Rush Limbaugh: "Immigration Proposal Roils America"

Rush Limbaugh.Com ^ | 1-7-04 | Rush Limbaugh

[Matchett-PI]

Rush Limbaugh Program - January 7, 2004

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT 1:07 PM ET

RUSH: Let's just get straight into this. We're not going to wade in, we're going to dive into this immigration business here, ladies and gentlemen.

[AP:] "A plan being proposed by President Bush would give legal status to foreign workers, including millions already toiling in America’s underground economy, removing the fear of deportation but not putting them on a fast track toward permanent U.S. residency. In a speech today at the White House," it will happen at 2:45 this afternoon, Eastern time, "the president will ask Congress..."

Four key words here, folks, when you talk about the politics of this. Now, I know presidents get what they want, but this one, this one's going to have some interesting battles that will take place in Congress.

"Bush will ask Congress to approve changes to immigration policy, saying that they would make the country safer by giving officials a better idea of who is crossing the border, bolster the economy by fulfilling employers' needs, and protect illegal workers rights."

Now, before you people go off half cocked out there I just want to tell you we're going to cover this from both sides of it because there are pros and cons here, and just sit tight. Don't start jumping to any conclusions about where we're headed here yet.

Just stick with me on this as I always ask you to do, because I know when you hear me say "bolster the economy by fulfilling employers' needs and so forth," wait a minute, Rush, you can't possibly believe, just sit tight, folks, I'm just setting this up here.

This is what the Associated Press is reporting today and there's an interesting story and I'm just going to take some bullet points from this story, and then there's all kinds of critics out there, and we'll delve into that too.

But the interesting thing here is that Congress is going to be very much involved in this. And let me just say at the outset here, a lot of people are concerned of negative political fallout for Bush. I don't think that's going to be the case. I don't care what happens with this.

I don't think Bush will ever pay a price for this politically, but it's possible that Republicans will for a long, long time down the road. We'll get to that in due course.

There are an estimated eight million to ten million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., perhaps half of them from Mexico. Under the Bush proposal which could smooth relations with Mexico, and I know a lot of you are saying, "Who cares?" Well, Bush does. And this proposal could also help Republicans lure Latino voters, foreign workers under this proposal, could apply for legal status for a three-year period if they had U.S. jobs. They could travel to and from the United States and possibly work in the country for additional three-year periods if approved by congress. There it is again!

Now, let's take these things one at a time. "Could apply for legal status for a three-year period" provides nothing but hope. You put the word "could" in front of this, and it's just like saying "almost."

"Could apply for legal status for a three-year period" provides nothing but hope.

It applies to only those working already or with a job promised, but it also identifies their employers who have to pay Social Security and payroll taxes. It puts them legally on the tax rolls, including local taxes, and while not granting citizenship for the first time it officially documents who they are.

And this is one of the key elements that the administration says that is important that they're interested in. Also, allowing them to work for an additional three-year period, if approved by Congress, there it is again, puts the Democrats in a position that they don't want to be in on this.

The Republicans are either going to line up behind Bush, which would be good for garnering Hispanic votes, or demand tougher restrictions, which is good for the Republican base, which is good for Bush.

The Democrats are going to have to line up with the leftist activists who are already displeased that these measures don't grant full amnesty and are shallow.

I know I'm talking about the politics of this now, but stick with me on this as I repeatedly say. It is true that a bunch of disgruntled activists out there who don't think this goes far enough. These measures ought to grant full amnesty and that these measures are shallow. La Raza not happy here, folks, not happy at all about this.

So the Democrats are going to be the ones in the position here of being forced to go all the way.

Bush is going to leave it up to the Republicans in congress to go whatever direction they want to go.

"Senior administration officials who outlined the proposal for reporters last night said the president is calling for an unspecified but reasonable increase..." you ever been involved in anything legal, folks? The word "reasonable" and this is a legal matter.

I mean it's going to become a law. The word "reasonable," my gosh, there's a different definition from that from person-to-person-to-person.

I mean, the left-wingers think "reasonable" is full amnesty. "Senior administration officials said the president is calling for an unspecified but reasonable increase in the number of green cards available to workers.

