Posted on 01/25/2005 8:30:24 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) plans to ask Congress to spend more to crack down on undocumented workers and arrest and deport illegal immigrants. But he wants to fund only a fraction of the new Border Patrol agents called for in a bill he signed last year.
Bush's budget plan will call for spending $23 million, nearly five times the current level, on work site investigations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a government official familiar with the spending plan told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The money would be used to conduct audits on employers, investigate violations and prepare cases.
The administration also wants to increase spending for detentions and deportations of immigrants to $1.2 billion, 18 percent more than in fiscal year 2005, the official said. In addition to paying for more staff, the money would go to apprehending fugitives and providing alternatives to detention for low-risk illegal immigrants awaiting deportation.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy declined to comment on the numbers because the 2006 budget has not been released. He warned figures can change up until it is actually sent to Congress.
Bush plans to ask lawmakers to increase the Border Patrol by 210 agents. The intelligence overhaul law he signed last year authorizes, but does not pay for, the department to hire 2,000 agents a year for five years.
That would nearly double the number of agents guarding U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada to almost 21,000 and would be the largest buildup of border guards in the nation's history.
Outgoing Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, who oversees transportation and border security, has said paying for the 2,000 agents would require a substantial investment from Congress.
"It appears, perhaps, the administration is looking a bit more comprehensively on immigration enforcement. For too long we have focused only on the border, and many people have indeed been calling for renewed attention to the hiring of undocumented workers because that is the primary draw," said Deborah Meyers, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank that tends to favor immigration.
Meyers said Bush's proposals on Border Patrol agents are a recognition of the difficulty the government would face recruiting and training such a high number of agents.
Bush also has proposed a temporary worker program open to immigrants illegally in the country and foreigners abroad.
Bush is expected to submit his budget early next month. Congress is not obligated to implement the president's budget but can use it as a guide.
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On the Net:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov/
Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov
Too little, too late.
So what is the difference between an 'undocumented worker' and an 'illegal immigrant?'
Thought so, MSM.
Bush has been a do nothing piss ant at protecting our borders and i'm mad as hell about it. With re-election out of the way, he has no damned excuse now. These 3rd world leeches are dragging us down state by state as they suppress wages for legal citizens by working under the table for a fraction of what law abiding businesses pay their employees. Not to mention the welfare and healthcare drain they create.
I wonder what this means.
I bet each and every FReeper could walk out their doors and within 2 hours round up 10 illegal ALIENS each.
Big question - where do we bring them? The local police station?
Nope. They won't take them. They can't. Only the feds can. And if you did what you espouse, you'd probably get arrested for kidnapping the illegals.
Read: letting them go but making sure there are immigration probation officers that they have to check in with weekly until their judgment is final.
Yeah, THAT'LL solve the problem.
I'm with you on your attitude but the president doesn't make law - although can set an agenda, only congress can do that. Blame the hundreds of RINO's in the house and senate first, then blame W for not 'spending my political capital' on this issue.
In fact, I think the 'borders' are going to be the litmus test in '08 for control the WH.
"In fact, I think the 'borders' are going to be the litmus test in '08 for control the WH."
Neither duopoly candidate is seriously going to talk about border control or immigration control....the fact that the republicrats SUPPORT (through inaction, funding decisions, etc) illegal immigration (it increases national economic activity, so I have read) says it all.
of course we couldn't do it...but a new task force could do it, and they would be plenty busy, because every town in America has aliens there for the picking...
" providing alternatives to detention for low-risk illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. "
I suggested on another thread that it might be Motel6. The FROBL's went berzerk!!
How about we stop processing new asylum and refugee cases as almost every Western country is threatening to do, and instead put those paper-pushers to work simply walking in to random large employers whose workforce is uneducated and checking their workers' documentation?
The solution always seems to be more government. We could just use what we have the way Americans want it used.
Yep. A democrat with a proven 'ironclad' border mentality would be a shoo-in these days. Too bad there is no such thing in either party today. Security is everything.
work release?
But the xenophobes would never go along with letting more people in legally, they're happier with letting MORE in illegally and pissing away millions to try to fight the tide.
Run and hide, I think.
What illegals? After he arranges for them all to become legal there won't be any more to find [/sarcams]
That was true back in the 90's.
However, he won reelection and can now start to work the problem without worrying about Senator Kerry et al running our war on terror.
Did you hear that Senator Clinton is calling for improvement in border control and slowing illegal immigration?
What do you two have in common?
fine with me. just get a handle on who is here and who we kick out.
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