Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Will Americans support another amnesty?
www.townhall.com ^ | January 5, 2004 | Phyllis Schlafly

Posted on 01/06/2004 8:18:02 AM PST by God is good

Were Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's Miami meanderings a gaffe, a trial balloon, an announcement of his department's policy, or an announcement of Bush administration policy?

We are entitled to know.

His shocking words were a broadside on current law: "We have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegal aliens, afford them some kind of legal status some way." He pointedly did not say we have to come to grips with 8 to 12 million people who have violated our laws by entering our country illegally, and further violated our laws by using fraudulent documents to get jobs and remain here.

Nor did he say we have to come to grips with the thousands of employers who are violating our laws by hiring illegal aliens, and violating additional laws by paying the illegal aliens in the underground economy in order to avoid our laws about minimum wage, overtime, workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, family leave, Americans with disabilities, payroll taxes, etc.

Ridge didn't elaborate on how he would award "some kind of legal status," nor explain how giving legal status is any different from granting amnesty. What part of illegal doesn't Ridge understand?

Continuing, Ridge said his plan is to "legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."

But we've been there, done that. In 1986, the United States granted what was promised to be a one-time legalization - then honestly called amnesty. That sent a message to others to enter illegally and wait for the next amnesty.

The administrations of Presidents Bush I, Clinton and Bush II have flagrantly failed to use our resources "to cope with" those who afterward violated the "process of entry." And so the illegal-alien problem quadrupled.

Not only did the 1986 amnesty transform millions of illegal aliens into lawful permanent residents, but after they became U.S. citizens they could import their relatives. Congress never investigated how many additional millions entered the United States or the massive document fraud that was involved in the process.

The current President Bush was asked to clarify his policy. He responded: "I have constantly said that we need to have an immigration policy that helps match any willing employer with any willing employee.

"It makes sense that that policy go forward. And we're in the process of working that through now."

No, that does not make sense. First, it's an all-out repudiation of current law, and second, up to 5 billion people in the world might want to be "willing employees" in the United States.

Bush didn't limit the number of "willing employees." An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Mexicans every year cross illegally into the United States looking for work.

Thousands of these have died from thirst and dehydration in the desert or in locked vans, or from drowning, or from crimes committed by their smugglers. The Bush's administration's failure to close the border makes the payoff of getting into the United States worth the risk of death.

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan repeated Bush's exact words and added, "Migration should be safe, orderly and humane." But Congress and the American people never authorized "migration." We only authorized immigration under certain laws.

Bush claims he is "against blanket amnesty," but "blanket" is his weasel word. He apparently is for amnesty for the 8 to 12 million illegal aliens already in this country.

Amnesty for illegal aliens comes disguised under various euphemisms. These include guest worker program, Mexican ID cards, the DREAM Act (to give in-state college tuition), driver's licenses, 245(i) visas, H-1B and L-1 visas, free hospital care, anchor babies, and "totalization," which is to give Social Security benefits.

Ridge says that illegal aliens in the United States should be given "some kind of legal status" because most are not a threat to national security. That's an irrelevancy. Most passengers who boarded those four fatal planes on Sept. 11, 2001, were not hijackers, but 19 of them were, and Ridge has no plan to separate the terrorists from the 300,000 or more who cross our borders illegally every year.

According to the Washington Post, Karl Rove is designing the White House plan and the president will present his proposal the second week of January, shortly before his trip to Monterrey, Mexico.

Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security's undersecretary for border and transportation security, says the Bush and Ridge remarks simply reflect the ongoing debate in Congress over the immigration issue. If that's so, then it's time for Congress to hear loud and clear from the two-thirds of Americans, according to a Zogby International poll, who believe that foreigners residing illegally in the United States should not be allowed to stay.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Mexico; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; college; driverslicense; immigrantlist; immigration; law; mexico; phyllisschlafly; socialsecurity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 281-290 next last
As hardworking, lawabiding Americans are given the stiff, I think of how I used to think Bill Clinton was the biggest lawbreaker in Presidential history.
1 posted on 01/06/2004 8:18:03 AM PST by God is good
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: All
Rank Location Receipts Donors/Avg Freepers/Avg Monthlies
Kenya




20.00
1

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

2 posted on 01/06/2004 8:18:48 AM PST by Support Free Republic (I'd rather be sleeping. Let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: God is good
Will Americans support another amnesty?

My three-part answer: No, Hell No, and No F------ Way!