However, they said that being part of what is being called the temporary worker program would not give foreign workers any advantage to applying for green cards or permanent residency status which is the first step toward obtaining U.S. citizenship.

Again, the positioning on this would appear to be against the Democrats.

They have to argue for millions of green cards in order to satisfy their base.

The Republicans can argue for reasonable increases, whatever that is, and anything less than what the Democrats are demanding.

Any increase in the number of green cards over current figures gives the Republicans the issue." And a case in point is the quote here from Cecilia Munoz of La Raza. She says it's extremely disappointing. She's vice president for policy, the National Council of La Raza and Hispanic immigrant advocacy group.

I mean, you would think that this bunch would be doing cartwheels today. I mean, if this proposal is as it's been portrayed to be - that we're going to be flooded with all these illegals and undocumented, say okay you're here forget about it fine welcome to America here's your tax I.D. number you'd think La Raza would be happy as hell about this but they say no, no, no, they say this is extremely disappointing.

Here is Cecilia Munoz. "It's a serious backtracking to where the president was two years ago when the administration was prepared to provide some kind of path to legal status. They're proposing to invite people to be guest workers without providing any meaningful opportunity to remain in the U.S. to become legal permanent residents. It appears to be all about rewarding employers who have been hiring undocumented immigrants while offering almost nothing to the workers themselves."

And along those lines I got a little story here from the AP today: Green Card Holders Among Critics of Bush Plan. Well, what's this? Wait a minute here! The story is from El Paso. "Juan Muniz crosses the border from his native Mexico, his green card in hand every day to work in an El Paso department store. His hours can be cut. Now he worries that a proposal by President Bush to make it easier for foreign nationals to work in the U.S. will mean more competition for already scarce jobs."

Wait just a minute. I thought these jobs were going unfulfilled! I thought there were gazillions of these jobs waiting out there waiting to be filled that Americans wouldn't do and now this guy with a green card is now all concerned about increased competition? Why, how can this be?

Muniz's wife Guadalupe said, "We just want one job that pays well." She said this Tuesday night as the couple returned to Juarez Mexico just across the Rio Grande river from El Paso. I mean, the administration said that these jobs are going unfulfilled, but here you've got a green card holder who is agreeing with La Raza in essence saying, "Hey this is no big deal for me, all I want is my one job, just want to go there and then go home, but now I've got to have all this competition with all these other people."

Back to Cecilia Munoz. She said that "under current immigration law, foreigners who have violated U.S. laws, including entering the country illegally, can be banned from reentry for three years to life." They said that under current immigration law, foreigners who have violated U.S. laws, including entering the country illegally can be banned from reentry for three years to life.

The White House was unclear whether it wants to wave that law for illegal immigrants who participate in the temporary worker program.

Cecilia Munoz of La Raza also argued there are only 5,000 green cards a year available for unskilled workers. The wait to get one is about 15 years.

Congress would have to increase the number of green cards by hundreds of thousands to accommodate the millions of immigrants in the country illegally who would want to work.

So her point is that this is much ado about nothing.

That, and you could say, okay, does offer a lot of hope, but not much more.

If there are 5,000 green cards a year, and you're going to, I mean, they're not going to be expanded that much, the Democrats are going to be demanding that everybody who wants one get one.

The Republicans are saying, no, we're going to have a reasonable increase in the number of green cards, so it's going to be somewhere between 5,000 and 12 million, but whatever it is, it's not enough to satisfy the wacko leftists who are going to be out there taking more wacko extreme, if you ask me, now, just the politics of this, and I know, just sit tight, folks, I can feel the tension, I know you people are bursting to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. Just sit tight.

You'll get your chance, if you dare take it. But I'm telling you the politics of this is that the president is getting a big to-do out of a lot of hope, while the Democrats are going to be positioned here to say, "This is nothing, it doesn't go far enough," all in an effort to get some of the Latino vote, some of the Hispanic vote.

