Congressmen urge Bush to drop guest-worker plan

The Washington Times ^ | November 17, 2004 | Jerry Seper

[Ron H.]

The chairman of a House International Relations subcommittee yesterday urged the Bush administration to drop its proposed temporary guest-worker program and not "reward Mexican nationals living and working illegally in the United States" with legal status.

"It is our hope that in future discussions with the Mexican government, you will encourage Mexico to do its part to address illegal immigration rather than encourage their citizens to illegally enter the U.S.," said Rep. Elton Gallegly, California Republican, who heads the subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation and human rights, in letters to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

"Cooperation with our close neighbor Mexico is essential, but we also feel that Mexico must respect our sovereignty and our laws, and ........

[Amerigomag]

You have to realize that Bush is the first President since perhaps Eisenhower to undertake immigration reform.

Reagan is felt by many to be the father of the current mess because of his attempt at "reform" in the 1980's. It was the only decision he publicly lamented after leaving office?

Suggest you better understand the subject at hand before you launch into discussions with the adults on this forum.

[Ron H.]

Some GOOD illegal alien news !

Yes it is and it is about time. Progress is being made but I'm sure you know as well as I do that we can't afford to let our guard down any considering who the opposition is comprised of and what their goal is.

Here are some interesting regarding this issue in case you haven't yet seen them:

Blair Calls for World to Unite

Bush Win May Pave Way for Americas Free Trade Talks

Aztlan and Amalgamation

Once one starts pulling together the various pieces of information on this subject the picture starts to clear up as to what Bush and his comrades in arms are up to. And it is not really in Americas best interest.

[EagleMamaMT]

"C'mon. Like I said, Americans NOWADAYS. Sorry, but the Americans of today are not the hardworking, toiling Americans of yesteryear. No matter how broke someone is, they're not going to work at McDonald's or pick soybeans for $5.75 an hour. That's just how some people are."


You know, those words are very insulting to those of us who are Americans and who work in the trades and at blue-collar jobs in this country. As they say in the South, you don't know your butt from a hole in the ground. You really need to climb down out of your ivory tower and get out more. There are PLENTY of hard-working American citizens in this country. People have been spouting the old "it's impossible to find good help these days" line for decades in this country - incidentally most of the time using it to justify paying crap wages.

[janetgreen]

Hispanic workers also provide housekeeping in hotels, work in meat-packing facilities, clean offices after-hours, and do construction jobs.

Uh, I've been in America a LONG time, and unless my memory has faded away, ALL these jobs existed, and were performed just fine by American citizens before the illegals snuck in, undercut American wages, and began sucking our social service and medical system dry.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Bush's plan is not an amnesty. Please read it before condemning it and urge Tancredo to work with the President. The bottom line is that they're already here.

Oh, puh-lease. It pardons their lawbreaking if they're working in this country. That IS basically an amnesty, albeit a temporary one, and not only is it a potential threat to our national security (do these people even get background checks?), but it's also a damning insult to those people (including Hispanics) who went through the background check and other hoops to get here legally.

I hope this plan is dead on arrival in Congress.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Asa HUTCHINSON.

Oops. My bad. What's in a name...

[inquest]

Yet, ..... Did not the moronic malfeasant Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol - David Aguilar - just recently tell us that the U.S./Mexico Border was safe and secure?

And did not Tucson Border Patrol Chief Smirkingly Deny Report or Terrorists crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. in the Tucson Sector?

And did not Tom Ridge state that all was in order: see article below "No Security Necessary on Border of Homeland"

And I can think of one moronic pro-illegal race-baiting sycophant on FR (who's wisely staying away from this thread) who's been claiming much the same thing of late.

[inquest]

This plan needs to be more than simply defeated. Bush causes damage simply by proposing it, because it encourages border jumpers even further in hopes that they'll get in before any amnesty goes into effect.

What Congress needs to do, more than simply voting this down, is pass a strongly worded resolution declaring that amnesty is not an option and insisting that Bush stop making such proposals. Let it be published in Spanish as well as English.

[GOP_1900AD]

Yesterday, was on the way home from work. Saw a pick up truck pull over to the side of the street. out of it came 4 guys, all very non assimilated in appearance. Place they were dropped off is the same as where they would have been picked up early in the morning. In all border states, this is common.

[GOP_1900AD]

Ironically, if you want to buy a car or truck assembled in the US, with most of the parts made in the US, a few made in Canada or Mexico, and no Red Commie Scum PRC content, the best bet is to buy a Japanese brand. Up is down, down is up. Strange times ....

[cartman90210]

C'mon. Like I said, Americans NOWADAYS. Sorry, but the Americans of today are not the hardworking, toiling Americans of yesteryear. No matter how broke someone is, they're not going to work at McDonald's or pick soybeans for $5.75 an hour. That's just how some people are.

Interesting. So by this line of reasoning, how do Americans of Mexican/Hispanic descent factor in? Are they naturally lazy because they're American, or are they hardworking because "it's in their genes"?

Considering the cost of living, especially in expensive cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York, why should anyone be expected to consider $5.75 a decent hourly wage? I suppose if you have 12 or 15 people crammed together in an apartment with sleeping bags where the furniture is supposed to be, you could make ends meet, but other than that, how far do you think that kind of money is supposed to go?

As for the "Americans of yesteryear," plenty of them are still alive, albeit a bit older. What data do you have that shows how many of these older citizens are picking lettuce or cleaning motel rooms or whatever you say Americans won't do?

If I wasn't watching my home state crumble before my eyes, I'd find all of this pro-illegal rhetoric really comical.

[GOP_1900AD]

We have been in a deflationary labor market for a long time. Cost and price reduction expectations have gotten, quite frankly, out of hand. People who could not afford to hire other people to do their grunt work 30 years ago now EXPECT to be able to. Overall, in real terms, goods and services have been in a slight inflationary trend for years and only by being in a race to the bottom in terms of labor rates have we been able to avoid greater overall increases. And finally, and I know many here are asking this, the reason why the cost of things such as construction has gone up, in spite of Joe McCoy being replaced by Pedro Martinez, is that either Joe McCoy became the boss, and is living better than most of us, or, some new brash dude stepped into the role. The reduction in labor cost goes into the contractors' pockets.

[RepublicanHippy]

I really don't get Bush's position on this at all.



Bush, like most other politicians, in the federal government (along with their comrades in the media) have conspired for years to meld the Americas into one economic/trade/cultural block, one little step at a time. Europe and Africa are the second block, Australia and Asia the third block. Eventually, once they have completely erased our borders, they will go one step further and force us all to live under the UN global unbrella. Welcome to hell! We've all been dupped. There is no going back now - this country is too far gone into the hands of the socialist new world order crowd.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Go Elton.

[Huck]

Simple. GWB supports cheap illegal labor.

[EagleMamaMT]

"The reduction in labor cost goes into the contractors' pockets."


Exactly! It certainly isn't passed along to the home buyers.

[PersonalLiberties]

Got to give credit to John Duncan of TN. He is usually on the right side of this and many other issues.

[cajun-jack]

In 6 yrs they will have saved enough money to return to mexico and retire and live good for the rest of their lives.

[PersonalLiberties]

Exactly if we really had a shortage of unskilled, uneducated labor in this country, then jobs that were unskilled and did not require an education would be offering higher and higher wages to attact workers. Which obviously is not the case.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"It is our hope that in future discussions with the Mexican government, you will encourage Mexico to do its part to address illegal immigration rather than encourage their citizens to illegally enter the U.S."

He fails to address those already here, what do we do with them?