Posted on 06/14/2007 11:16:52 AM PDT by kristinn
A spokeman for the Bush administration sent an e-mail to Jim Robinson and myself confirming the authenticity of a post on Free Republic this afternoon regarding the immigration bill currently before the Senate as having been posted on behalf of the White House.
The spokesman, Nicholas Thompson, works for the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. The Politico reported yesterday that Thompson and Kerrie Rushton, associate directors in the Office of Strategic Initiatives who work under Karl Rove, would be engaging the blogosphere on the immigration bill.
Thompson's post is on the thread titled Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill, a vanity posted by philman_36. Thompson posted at comment #53.
Thompson's e-mail to Free Republic included a brief introduction and the text of his posted comment:
Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that I just posted a response to the post "Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill."
The White House appreciates the opportunity to respond on Free Republic.
Response:
I would like to point out that the Secretary is authorized to reduce or mitigate penalities against employers who in good faith are trying to comply with the law. Certainly, we understand that not all employers knowingly hire illegal immigrants; this will remain the case, especially before the bill’s new secure documentation requirements are fully phased in. We do not seek to wrongly penalize honest employers who unknowingly hire illegal immigrants, therefore we reserve the right to reduce or mitigate their penalties if the employer can show good faith compliance in following the law.
For those employers who do knowingly hire illegal immigrants, please know that we intend to penalize these employers strongly, and the Administration has already stepped up these penalties in the last couple of years. For example, a 2005 program, “Operation Rollback,” assessed $15,000,000 in civil fines to employers, an amount greater than the sum of administrative fines collected in the previous eight years and was the largest worksite enforcement penalty in US history. In the first quarter of FY07, criminal and civil forfeitures have totaled $26,700,000 for employers.
As a reminder of what’s in the bill, fines for hiring an illegal worker are $5,000 maximum per illegal worker for the first offense, $10,000 maximum per illegal worker for the second, $25,000 maximum per illegal worker for the third , and $75,000 maximum per illegal worker for the fourth. In addition, the bill increases the maximum criminal penalty for a pattern or practice of unlawful hiring twenty-five-fold, from $3,000 to $75,000, and would impose a prison term of up to six months. This represents a significant increase in fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Nicholas Thompson
White House Office of Strategic Initiatives
Saturday, June 16, 2007
WASHINGTON — President Bush urged Hispanics to lobby hard for a major immigration bill Friday, a day after it was revived in the Senate.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/06/16/16immig.html
A reply to the President’s 5 points:
1. Border security and interior enforcement laws need to be improved.
——Laws need to be enforced FIRST. The U.S. did at one time ENFORCE our immigration and deportation laws. Why can’t the U.S. enforce our laws now? We don’t need “improvement” of the laws. We need “enforcement” of the laws.
2. Employers do not have the tools they need to verify the work eligibility of their employees with assurance.
-——We can develop tools to give employers. The IRS has the tools to verify our wages — of course our government has the tools — The feds can assist the employers in verifying the work eligibility. That is the purpose of the Federal Government. To protect the U.S.; we are being taken over by an illegal workforce.
3. As many as 12 million illegal workers remain in the shadows.
-—— That is not a reason, Mr. President. That is the result of not enforcing our immigration and deportation laws.
4. Only around 13 percent of green cards are awarded each year based on employment-related criteria, and far too little emphasis is placed on the skills and attributes necessary to fill the needs of our growing economy and further the national interest.
-——Mr. President, illegals don’t apply for green cards. They don’t need them; they don’t want them. It is in the national interest to continue the green card system — just deport those who are working without green cards.
5. There is no efficient mechanism by which willing foreign workers may be hired for jobs Americans are not doing.
———Yes there is. It is call legal “immigration”. Some people really do go through the legal channels to come into the U.S. There is an efficient mechanism in place. The problem is that our fed government has allows 12 million people to cross over illegally — going to the front of line and working illegally.
29 posted on 06/16/2007 3:48:00 PM MDT by i_dont_chat
Sometimes it seems that way, doesn’t it? I have to wonder if he has slipped off the wagon. What the man promotes re: illegal immigration is nonsensical.
Good answers. I hope the President’s little flunkies reading here will relate your post back to him.
TANKS a Bunch Lucy,,,”WE” have to lobby hard too,,,
I just hope there are no “flips”/sell-outs...very close...
I agree with your post. Why wouldn’t they want to come here? The USA must look like manna from Heaven to them. (I’ve been to Mexico and know why they want to leave)
I realize it is probably not realistic to deport 12 million illegal aliens (I think that number is terribly low), but why literally issue an engraved invitation to multi-millions more?
STOP THE INCENTIVES!
START THE ENFORCEMENT!
There is another freeper who has organized a prayer schedule in the past, but I can’t remember who it is. She has a pretty good system for tracking it...I hope she will check in and offer to do so again.
“We do not seek to wrongly penalize honest employers who unknowingly hire illegal immigrants, therefore we reserve the right to reduce or mitigate their penalties if the employer can show good faith compliance in following the law.”
