Posted on 01/12/2005 12:50:36 PM PST by GOPXtreme20
Republican to Lead Immigration Revolt Against Bush
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican member of the House of Representatives vowed on Wednesday to lead a revolt against President Bush (news - web sites)'s immigration reform proposals and predicted that up to 180 party members would support him.
Bush in an interview with the Washington Times published on Wednesday said he plans to force a debate in Congress this year on his proposal that would allow some illegal immigrants to obtain legal work permits in the United States.
Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who heads the House Immigration Reform Caucus, said he was determined to block the legislation. The caucus, which had 71 members in the last Congress, argues for stronger action to stop illegal immigration and a reduction of legal migration.
"Why is this so important to the president?" Tancredo said. "Is it just the corporate interests who benefit from cheap labor? Do they have such a strong grip on our president so that he is actually willing to put our nation at risk, because open borders do put our nation at risk?
"Is it petulance, because we were able to stop it in the last Congress? Why is it so important to give amnesty to people who have broken the law?" Tancredo said.
"I'm willing to lead a fight against this and I would say there are at least 180 members of our Republican caucus who are willing at least to stop amnesty for illegal immigrants," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Bush has repeatedly said he views immigration reform as an important issue for his second term. In the Washington Times interview, he said it was near the top of his agenda.
"Look, whether or not you agree with the solution or not, we have a problem in America when you've got 8 million undocumented workers here," he said.
BUSH CONFIDENCE
Bush expressed confidence he could win over opponents, as he did in passing tax reform during his first term. "Initially out of the box, some people said, over my dead body would they pass tax relief ... If I listened to all that, I'd just quit, you know. But that's not the way I think."
But analysts agree that immigration reform could be much more divisive for Republicans since growing numbers of rank-and-file voters are becoming concerned at the continued influx of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border.
"No issue, not one, threatens to do more damage to the Republican coalition than immigration," said David Frum, a former White House speech writer in Bush's first term.
"There's no issue where the beliefs and interests of the party rank-and-file diverge more radically from the beliefs and interests of the party's leaders," he wrote in the National Review last month.
Bush insists he is not offering amnesty to illegal immigrants but Tancredo said that was a "manipulation of language, the kind of thing (former President) Bill Clinton would have done. There is an issue of integrity here and an issue of honesty," he said.
All it takes is for the illegal employer to warn his illegals that he won't be hiring any guests ---- they have little choice but to shut their mouths. Supposedly the guests need an employer to stay here --- but unlikely there would be any enforcement on that --- all it takes is to bear a few USA born babies and the welfare system takes care of everything.
Wasn't too difficult though for the Mexican government to get them all out of Mexico and over here. If 1 million and more can come north every year, then 1 million and more can go south every year. Cut off the taxpayer provided freebies --- many will have no choice but to head back on their own.
FROBL? That's an acronym not in my lexicon. I agree with your post, by the way :)
The ONLY way to change this vast immigration problem is to enforce the existing laws on the books, and to stop welfare benefits, jobs and other goodies that illegal aliens take from American taxpayers. Most of them would go home voluntarily if the existing laws were actually enforced.
The pandering elitists in Washington refuse to enforce the laws, and THAT'S the real problem. Americans have no reason to think that any NEW laws will be enforced, since the old ones certainly haven't been. More lies, smoke and mirrors, but taxpaying American citizens aren't falling for it again.
"True, and that's only the beginning. The feds should be removing these illegals, not encouraging more to come. This could lead to civil unrest, not that I'd encourage that. I am predicting it, however."
Good points.
Besides civil unrests, mass Third World Immigration brings a huge subculture of unassimilable aliens inside our borders, different values and loyalty to a country other than the USA.
The fact is that the American people are not fond of being colonized by aliens sweeping away at the culture and heritage our forefathers created from the wilderness with sweat and tears. The American people understand the ramifications of this seminal change, the President does not.
Yes but will that be enough to stop any scam guest worker program? It's going to take at least 213, I hope Tancredo can scrape up the other 33...
FROBLs = Free Republic's Open Borders Lobby.
I can't take credit for the term, though. I first read it in one of JustAnotherSavage's excellent posts. See his profile for a good explanation. :)
How many people will it take to audit and manage it?
Rioters/Looters there were like wild animals picking a carcass clean. That was a shameful night in L.A.
I back Tancredo's plan. I doubt Tancredo thinks, nor presumes "we the people" think, that this will scale this issue down to a more manageable size. It's a droplet in an ocean...
[snip]
"...TIME estimates, based on longtime government formulas for calculating how many elude capture, that as many as 190,000 illegals from countries other than Mexico have melted into the U.S. population so far this year.
The border patrol, which is run by the Department of Homeland Security, refuses to break down OTMs by country. But local law officers, ranchers and others who confront the issue daily tell TIME they have encountered not only a wide variety of Latin Americans (from Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela) but also intruders from Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Russia and China as well as Egypt, Iran and Iraq.
Law-enforcement authorities believe the mass movement of illegals, wherever they are from, offers the perfect cover for terrorists seeking to enter the U.S., especially since tighter controls have been imposed at airports."
bump
They already came. From the North.
Japanese from the West...Brits from East...Mexico is the safest border!
>"They already came. From the North.
Japanese from the West...Brits from East...Mexico is the safest border!'<
Maybe so.
Look, I'm not P.C. OK? So if what I'm going to say offends you, tough:
- It's pretty easy to *profile* middle-eastern looking men coming across the Canadian border, they are pretty easy to spot.
But when you have 4000 Latino people sneaking in per day in across the AZ border alone? That makes for "perfect cover" as the article relates. Easy to *blend in* with the crowd.
If that sounds racist to you, I don't care. We know our enemies are Middle-Easterm fanatical Muslim men. And they want to destroy this country.
That is what people should be offended about.
Regards
Tell that to the World Trade Center. Why are you more concerned with the Southern border?
But when you have 4000 Latino people sneaking in per day in across the AZ border alone? That makes for "perfect cover" as the article relates. Easy to *blend in* with the crowd.
The "crowd" would rip the terrorists to shreds.
You think Paco wants an Arab with a backpack trailing him to work?
>"The "crowd" would rip the terrorists to shreds.
You think Paco wants an Arab with a backpack trailing him to work?"<
-What an ignorant post.
Tell that to the MS-13 gangs who have come up here from El Salvador, and are believed to have hooked up with Al Qaeda in weapons/drugs smuggling:
Thanks. Its an apt description.
WILL? So they hadn't on 9-1-1. So that means Muhummad Atta had absolutely nothing to do with Mexico. Thank you for clearing that up. I'm so used to exchanges with tin foil headed kooks that seem to think (wink wink) that shuttin down the Meheeco border to them dark lookin folks somehow woulda stopped dem Aye-rab boys from blowin up our buildins.
I say this as a total social conservative. Better a thousand gay marriages than the triumph of the OBL.
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