Law and Borders

The Weekly Standard ^ | 2/28/2005 | Tamar Jacoby

[Luis Gonzalez]

Tamar Jacoby is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

[Luis Gonzalez]

PING

[Luis Gonzalez]

PING

[Dane]

Keyboards are definately going to be popping in the air from the knee jerks by some on FR.

[hchutch]

Bring `em on...

[Miss Marple]

Best explanation I have seen for the President's plan. I am glad I got here early. LOL!

[palmer]

Under the Bush plan, foreigners seeking to disguise their identities would no longer find fake ID cards readily available on street corners in every American city. The Department of Homeland Security would have a much better grasp of who is here and what their names are and where to look for them if they turn up on an international watch list.

Most illegals I know of do not have ID cards since they work for cash ($100 / day for unskilled labor in Northern VA). But under the amnesty plan they would make a lot less after having taxes taken out, etc. So where's the incentive for them to sign up?

[trisham]

Where the critics are most wrong--where they seem most shrewd but are ultimately the most misguided--is in their view of the politics of immigration. Here, too, they see the symptoms accurately enough. Americans are frustrated and angry. They know the system is broken; they want change. Uncertainty about just how to effect that change is driving a wedge into the Republican party, dividing the president from his conservative base in Congress and at the grassroots. And if the system isn't fixed, it could create a dangerous opening for Democrats: an opportunity for Democratic immigration hawks to outflank Republicans, not just on law and order, but even more devastatingly on security. All of this is true--and scary. But the answer isn't to block reform. The antidote is to deliver a remedy, as the White House proposes.

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I guess the critics are just scared and stupid-right, Mr. Jacoby? The Republican Party is doing just fine, thank you. Save your concerns for the Democrats.

[Miss Marple]

The incentive would be that they would be allowed access to services (schools, hospitals, etc.) which they would not have under the new law, according to the proposal.

[Dane]

Most illegals I know of do not have ID cards since they work for cash ($100 / day for unskilled labor in Northern VA). But under the amnesty plan they would make a lot less after having taxes taken out, etc. So where's the incentive for them to sign up?

Uh maybe the chance to work and cross the border legally and not pay a coyote $1,000 for a dangerous crossing to work and support a family.

[Miss Marple]

Could you possibly refute what you don't like in the article? This is a logical plan. Do you have a better one?

[palmer]

So your answer is more government? That may work in some places. There is a free medical clinic in Shenandoah county that I contribute to, so it probably won't work out there.

[jjones9853]

When they start paying their hospital bills and get auto insurance I'll consider allowing them legal status. Until that time I just see them as vermin.

[palmer]

I was referring to the ones already here.

[hchutch]

Quite frankly, some of the critics are being stupid. We're being sold a national ID card as part of the answer to this issue.

"Your papers, please."

[Dane]

When they start paying their hospital bills and get auto insurance I'll consider allowing them legal status. Until that time I just see them as vermin

Who says they won't? BTW, those "vermin" clean your toilets and pick and process your food.

[trisham]

It appears that the point of my post wasn't clear. Criticism of the President's plan by members of the Republican Party is not a sign of weakness or erosion in the Party. It's the Democrat Party that is at risk/experiencing an identity crisis at the moment.

[Miss Marple]

You can't have it both ways. Regardless of how this issue is settled, it is going to require more government action. Wishing won't make illegal aliens disappear; it will either take massive law enforcement for arrests and deportation or more people to keep track of those who become legal through this plan. Ther is no small government solution.

[Dane]

I was referring to the ones already here

Most probably want to go home and see reletives, a chance not to have to pay a coyote to come back and work is very appealing.

[umgud]

bump for later