Does “good faith compliance” = donate to the re-election campaigns of the GOP?
Mr. Thompson, from where I sit, that is EXACTLY what “good faith compliance” looks like. You are selling out this country’s security for corporate interests.
I have defended President George Bush for 6 years. Well, NO MORE!!!!! Fulfill your oath of office and SECURE THE BORDERS!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW.
No bills, no deals. DO YOUR JOB AND SECURE THE BORDERS NOW!!!!!!!
Well, if they allowed the police department to ask THE question about legal status it would be easy to get rid of some of them. The rest can be picked up on the corner by Home Depot waiting to work for cash somewhere taking a job away from a legal construction worker. If they wouldn’t catch and release by the border THAT would be a start. They don’t really expect them to come back for court do they???
American citizens need to not only badger the congressidiots but put pressure on stores and restaurants. I’m not above asking if their kitchen help have all been given health certificates and if they are legal. I have written e-mails to various fast food places around here about their help even though I would never eat in those places anyway. I have sent mail to the market chain that has the “market” here on grocery stores about all their new products being geared to the mexican palatte and the spanish tanslations on everything. Sometimes you have to look hard to find the english.
Cities need to enforce the laws regarding the upkeep of property and the amount of people who can resdide in one house and the number of jalopy vehicles they can have.
There really is so much we can do out here to help ourselves.
I cancelled one insurance and went to another that was cheaper, I told the old one if their rates were higher because of uninsured illegal aliens they would lose more customers.
There needs to be identification for ALL aliens who come to this country that cannot be forged. The rest of us have our birth certificates to prove we belong here.
It appears incontrovertable.
These people really have been deluded by pseudo-elite future theory, that the entire world must become globalist instead of nationalist — Bush and the other GOP sell-outs very apparently included.
They don’t believe in nations, nor in respecting national bargaining power. Instead, they are trying to force their twisted view of the future.
(And they forget Who established nations.)
It appears incontrovertable.
These people really have been deluded by pseudo-elite future theory, that the entire world must become globalist instead of nationalist — Bush and the other GOP sell-outs very apparently included.
They don’t believe in nations, nor in respecting national bargaining power. Instead, they are trying to force their twisted view of the future.
(And they forget Who established nations.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Agree/100% !! This Is The Problem,,,This “bill” will be the “tipping-point” for the “VOTER-BASE”,,,The Libo-Kraps
will have the vote numbers to pass ALL that they want,,,
It’s a “Power-Shift” to NWO/NAU/Globalism/Etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~GAME~OVER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey, maybe the left will find legitimate grounds to do what they really want to do , that is to IMPEACH G.W. Bush. After all, they might actually find some constitutional grounds for it as he would be derelict in his duty to protect the nation. Oh, the irony of that! And who would stand with him? He has lost the only friends he had left.
GW says it’s impractical to try to deport the illegals however, in 1954 Ike did it. In a short time with their help. The operation was called “Operation Wetback” and did not take them to the border and release them...many were loaded on ships and sent down to Vera Cruz, others were put on buses for deep in the interior.
There needs to be identification for ALL aliens who come to this country that cannot be forged. The rest of us have our birth certificates to prove we belong here.
= ==
They have been working hard to set that up as the chip implant/SLAG/Mark of the Beast of Revelation
in order to track and monitor every living being from birth to death . . .
in the new global world government . . . of about 500,000,000 people . . . as soon as they can get rid of “all the useless eaters” . . .
beginning with Christians . . . elderly . . . the ‘defective’ . . . and after they are through using them . . . homosexuals . . . maybe blacks . . . etc. lovely group the puppet masters.
Thanks big.
Exactly right on DL1. I’ve long regarded Bush as a “liberal”, or Leftist.
No one will profit by engaging anyone who is in favor of enrolling tens of millions of foreign criminal invader parasites onto the dole, as Kennedy-Bush-Graham-McCain would impose upon the taxpayers.
Regardless of party label, hate-America Leftists and backstabbing traitors populate both in abundance, though that does imply a measure of malignant intelligence that cannot be ascribed to Bush or McCain. They’re just more stupid than a sack of hammers.
This disgusting Amnesty for criminals and terrorists is a boon for the Democrat party, as they desperately want this to happen but don’t have to expend any political capital to further it into law.
The Democrats need not say a word about this, they’re content knowing the GOP is finished at the polls for decades, and they still get what they want, millions more hostile to the United States drawing every form of welfare.
I’m beyond disgusted at the self-immolation of the GOP. It’s far easier to take a screwing from a known enemy ideology espoused by Democrats, but much harder to take a stab in the back from those I voted for and defended.
Serious buyer’s remorse here; I voted twice for the guy that that is now vying with Jimmy Carter for worst president. Carter enabled the rise of NazIslamic totalitarianism, but Bush seems to think they deserve a ‘path to citizenship’.
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