Bush Offers Migrant Plan Conservatives Can Support

Arizona Republic ^ | January 18, 2004 | Jeff Flake

[Reaganwuzthebest]

President Bush's immigration initiative has sparked a great deal of discussion across the country. Perhaps the most interesting debate centers on whether the president, in announcing the initiative, has embraced conservative principles or abandoned them. I believe a temporary worker program is consistent with conservative principles, and here's why.

First, conservatives value national security, and the status quo encourages anything but national security. The presence of 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens within the confines of our borders should prompt the type of reform the president has suggested.

President Bush's proposal will ensure smarter border enforcement by redirecting resources for border security and the war on terrorism away from the dishwashers and landscapers who are trying to cross the border illegally and toward the smugglers and terrorists who are attempting to cross the border for purposes far more nefarious than filling jobs that American workers are not taking.

We can try to tighten up border enforcement even more than we already have (we've already increased spending on border enforcement six-fold over the past 20 years), but as long as the United States offers foreign workers more opportunity for work than their home countries do, people will risk their lives to cross the border.

According to Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, "A real effort to control the border with Mexico would require perhaps 20,000 agents and the development of a system of formidable fences and other barriers along those parts of the border used for illegal crossings."

It should also be noted that some 40 percent of those illegally in the United States first entered the country legally and then overstayed their visas. Even if we did manage to seal the border from illegal crossings, the problem would still be with us. Clearly, we can't solve this problem through border enforcement alone.

A temporary worker program, coupled with serious workplace enforcement, would bring those who are in the shadows out into the open. Temporary workers would be registered. We would finally know who they are, how long they've been here, and when they must return to their home country or change their status.

Again, the "carrot" of a temporary worker program must be coupled with the "stick" of workplace enforcement. With a reasonable legal avenue available, workers should have no excuse for not utilizing it and employers should have no excuse for hiring those who do not.

The latter point is important. Conservatives respect the law. Our current immigration laws, everyone will agree, are so convoluted and out of touch with how people actually organize their lives that it does not foster respect for the law. If we want the law to be enforced, we need to have a law that can realistically be enforced given our labor needs. Which brings me to another point.

Conservatives recognize that America has a need for labor that Americans are unable or unwilling to fill. This is the case today, and will increasingly be the case in years to come as our workforce becomes older and better educated. Now, some will dispute this, noting that "there are some 10 million unemployed in this country, and some 10 million illegal aliens - do the math!"

This math adds up only if you accept that it is the federal government's role, for example, to persuade an unemployed fisherman in Maine to take a job as a landscaper in Phoenix. Or to move an unemployed schoolteacher in Indiana to the lettuce fields in Yuma. The former Soviet Union tried and failed with this type of economic planning for decades. Cuba is still trying. Neither are examples that conservatives should seek to emulate.

Third, conservatives are compassionate, despite what liberals will tell you. The fact that hundreds of illegal aliens, many of whom are women and children, die in the desert each year should compel us to action. Because a temporary worker program would allow workers to enter and exit the country through border checkpoints, the incentive to risk one's life in the desert would be diminished considerably. Under the current situation, those illegally crossing the border in search of work must make the calculation of whether to endure long periods, even years, without seeing their families, or to attempt to bring their families with them. The latter choice often leads to deadly consequences.

Finally, we conservatives are called conservatives because we want to "conserve" practices and principles that have withstood the test of time. There is little about the status quo in immigration policy that is worth conserving. Bush recognizes this. We conservatives, whether we agree with every detail of his plan or not, should applaud him for it.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

There is nothing conservative about this plan. Who does Flake think he's kidding?

[Southack]

Bush's plan encourages illegals to register themselves and their employers. Once registered, we know where they live and work. That eases our task of enforcing the law.

Then Bush's new immigration makes them all go home after 3 years in order to apply for more time here.

Thus, they deport themselves finally, a far better solution than using force to militarily round up 8 million illegals, house them in temporary concentration camps, and eventually march them home in great masses like battlefield refugees.

Ergo, Bush's plan makes far too much sense. We should endlessly complain about it.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

A Congressman Flake tells us amnesty is wonderful Ping.