And there is this business of employment. However, there's some interesting stuff that I have found about this, and there may not be all that many jobs that Americans won't do, according to some people who have written extensively about it today.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

I don't want you people out there, see, this is the problem here. See, I have empathy. I know that you people out there shouting, you're throwing things at the radio you're getting mad you're thinking that I'm becoming a sycophant partisan and so forth, and I'm urging you here just to hang tough and I don't want you to think that I'm bought off by what this La Raza babe is saying.

This is all about politics at this stage right now.

Anybody who thinks it isn't needs to reawaken here, and probably more so on the Democrat side once this all shakes out than it is with Bush but it's still political there, as almost everything in the Bush domestic agenda has been.

I don't want you to think here that just because this left-wing special interest group La Raza happens to criticize Bush, that I think, a-ha, Bush is doing something great, because this is a Democrat group, this is a group that has long been in partnership with the Democrats and there's nothing that's going to change that.

I think they're just positioning themselves politically here.

They too are juggling balls in the air, everybody on this is juggling balls trying to wait to see which one they need to catch and hold onto.

And there's more of two of them in the air. I think La Raza probably actually likes what Bush is doing and they will push for more because that's what special interest groups do.

I've always told you people, no matter what you give the left it's never enough. You can give them everything they want and it's never enough. You can let Ted Kennedy write the education bill and it's never enough. You can give them the biggest, greatest federal spending in the history of the world, and it's not enough.

And this is not going to be enough, either, and that's one of the political trap doors I think that exists here for the Democrats.

La Raza is going to push for more because that's what special interest groups do, but they're not going to give Bush any credit in this even this if they like what he's doing because of their long participate ship with the Democrats.

Just like yesterday we talked about there finally appears to be some movement particularly among educated blacks, African-Americans on the Republican side. You're not going to see Jesse Jackson credit Bush for improving the lives or the Republicans or conservatives of improving the economic fortunes of black America it's not going to happen, even though they like it, it's not going to happen, they're going to say Bush hasn't done enough.

It's the same thing here with this La Raza bunch.

Now, interesting piece by Al Knight today in the Denver Post and he's entitled this piece Amnesty by Another Name. Let me just read you a few short paragraphs here of his piece.

Says it's not good news that President Bush has invited immigration advocacy groups to the White House today, to listen to his proposal to welcome millions of new foreign workers to the United States.

Now, his piece here says that most of the foreign workers are from Mexico, but AP piece says that only half of them are, and will be.

That's what I mean about this being in a state of flux, and about there being a lot of things here that we really don't know.

The timing of the event is especially unfortunate writes Al Knight. Bush is scheduled to visit Mexican president Vicente Fox next week and apparently wants to bring along a belated Christmas president.

The Mexican leader has been whining for years the U.S. hasn't done enough to provide employment opportunities for Mexican citizens. Well, screw him.

What about his own country providing jobs for his own citizens? What is the responsibility that we have for this? I mean, for crying out loud, we got enough people in this country who think the government's job is to provide work for them.

What is this business that the Mexican president thinks that it's our job to do that for his own citizens, too? Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security, recently behind the administration was interested in providing some sort of legal status for the millions of illegal aliens, mostly Mexican, who are already in this country. Public opinion polls have repeatedly shown that most Americans do not favor amnesty programs that are properly labeled.

Bush is apparently intent upon offering some kind of amnesty proposal hidden in a guest worker program. Now, the AP story doesn't say that there's anything hidden here. I mean it offers maybe some hope for this, but it's a lot of work involved to secure it.

Al Knight, Denver Post again, says it won't work, any worker program that accepts applications from those currently in this country illegally is likely to unite the opposition especially in an election year.

It's also true that immigration groups will adamantly oppose any program that didn't accept such applications. And Michelle Malkin today, she is just, I mean somebody get a cage, she is raging, and it's good, she's got her piece is entitled "The Criminal Raid on Social Security." And before I read you the whole thing here, let me just give you her last line, "What's next? Survivor's benefits for the families of the September 11th hijackers?"

END TRANSCRIPT

[longtermmemmory]

We have to make lemonade somehow out of these lemons.

[Merdoug]

Rush was simply brilliant today. His empassioned speech today, at the end of his second hour, was one of the finest I've ever heard from him.

[Zipporah]

Those aren't lemons.. lemons aren't brown. <>p>

[Thumper1960]

When someone breaks into my house, comes in bereft of any welcome, I dispense with "due process" and engage Ole Betsy. There is no difference between an illegal alien and a thief who breaks and enters. The illegal comes to siphon off so-called "public services" paid for by *my* tax dollars, for the benefit of myself and fellow, legal citizens. The illegal *may* pay some taxes, but probably does not. The illegal does not want to risk leaving a trail of paper that can lead to him. The burglar comes in, illegally, to deprive me and my family of goods and funds earned by my hard work. The illegal breaks into my home...my house, my abode and domicile-my country. The burglar Breaks into my home...my house, my abode and domicile-my castle.

To surrender the borders to scofflaws is more than a slap and single-finger-salute to all those millions who came to this country legally, it is near treason and capitulation to potential enemies at the gates.

[Nanodik]

. I voted for him and will vote for him in 2004

Which is precisely why he does not give a flying &*%$ that you are pissed off.

[richtig_faust]

Hey crap head. Learn the differnce between these two terms:

Legal.. illegal. And how much each costs the taxpayers and how much we want them.

[Old Student]

Bullseye! I know Morocco isn't Mexico, but parts of both are practically identical, except for Mosques instead of Cathedrals.

I spent a month in Rabat Sale, Morocco, once upon a time (about a decade ago). I got a chance to go to Fez, one of the holy cities of that part of the world. Our tour bus traveled on one of the National Highways of Morocco; a 2 lane road with no shoulders. Along the road were villages strung out like beads on the necklace of a small stream. We passed one village where a guy was loading water into two huge jars (in Mexico they call them Ollas, I believe) on the back of a donkey. Dipping it out of the stream, he was. At the next village, a mile or so up the road, there was a man standing at the stream, urinating into it.
There were "power poles" alongside the road, but they were on the opposite side from where the villages were; and the "power lines" looked like zipcord, the stuff that connects your desk lamp to the outlet. There were no branch circuits to any of the villages, either. No electrical power to the villages.

[harpo11]

The President talks about National Security. Well, after today he might as well call it National Discourtesy.

He has just spat in the face of the rule of law, law abiding citizens, and his oath of office to defend and protect our borders.

I'm not sure now if Bill Clinton's lying to a federal grand jury was as egregious as it was at the time when compared to what President Bush is proposing today by awarding criminals who have broken the law by entering into our country illegally.

And furthermore, our social security system is screwed, and he wants to screw it even worse than Bill Clinton could have ever managed to do with his mistress Monica by giving these criminals social security benefits which we have been paying into for years with little hope of seeing our own social security benefits.

You know the leftists are never happy with what they get, and want more, and manage to get more, and the conservatives just get kicked in the chin because Rove/Bush calculate that we have no where else to go. We in their minds are chained to the Republican Plantation. We are expendable.

I've been a banner supporter of George W. Bush and have been exceedingly proud and thank God everyday for his outstanding honor, character and dedication to the office of the presidency, especially confronting and dispatching the "evil doers" and despotic sadistic dictators, but this latest attempt to pacify his need to garner Latino voters for his reelection bid, satisfy the corrupt, derelict and incompetent Fox, and continue to amass substantial campaign donations from the wealthy donors who want to hire cheap labor and servants is so blantantly wrong headed that I cannot support him on this issue.

I believe the middle class is paying a very high price already in taxation to support the welfare and education needs of these illegals and if the President's proposal is passed into legislation it will even be worse. Anyone been to our schools lately, anyone been to the hospital emergency rooms, anyone been to the Department of Motor Vehicles well, it's just going to get worse. And what the prisons? At least 26% of prison inmates are illegal aliens.

Thank you President Bush, I've donated to your campaign and continued to donate, supported you no matter what, but now forget it, I can't afford it when you strip the rule of law to accommodate and reward outlaws.

What the heck is our beautiful glorious wondrous citizenship that so many generations of good and brave men and women sacrificed their most precious life to protect and defend, worth when it is so undervalued and belittled as it was today? First, you took away our free speech with McCain/Feingold, and now you have cheapened our citizenship. What's next?

