Apr 10 2007
Guest Worker Program Preferred
The idea of pulling the 12+ million illegal workers (not criminals – those are a different story) out of the underground market and into the open is key to this nation’s security and health. Basically it is key to our existence. It is not surprising so many people understand the limitations we face in undoing decades of poor policies on immigrant workers. The policies in place today are basically this: some fool in DC pulls a number out of their grand posterior and determines that is how many workers we will give permits to. The rest will not get permits despite their history here, whether they kept their noses clean, whether they are an anchor to the community, whether they fill a niche without workers, etc. The number is arbritrary and devoid of any thought.
And based on this fantasy number some people are called ‘illegal’ and others not. Which is like saying we will hand out only so many licenses and if you didn’t get one you are a criminal if you drive to feed your family. It is insane to determine motives and intent based on this kind of test. America understands a better way to deal with this is to register workers who can stay employed and keep their noses clean. Violent criminal acts – just one – should get you booted and time in the jail of your native country (cheaper than us holding them). You pay taxes, you learn english, you do well. If you were illegal you pay back taxes with interest due and fines. It is simple and most Americans are behind the comprehensive Guest worker program:
More than four in five California voters support giving legal residence to illegal immigrants, according to a statewide public opinion poll to be released today.
By wide margins, the state’s voters also favor creating a temporary worker program to allow future immigrants to enter legally, increasing the border patrol and imposing stiff penalties on employers who hire unauthorized immigrants, the Field Poll found.
Those proposals are elements of a plan outlined by President Bush in the border city of Yuma, Ariz., on Monday, as he revived his call for comprehensive immigration overhaul.
Note the preference is a work permit – not amnesty or citizenship. 4 to 1 is a landslide in anyone’s book and this is coming from CA – a state swimming in immigrant problems and costs. The point is we either get the immigrants to carry their weight or we pay for them (either to stay or be rounded up, the cost to us is about the same). Look at the shift towards the Guest Worker program and realize this issue is over:
Support among California voters for legalizing undocumented immigrants rose to 83 percent from 75 percent last April, while 67 percent of respondents backed a guest worker plan, up from 60 percent a year ago.
The far/hard right lost this issue. They can either get on board or remain the minority. 83-17 is a route. 67-23 is not even close. And CA just is not THAT far away from the American mainstream. The shift is to move away from the far/hard right. They lost the Congress on this issue and it is clear America is moving away from them. Their candidates won’t even register in the Presidential races. Not with these numbers. They best rethink their positions, lest they find themselves as popular nationally as Dennis Kucinich.
We have hashed this out before and as I stated before until you fix the 2 problems the border and making sure that the (guest worker program or actually called amnesty) assimlates into our society by learning to speak the language and reading and ect. or this will be the same thing as the 80s and we will have to do this again next decade.
I\’ll support a guest worker program on one condition. SECURE OUR BORDERS! I know that makes me part of the \”far/hard right.\”
There\’s something I don\’t understand about the amnesty crowd. Why are \”you people\” so afraid to call it what it is, amnesty?
SECURE THE BORDERS!
SECURE THE BORDERS!
SECURE THE BORDERS!
[AJStrata: Secure borders are part of the comprehensive Bill as everyone knows. Now please try not to be rude on this site and insult people\’s intelligence, You only need to repeat you futility a few times]
Secure the borders? Right. I’ll believe it when I see it. How quickly do you think today’s federal government is going to wall off ~1500 miles of border? And what are they going to do, put up barbed wire, or will they build something that actually aspires to be unclimbable and unbreachable? And do you think this wall is going to be finished before the current flood of immigrants subsides?
I won’t weep if the wall goes up, but I’ll be VERY surprised if I see it happen in my lifetime.
It seems now, that we need to decide whether we will come up with a solution, or if the Tancredo/Malkin/Buchanan hard-line wing will force the GOP into an unwinnable fight.
For all of you, all too eager to sell the country down the river, two URLs, one for an article in The National Review and the second one for the actual study showing the pass tp our destruction brought by the illegals, referenced in the first article:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTUyZjY3NzExYjIxODU0NmVmYWE4MTAxNTZlOWJkNDk=
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/sr12.cfm
And another good article, showing the effects of the illegal immigration on our black population.
Where are the “good liberals” in defending them?
Because we know where the slave owners are (in the Corporate wing of the Republicrat Party).
Blacks Crushed By Immigrant Job Juggernaut:
http://www.vdare.com/
Dbostan,
“sell the country down the river” and “destruction brought by the illegals” isn’t helpful rhetoric.. What is new in that study? Of course “safety nets” transfer wealth from one group to another. Work does too. Immigrant labor adds to our economy.
Wrong.
ILLEGAL work adds wealth only to very few, while ALL of us support the ILLEGALS’ families through different programs.
In other words, the slave owners STEAL our money and bring our country’s future destruction.
And let’s not forget about the 29% illegals incarcerated (almost 50% in CA alone), the drunk driver deaths, rapes and so on.
So, pleeease, stop pulling the wool over our eyes with phrases like “Immigrant labor adds to our economy” and they “come here to work”.
They came here to WORK THE SYSTEM.
Because some are so greedy and most of so stupid to let them do it.
Period.
If we get immigrants to pay taxes they carry their weight….
Duh.
Illegal work? I hate to break it to people but we have unemployment rate of 4.4% and in certain areas the agricultural workers are about 80% from south of the border. That is just a fact. It has been that way in California and much of Texas for many years.
If Americans were willing to do that kind of work most of these people would never have come here in the first place.