[azhenfud]

"Who does Flake think he's kidding?"

Oh, don't mind 'ol Jeff - he's a Flake just like the rest of those "conservatives" who think a Mexico Merge means national security.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Then Bush's new immigration makes them all go home after 3 years in order to apply for more time here.

You know full well immigration laws are simply not enforced, no one will be made to go home, and they will eventually get citizenship. Especially after we hear endless sob stories from the media and democrats along with congressmen like Flake who'll tell us the world is going to come to an end if we don't let them stay.

We're setting ourselves to be suckers... again.

[Pubbie]

It's not going to pass the House because Rep. John Hostettler who is Chairman of the Immigration SubCommittee, is against it:

Opponents Believe They Can Stop Immigration Plan



http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=2850

[Marak]

Ah yes, now I see the logic.

First we once again tell them that it is okay to come into the country illegally. Then we tell them that we will provide them with jobs if they register and promise to go home eventually.

Then we promise the Americans that we will indeed enforce the laws already on the books that we have refused to enforce so far, and presto, we have a perfect solution!

If the Mexicans don't buy into it, we can promise them retirement funds send to their Mexican families for life.

If the Americans don't buy it, we will really, really promise to enfore those those nasty old laws that we already said are too hard to enforce.

Sooner or later everyone will be happy.

If we need guest workers in this country, and I don't believe we do, those jobs should only be offered to foreigners that are NOT already in this country. You want to apply for one? Go home first.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Oh, don't mind 'ol Jeff - he's a Flake just like the rest of those "conservatives" who think a Mexico Merge means national security.

The only thing that means is Mexican politicians running our internal affairs. No thanks, they can't even run their own country.

[Pubbie]

Tancredo said he has enough votes to block it in the House.

[lchoro]

Bush's plan won't work. By admission, almost half of the illegals were previously legal entries who overstayed their visas. We already know who they are and where they were. So, when their 3-year work arrangement expires, they can either apply for permanent entry or go back underground again. We already have a precedent in Europe. The guest worker program has resulted in more illegal immigrants in Germany, not less.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Tancredo said he has enough votes to block it in the House.

I sure hope he's right, this is a disaster in the making.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Then Bush's new immigration makes them all go home after 3 years in order to apply for more time here.

LOL! Good one!

[nopardons]

And the PURIST, who won't read this article either, shall...complain and complain and COMPLAIN !

[Triple Word Score]

Amen.

There's no use talking sense to some of these people. They'd rather keep the current disaster than support the first President who has ever sought to solve it.

George W. Bush may eventually be recognized as a greater President than Ronald W. Reagan was. If he is, it will almost be despite the lackluster support his party has given him.

Does it sometimes seem that Republicans want to punish him for the close vote in 2000 that has given the libs such a great opportunity to shred us and block our agenda? 2002 should have empowered us and convinced us that Dubya is NOT stupid, did NOT just fall off the turnip truck, and is a savvy politician who knows that if you don't win, you don't do squat for anyone.

[encm(ss)]

I Agree with your analysis.
It is like lower taxes. The lower the tax the more the government actually collects. Why? It is easier to conform to the lower tax than to hire lawyers & try to cheat. Said another way, If it is rather easy to document guest workers, then they will conform. If they do not conform to our laws, then they will be required to leave. If they do not conform to our laws while they are here, then they have no possible way to return to the US. US employers will have to comply with the guest worker program too and hire only legal documented guest workers or face VERY heavy fines. The program may not be perfect but it is better than the status quo.

[Pubbie]

Well I figured Tancredo would be in a position to know...
PS: Dean will win Iowa on Monday.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

George W. Bush may eventually be recognized as a greater President than Ronald W. Reagan was.

That'll be the day.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Dean will win Iowa on Monday

Dean will be the democrat candidate, I've little doubt.

Another winner who supports mass amnesties.

[chachacha]

Get the knee pads out FOLKS!

Here we go again rewarding the law breakers and punishing the legals.

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!! Any real conservative out there that still stand on moral legal principals?

GEES!M/B>