I really liked some of what President Bush had to say in his speech tonight (May 15th, 2006). I'll just go ahead and give him a Double Barreled Salute. [Note 5-16-2006; after more thought and reading, I'm taking back my Double Barreled Salute - I think the President is taking the easy route out on this. He needs to stand strong and stand up for American, showing the same courage and determination he did after 9/11 .]
The problem is that no matter what President Bush wants, it's the House and the Senate that will ultimately decide what is enacted into law. The House has passed a strong border security bill that I like, there's no guest worker provision, no amnesty, and a 700 mile long fence. The Senate basically wants to turn American into Northern Mexico. The President, in his speech, took the middle ground, securing the border, establishing a tightly controlled guest worker program, creating better identification cards, holding businesses accountable for hiring illegal immigrants, and providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that have met certain requirements (paid their taxes, learned English, work here for a number of years, etc.).
It is a tough issue and there are no easy answers. Our lax enforcement of our current immigration laws and borders has created problems that are hard to stomach: for example, human cargo left locked in shipping containers, left to die. There is also the issue of splitting up families. Do we deport illegal workers who have lived in this county for years and started families and have children who are legal citizens. Strong laws, and strong enforcement of those laws, would have kept these occurrences to a minimum. Every elected official who voted against funding for enforcement, or voted against passing strong immigration laws, should have to take turns cleaning up the bodies from a cargo trailer that smugglers left locked and baking in the sun. Maybe next time an immigration bill was before them, they wouldn't have such a hard time taking a tough stance on the issue.
Nor do I buy the argument that we need to constantly increase the number of immigrants legally allowed into this country to do jobs that Americans don't want to do. There are more than enough legal immigrants here to do those jobs now, and, quite frankly, there are enough Americans being supported by state and federal programs that could work in some of these jobs if they were sufficiently motivated to do so.
Some people who have analyzed the Senate's 600+ page "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act" (fancy words for "Step by Step Guide to Turn America in Northern Mexico"), estimates it would permit the number of LEGAL immigrants into this country to reach 103 to 217 million over the next 20 years (that's 5 to 10 times the current rate). The upper end of this estimate, 217 million is 66% of the current population of the United States. This is outrageous.
Even if you think the middle ground outlined by President Bush is good, I think it needs to be stronger, but even if you think it's all we need to do to fix the problem, the likelihood that what he outlined will become law is very remote. Unless we take action, unless you, and everyone you can encourage to do so, takes action, we'll end up with a compromise that's somewhere between what the president outlined and the Senate's completely insane bill.
Click here to email the link to this web page to your friends, your family, your co-workers, and everyone you can think of.
The only way to insure the integrity and longevity of this country is take the time to contact your elected officials, your state's U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives, your state Governor, the Vice President, and the President. Do it now, this week, don't wait. All of these contacts are available by clicking here.
Tell them how you feel. If you agree with me, then tell them:
- Support the House's bill, not the Senate's bill
- No amnesty programs.
- No guest worker programs.
- No path to citizenship for illegal aliens.
- Deport illegal aliens.
- Strengthen and toughen our immigration laws by reducing, not increasing, the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country each year.
- Strengthen our borders and border patrols as fast and as much as possible.
- Do not give citizenship to children born on U.S. soil of illegal alien parents.
Be sure to say who you are and where you live so that your letter, fax, email, or phone call is taken seriously.
Until next time,
Recoil
**This was a production of
The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to
participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards,
email the coalition and let me know
at what level you would like to participate.
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Posted by Recoil on May 15, 2006
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