I apologize for my feelings of dismay. Perhaps, just because I do not walk in wealthy men's shoes, or in the esteemed halls of government, or have the intellect to fully understand the whys and the wherefores of President Bush's divisive illegal alien proposal, I should not be casting about looking for answers but like a good republican serf just bow down and say "yes, master".

[bulldogs]

"And that will be a vote for the democrat candidate. But hey who cares about that. You made your point. Then the UN will dictate our foreign policy. Our tax cuts gone, the list will go on. But go ahead get so mad about this issue and vote democrat. There are to many with this kind of logic that it scares me. Terrorists are praying to Allah that Bush loses."

Ditto!! Go whine in the corner.

[Tauzero]

"Show me serious respect for the law in everyday life, by most Americans, and I'll buy harsher punishments for people who are trying to take care of their families."

As if anyone here objects to people "trying to take care of their families." Nice slimy tactic.

Your right to take care of your family does include the right to break and enter my home, bury my street in garbage, or squat on my property.

[OldFriend]

Tell me exactly how your life will change if there are no illegal immigrants in our country.

[Thumper1960]

If one illegal, in particular, hadn't been in this country, a very good friend from high school wouldn't have been knifed for his wallet. He'd still be alive and a father to his kids.

Good enough for you?

[Lady Eileen]

Rush was simply brilliant today. His empassioned speech today, at the end of his second hour, was one of the finest I've ever heard from him.

Ditto.

[henderson field]

"...some of the hate spewed on this web site?"
More accurately, it is "some of the concern voiced on this web site." Immigrants, legal and otherwise, are eroding the middle class in two important ways: 1) they are lowering the wage rate; 2) they are pricing housing out of reach of what used to be the middle class. Before long, America will be like Mexico: an upper class and a lower class and no one in between.

[Old Student]

Somebody breaks and enters your home, shoot him. I'll buy you replacement cartridges. People on the streets have a legal right to be there, and that isn't your home.

Not eveyone who comes here is trashing the place. You see a lot of citizens dropping their garbage all over the place. It sounds like maybe you would teach your children not to do stuff like that, but I've been working in a high school here in Oklahoma for most of the last five years, and most of the kids that attend there didn't learn that lesson. I'd suggest rock salt in shotshells for those.

As for squatters, show me where squatters are a problem, I'll show you how to find out how to get them evicted. Problem solved. Most illegals rent from flophouses, or stay with friends or people they know. If you own property that has illegals staying in or on it, someone is paying rent on it, and if not, you can have them evicted. Most places, if they exceed occupancy, or have restrictions on the rental contract, you can probably have them evicted anyway.

You might think on the fact that an illegal can make minimim wage, or less, and save money to send home to his family. They do have a different set of priorities from many Americans. It isn't a slimy tactic, it's the truth. Most third-world countries are crapholes, at best. The desert between Mexico and practically anyplace in Arizona, California, and New Mexico, is not a nice place for a stroll. The fact that people are willing to walk through that to try and get a job should tell you something about how bad it is in Mexico. You ARE objecting to people trying to take care of their families. Yes, there are better ways for them to do it, legally, but some people can't or won't wait. I don't blame them. Like I said, Mexico is mostly a craphole. If you're stuck in a toilet, you either shovel crap, or you leave.

[CWOJackson]

I like your savy...even for an Air Force type.

[Dr. Marten]

"And that will be a vote for the democrat candidate"

I did not say I would vote for a Democrat candidate either did I? No I didnt think so!

In fact, either I will write in Tom Tancredo or I will deliver a blank ballot. (both slots punched out so neither can do so for me)

[OldFriend]

Okay, you convinced me. No illegals, No crime in America.

[Dr. Marten]

"And that will be a vote for the democrat candidate"

I did not say I would vote for a Democrat candidate either did I? No I didnt think so!

In fact, either I will write in Tom Tancredo or I will deliver a blank ballot. (both slots punched out so neither can do so for me)

[Ingtar]

We should require businesses to pay 120% of the average American salary for a job to use these workers. After all, these are jobs that Americans will not take. Supply and demand requires that a premium be paid.