
3) Enlarge the quotas for legal immigration into the country with path to citizenship
4) Create a guest worker program that is just that.
a) No path to citizenship for guest workers other than applying under the point 3 above
b) Second dibs on jobs, native americans and naturalized citizens have first dibs, no underbidding locals to displace them in their jobs
5) Effective enforcement of hireing illegals
Give the illegals competion from regulated and documented workers under these provisions, and the illegals will deport themselves.
Requiring proper documentation, hopefully that can’t be counterfitted easily, will eliminate to visa overstay and illegal crossers from the mix.
Any bill giving blanket amnesty will only be doomed to being repeated again in the future.
Add 12 million illegals to the voter base and guess what any chance of effective border enforcement will have down the line.
You know, we’re going to continue to have a flood of illegal immigrants from Mexico, as long as (1) America remains the shining political and economic beacon that it is, (2) Mexico remains the socialistic kleptocratic regime that it appears to be, and (3) the legal process for an immigrant to become a legal U.S. citizen remains as arbitrary and capricious as it apparently has been. A wall isn’t going to change that.
I’m dubious about the effectiveness of putting up a wall. The wall would have to reach across, what, 1800 miles? And make the wall high, deep, and next to impossible to climb for the entire length? It’s doable, but how quickly do you think we could build it? And how many immigrant would slip between sections of the wall before the wall is completed? And, as For Enforcement pointed out, you’d have to supplement the wall, as with (his suggestion) regular flights over the border using aircraft with ground-penetrating radar to detect tunnels.
All this is doable, I suppose, but it won’t work as a panacea. This wall would only be the start of what we’d need to do. The Coast Guard would also have to be brought into play eventually, if coyotes get the idea to smuggle immigrants by boat into Louisiana, Texas, or California.
I wouldn’t mind having a wall. I just don’t think we can build it quickly enough for it to do much good.
Personally, I’d like to see the USCIS revamped. There ought to be a legal way for an illegal to be hired temporarily, so that he can show up at an immigration office with proof of employment. Perhaps if he shows up with that, and if he can pass a few tests (a medical test, along with English and American history tests and the like), and perhaps pay some money, he can become a citizen. (I’m thinking not just of the Mexicans but of people from many other countries who have been struggling for years to acquire citizenship.)
Yes, I know, these things are probably already in place. But something is plainly wrong somewhere. For example, there are a lot of stories going around, about immigrants from various countries trying to become a citizen, filling out all the forms and doing everything they’re told to do, only to be told to come back again next month or next year because some bureaucrat didn’t feel like doing his job. This kind of caprice breeds contempt for the law, which leads to widespread flouting. If a law is flouted by such huge numbers of people, it could be a sign that the law itself needs a second look.
Hey Cross coyotes are not on the endangered list are they?
Let’s kill some of them and see what happens.
They are worthless scum any way surely you don’t want to protect them.
Crucifixion sounds about right I would be glad to do it.
5 or 10 should suffice. Then let us do a survey about who wants to smuggle what.