But that does not mean that I think there should not be any rules.
It has been pointed out before that about half the illegals here did not cross that border, so even if the wall gets built it will not solve the problem. It will slow things down, but there will still be people here illegally unless the larger problems are dealt with.
I have read that Bush has moved right from his previous position, enough so that there have been complaints from the immigrant community that his plan is too harsh. Meanwhile the hardliners say it is too easy.
I think that a guest worker program is needed, however, it will have to be coupled with tougher enforcement and more security on the border or people will not sign up for it.
However, I do agree that most Americans want to see a compromise on the issue, because they want to see some movement here toward a solution, the endless bickering accomplishes nothing and people tire of it.
Dbostan:
I really resent people saying that I am trying to sell my country down the river just because I don’t agree with them. It makes me just want to ignore them.
Dbostan,
“Slave owners” is propagating the myth that corporate Republicans are exploiting the immigrants. I haven’t the data, but, I’ll bet it’s mostly small employers like painters, landscapers and restaurants doing the hiring, except for the farmers and hotels.
What “Bush Republicans” want is a guest worker plan where they all pay taxes.
One of the things always overlooked by those who say Americans *will* do the work, is the fact that many of the immigrants will *travel* all over the country. They are incredibly mobile which is a real asset, as far as I am concerned.
And when is someone going to speak the truth about the INS? It is ridiculously inept…broken, imho, causing so many problems…Clean it up and much of this will be fixed.
A few questions I have that no one seems to want to answer:
How do we get foreign nations to provide background checks for 12 million people?
If there is a backlog in obtaining ‘legal’ immigration, how will INS handle 12 million applicants?
What happens to the applications of people who are trying to enter legally when INS has 12 applications from illegals to process?
If an immigrant is illegal, and working under the table for substandard wages, how do you prove how much they earned? How do you force them to pay back taxes? How do you make them pay a fine when they earn less than minimum wage?
Will illegals be prosecuted for using stolen Social Security numbers just as anyone who has committed identity theft is?
Will they be deported if they have been arrested for say, drunk driving?
But, alas, I have never had any pro-amnesty (see, I can do that, too) person explain to me how these things would be handled. All I get is some distorted answer like “well, we have to work those thing out”. Sorry, that dog don’t hunt. You want me to go along with this, explain how it will work.
LOL! R05,
There are answers for all, and 1oo to 1 questions for those who want to delay or stop the Guest worker program. Clearly the path is less complex with a program than without – checkmate. And no, I will not waste my time making up the 400 impossible to answer questions that make these look simple. If people can’t see them I don’t really care. Right now they are outnumbered 4-1….
Which I think was the whole point of my post.
Aw heck 05,
let me give you a taste anyway:
“How do we get foreign nations to provide background checks for 12 million people?” [besides the obvious fact if they have been here ten years we have records???]
How do we get a foreign nation to admit these are their illegal aliens we want to send back?
How do we get a foreign nation to agree on a timetable to take them back?
How do we get a foreign nation to agree to take back there millions out of the 12 millions?
How do we get a foreign nation to not charge us for returning the millions?
How do we get a hold people for deportation as we work this out?
Do we wait until we have the holding capacity before we round them before we know how many go to each country before we know how many they will take…
Do we wait until we have trained the security forces to round up the illegals before we build the holding faciltities before we start shipping them home?
What do we do with nationalized children of these foreigners? Do we pay their native country to take them in and educate them (they are American citizens)?
And I could go on and on and on. And we could do nothing or do something. 4 out of 5 us have a plan and we like it. Its coming.
AJ, I guess your smary answers are supposed to be cute, but I asked my questions in all sincerity and you retailiated.
Funny, we haven’t had any problems from the majority of foriegn nations returning their citizens up to now. But I guess you forsee that we will. I have never heard the excuse that “nation X won’t take them back” until now. Raising the bar?
4 out of 5 of you have a plan? What plan? Just to give them all green cards, or temporary residency cards? And what about the criminals? What about people how have stolen MY Social Security number?
You are just like John Kerry, y0u have a plan; but it is so secret even you don’t know it. Are you sure you are not a Democrat? They have plans all the time but no answers on how to implement those plans.
As I resent your attitude toward questions I posed that are legitimate.
Still gripping about those illegals who violate your residence ordinances?
Ret 05, AJ obviously made light of your questions because he knows there is no answer. Those situations you posed can not be dealt with. I did like what I heard the Pres say a couple days ago, but they don’t stand any chance in hell of getting included.
There may be several things that we could live with if we would just secure the border, but that is the one thing even AJ agrees will never happen. For the future, we may as well do away with the border and the checkpoints and border patrol. They are totally useless and are even being prosecuted for attempting to enforce the laws.
AJ has said several times something about the far/hard right, whoever that is, losing the election in november. I remember his analysis leading up to and immediately following the election and I’m pretty sure his analysis at that time was that Iraq was what lost the election, not immigration. That only came up later.
He has said repeatedly that he is not a republican, but that’s not important anyhow, it’s only your position that is important.
The washington politicians ARE NOT interested in solving the illegal alien situation, they are only interested in getting re-elected.
.
No FE,
All his questions can be answered (I gave one to the question he had)
Stick to speaking for yourself and your 20% minority. I can speak for myself just fine thank you.
R05
I gave one answer to your one question I copoed – and then provided a bunch for the minority view has not answered for their cause.
Smarmy? My answer was 100% right on. Oh well – I guess the minority can keep on ridiculing the opposition if they think it will help…..