3 posted on 01/06/2004 8:20:56 AM PST by Prime Choice (Americans are a spiritual people. We're happy to help members of al Qaeda meet God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: God is good
Let's be brutally honest here. Nobody wants to stand up and admit that large-scale immigration of this kind is the only thing that might prevent the U.S. from descending into the catastrophic deflationary spiral that is going to cause chaos in Europe and the developed nations of Asia over the coming decades.
4 posted on 01/06/2004 8:22:37 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE North strong and free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
You seem to forget that hte trade off is a higher chance of a revolution/civil war breaking, with the illegal immigrants starting it. They are NOT loyal to the U.S.
5 posted on 01/06/2004 8:26:41 AM PST by Paul C. Jesup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
You seem to forget that hte trade off is a higher chance of a revolution/civil war breaking out, with the illegal immigrants starting it. They are NOT loyal to the U.S.
6 posted on 01/06/2004 8:26:53 AM PST by Paul C. Jesup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: God is good
Will Americans support another amnesty?

Not THIS American.
7 posted on 01/06/2004 8:27:36 AM PST by WhiteGuy (Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: God is good
send them back!
8 posted on 01/06/2004 8:28:18 AM PST by petercooper (DEAN = Democrats Experiencing Another Nightmare)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: God is good
Amnesty

Give it and they will come and will keep coming and will keep coming and will keep coming and will keep coming!

9 posted on 01/06/2004 8:29:43 AM PST by drypowder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: God is good
Conservatives need to rally against Bush if he does this. This country is being totally destroyed by the elitist like Bush et.al. Republicans. Elitism is wrong and the Bush's are some of the worse practitioners of this mindthought.
10 posted on 01/06/2004 8:34:43 AM PST by sasafras (sasafras (The road to hell is paved with good intentions))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paul C. Jesup
I don't disagree with that assessment, but that "trade-off" is something that should have been considered 30 years ago, not today as part of a discussion about an amnesty program for illegal aliens.

A nation that aborts a million of its own children every year while at the same time allowing unfettered access to this country for a million immigrants every year does not need "immigration reform" -- it needs a large-scale psychiatric examination.

11 posted on 01/06/2004 8:36:34 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE North strong and free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
Weeeeeeeeee Are The Champions, My Friend!
12 posted on 01/06/2004 8:39:26 AM PST by Wolfie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
it needs a large-scale psychiatric examination.

I think it is too late for even that.

13 posted on 01/06/2004 8:45:07 AM PST by Paul C. Jesup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Paul C. Jesup
American National Front. Sounding better every day.
14 posted on 01/06/2004 8:45:30 AM PST by lucidloony
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: God is good; 2sheep; 2Trievers; 3AngelaD; 4.1O dana super trac pak; 4Freedom; 4ourprogeny; ...
Click to see other threads related to illegal aliens in America
Click to FR-mail me for addition or removal

More and more media folks are getting on the bandwagon decrying the current administration's immigration (trial balloon) proposals. I see that as a good thing...

15 posted on 01/06/2004 8:46:19 AM PST by HiJinx (Go with Courage, go with Honor, go in God's good Grace. Come home when you're done. We'll be here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HiJinx
I see that as a good thing

So do I . Hopefully the administration pays attention.

16 posted on 01/06/2004 8:48:03 AM PST by SAMWolf (I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: lucidloony
Tactically it is better we keep the movement unnamed so that the media, lawyers, politicans and lobbiests cannot grabhold and start highly demonizing the movement.
17 posted on 01/06/2004 8:48:26 AM PST by Paul C. Jesup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Paul C. Jesup
I think it is too late for even that.

If that's the case, then it's probably time to look for the silver lining in the cloud.

Go through the S&P 500 companies and note how many of these household names rely on a large consumer base in the U.S. The hard truth is that by the time you reach retirement age, the only people capable of paying $25,000 for a new car, $100 per month for cable/satellite television, $400,000 for a suburban home, $1.50 for a gallon of gasoline, etc. are running across the border in Arizona right now.

18 posted on 01/06/2004 8:49:42 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE North strong and free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
I don't see a massive influx of criminals as doing anything but driving the last nails into the coffin of the Republic.
19 posted on 01/06/2004 8:50:29 AM PST by the gillman@blacklagoon.com (The only thing standing between the rule of law and anarchy is that conservatives are good losers!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: God is good
Talk about mis-quoting!

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal status some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it," Ridge said in a Dec. 9 forum in Miami.

The whole point of her article is destroyed by viewing the complete quote.

20 posted on 01/06/2004 8:50:56 AM PST by TheDon (Have a Happy New Year!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 281-290 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson