Posted on 05/12/2006 7:31:27 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush plans to address the nation Monday night on the immigration debate, trying to build momentum for legislation that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens.
The White House said it was seeking time from television networks for the president's remarks.
"This is crunch time," Tony Snow, the new White House press secretary said Friday at his first off-camera, or informal, briefing.
On Thursday, Senate leaders reached a deal to revive a broad immigration bill that had appeared doomed just several weeks ago.
Key to the agreement is who will be negotiating a compromise with the House, which last December passed an enforcement-only bill that would subject the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States to felony charges as well as deportation.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will send 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats to negotiate with the House, with seven of the Republicans and five Democrats coming from the Judiciary Committee. The remaining seven Republicans will be chosen by Frist and remaining seven Democrats chosen by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Which leads me to wonder... if they are America, and this is their country, am I Canada, and is Canada my country because it's connected to America?
If you're right, I will be one of the first ones applauding him. Then I will be cautiously optimistic. I've been burned by the Republicans on this issue too many times to be anything more than that.
We need a fence, a huge one like other countries who protect their citizens.
this illegal trash don't want to be Americans. they have invaded to establish "el republico norte" and anyone INCLUDING BUSH who doesnt believe that is an idiot. NO AMNESTY
Agree.
you are 1000 % correct
It is a complete freak that the ruling republicans don't understand that their current path leads to the extinction of republican majorities.
If they kicked out the illegals there might be a chance that the republicans could retain repubublican party leadership of the country. They have no chance if they continue the current course. Right now its a matter of been there done that. Give the illegals citizenship and they vote democratic. That's what they did after the 1986 amnesty. Keep the current course and the republican party splinters. Mexico was the essential issue that last gave the white house to the dems in 1992 and 1996. This time the losses will be more serious and permanent.
The party elders need to be slapped up both sides of the head and kicked in the but.
"...trying to build momentum for legislation that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens."????!!!!
When is he going to understand?
If the President pushes troops on the border or a wall, then he hits a home run. If he wastes a lot of time pushing guest worker, he commits political suicide on national TV and perhaps takes the congress with him.
It's up to him...
"I think all the negative nabobs on this thread should shut their traps until they hear what the President has to say. The scuttlebutt is that the President has heard our complaints, and intends to propose that no worker program will be implemented until the borders are certified as secured."
If he does that his numbers go up 10 points in a week. I believe the problem is that so many of us have lost faith in the President doing the right thing on immigration. He has been tone deaf on the issue for 5 years. He has reversed stupid positions before as in the Miers nimination and the Ports issue so perhaps he will do what the country has been demanding for over a decade.
If he does not he is through. His numbers will hit the teens.
Well, if they want my vote they'll enforece the border.
They won't push amnesty.
I suspect he'll push amnesty. If so, there is going to be a huge backlash.
There is truth to some of this and some of it is smoke and mirrors.
President Bush has increased funding for border security, and Border Patrol officers have at least tested new equipment that uses new technology. The problem is that has had no effect toward securing the border. It has not worked, illegals and smugglers of all types are still pouring in. BP officers will tell you many of the smugglers have the same equipment they do so that is a wash. The fact that Bush has done this and it has not worked is why I decided we needed a major fence/wall/barrier on the border. The numbers of Border Patrol hired sounds good until you realize they lose many each year due to retirement, permanent injury or illness, and transfers to other agencies. The number hired has not noticibly increased the number in the field if at all. Bush himself said we needed more Border Patrol than that to begin with,and promised to hire more, but then did not ask for funding for the number of officers he said we needed. (This is important, because this is one of the reasons for the anger and mistrust toward him about the border issues.)
6 Million apprehended and deported sounds good, many would argue the accuracy of that number- the truth is it doesn't matter what the real number is, the border is not secure; so the truth is any illegal who is deported that wants to return does so within hours or days of deportment. Illegals have been caught again before the paperwork from their deportment is finished. Please note when illegals are caught for serious crimes the article will almost always say that person has been deported before and sometimes has been deported repeatedly. It does not matter how many are apprehended and deported if the border is not secure. The important number is always how many are here and how many are coming in, not how many are deported.
The part where this release talks about interior enforcement is also one of the reasons many are angry with President Bush. The truth is the Bush administration all but stopped interior enforcement and enforcement in the workplace. Someone has posted the chart of workplace visits and enforcement for illegals in the workplace. That chart shows how many visits and enforcements were done each year under the Clinton administration and shows what has been done under Bush. Workplace visits and enforcements were not much under Clinton, but fell almost to nothing under Bush. It is startling when you see the actual numbers, and I hope someone will post the chart on this thread. It clearly shows enforcement declined considerably under the Bush administration- when this release speaks of doubling the amount of enforcement, I am not sure doubling it even brings it up to what it was at it's worst under Clinton.
Border security and employer enforcement has been terrible under President Bush, that is why there was so much anger when he proposed his guest worker plan. Any guest worker plan becomes amnesty if there is no enforcement. If this administration cannot secure the border, no guest worker plan will work, there is no way to enforce it.
Anyone who is knowledgable about border issues knows that no plan will work without a secure border. Bush trying to implement a worker plan when his administration has failed at securing the border is the number one cause of the anger toward him on the border issues.
The anger over this issue comes from knowing what is happening and hearing something else from the President. The anger comes from broken promises. The anger comes from the fact that extreme violence on the border, and incursions from the Mexican military are ignored. The anger comes from our Border Patrol officers having illegals throw rocks at them, trying to run over them with vehicles, and being shot at, and then being told to hide as SOP when these things happen. The anger comes from too many concessions given to Mexico and its citizens, and too little consideration given to the citizens of the United States.
The anger comes from hearing our President and others say over and over that illegals are good hard working people and Americans are too lazy or too good to do the work the illegals will do. That is flat out wrong, dishonest, and insulting. Many illegals do come here to work, but many others come here to be involved in criminal activity and to take advantage of US taxpayer funded social services. Some US Citizens won't do the type of work illegals do, but many, many do that type of work every day. There are NO jobs Americans won't do and aren't doing every day. There may not be enough Americans for all the jobs- until we get a grip on the illegal situation we won't even know if we need workers from other countries. To say "jobs Americans won't do" is a slap in the face to every American who has ever done that type of work or is doing it now.
That's my 2 cents.
Joe Arpio already has in Maricopa County. Throwing illrgals in a tent city jail.
R O T F L M A O
exactly
Why don't you take 5 minutes and find a map of the United States. You will find Colorado sitting right smack dab in the middle of the western U.S.. Guess what...we've got illegal immigrant problems too. But here's a newsflash for you buddy. If you don't like the state you live in, you can move. Before living in Colorado, I spent four years in Phoenix AZ. And many years before that I had my truck stolen by a Mexican crime syndicate while I was in San Antonio. I know all about illegals and their cost. And because of that, I choose not to live in states full of idiots who elect people like Barbra Boxer and Diane Feinstein to represent them in the Senate. You want to fix your financial problems related to illegals...vote into office people who will appoint judges that won't over rule measures like Prop 187. Until then, you can stew in your own waste for all I care, because it isn't my problem if you don't like where you live.
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