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
In that first picture, it looks like the internationalists are worshipping Tribbles! In the second picture, Vicente Fox is clearly calling the shots, and the Canadian is welcoming Jorge Arbusto into the club as their idiot bag man, with limitless funds stolen from the productive at gunpoint to shower upon illiterate parasite invaders.
If it wasn’t for the Welfare State, this issue wouldn’t be such a big deal, but in the current scheme of American “governance”, every thinking person clearly realizes that if this Benedict Arnold Bill reaches Bush’s desk, he’ll happily consign all legal Americans to 2nd class citizenship.
[“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 ]
Dear Nicholas Thompson, Can you not see the irony in that statement??? What the Hell were you guys doing for those eight years? If you’d been enforcing the law during that time, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
I drive through all parts of Las Vegas as part of my business, and I can tell you vast areas of this city are permanently lost - a vast Mexican Barrio filled with llanterias. Jorge Bush would no doubt call me racist, but I speak fluent Spanish and even helped start an Hispanic media concern hear so that doesn’t wash. Even a close Hispanic friend of asks me, why must they be the one who learns Spanish?
Sorry, but this bill needs to die from a thousand slashes of outraged people.
I would like to agree 100% with:
1) BUILD THE FENCE
2) DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS
3) FINE / PROSECUTE EMPLOYERS BREAKING THE LAW
4) INCREASE BORDER PATROL
5) CONTINUE LEGAL IMMIGRATION
6) DENY ALL FEDERAL FUNDING TO SO-CALLED SANCTUARY CITIES/STATES.
This is the job we expect you to do. Thank you.
We disposed of Clinton and get a war, a illegal alien invasion, 4th amendment almost expunged, and the supreme court has destroyed personnel property right with expanded eminent domain laws for private business.
This has been a disastrous 6 years for the constitution and a great 6 years for the Mexican - American oligarchy.
Oops, put away those Mexican flags.
We love America, but not Americans.
I'm living in an freak in American political nightmare.
Good one, Cedar.
But a little difficult to stop what you can't see, isn't it? ;>
Good one, Cedar.
But a little difficult to stop what you can't see, isn't it? ;>
People have been conditioned to not see it. That is why it most likely too late. People have been presented with facts, yet they still reject those facts, because they are more afraid of being cast as tin foil kooks. When we all do finally wake up, the battle will be over.
It’s amazing how we would rather act like we just cannot understand something that does not make sense. We keep asking why. Some of the rationalizations I have seen are more kooky than the reality. The reality fills in the empty spaces and we can follow the dots.
Seems the thought conditioning over a period of many years has been very successful. People still believe this could all be party politics and legacy building. If this bill passes, the elections will have very little value.
Horribly plausible.
Not sure what viable patriotic alternatives exist.
You're kind of right, but I do believe our most dangerous contemporary enemies, at least the activist/military wing, are committed jihadis. Then you have your idiot sympathizers, as seen @ DU et al. Everything they believe in (publicly funded gay weddings) is directly threatened by Islam, yet the idiots still side with NazIslam, because it's not fascism if non-christian people do it.
Then you have the sudden emergence of this incomprehensible and nihilistic faction in the GOP that will stab citizens and taxpayers in the back, virtually stealing the long knife, from the Democrat party. As another poster said in this thread, he or she can take a lot of pain and betrayal, but simply wants an answer to "why?" Someone famous once said something like 'never ascribe to evil that which can be attributed to mere stupidity'. That's a false choice though, history is full of examples where evil, greed, and stupidity happily made common cause.
Thanks tons.
Can I say (and fellow FReepers chime in please - as if you wouldn’t, LOL)
1) BUILD THE FENCE
2) DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS
3) FINE / PROSECUTE EMPLOYERS BREAKING THE LAW
4) INCREASE BORDER PATROL
5) CONTINUE LEGAL IMMIGRATION
This is the job we expect you to do. Thank you.
Governing isn't that hard, W. Follow your "Republican" principles and uphold the US Constitution and the laws of the nation. If W really wants to know what is going on, he can try actually engaging the average citizen. He can find many of them on FR. Or, W can stay in DC, surrounded by a treasonous elite in Congress and the assorted alphabet agencies and departments of the Federal government.
Either way, W and his self important minions must realize that the "immigration bill" they slavishly support is a crock, is unacceptable, is bad policy and it will get Republicans nowhere come the November elections.
Mama Mia, is Mackey back in town? Oh, wait! I though he was talking about the new Amero. Same difference, though.
;>
Nick and the WH still don’t get it.
These people are trying to assuage us by saying they’ll go easy (or easier) on employers who unknowingly break the law?
No one would hire you or me without proof we’re legal? It’s not that hard to show, and if the gvmnt’s docs are easy to fake, fix that in a separate bill, you “comprehensive” buffoons.
And yeah, another big selling point is the part about: first offense pays $5000, second pays ... .... fourth pays $75,000.
Does the bill says what they pay at the 243rd frigging offense?
Nothing.
Nothing, except another fine. A fine that will be just another cost of doing business. Another cost of doing business that will be passed on to the consumer as higher business costs. Will any officer of a company ever see jail time? Hardly. Plenty of lawyers make good money by keeping dirty little white collar criminals out of the pokey.
One way or the other the average legal citizen will take another shot in the rump.
Bush is well on his way to killing the Republican party. I do hope when his daddy and Bubba Clinton sit down at their politically incestuous chit-chats they'll be satisfied to know that W and Comrade Carter will share the notoriety of being co-holders of most pathetic president in US history.
Right on all counts, indylindy. The fat lady is warming up in the wings but few realize the warm-up is not the cantada she'll be singing.
Agreed.
I’d add that beyond the Rep. party, this bill would damage the whole country by FURTHER undermining the rule of law and setting the stage for the next wave of illegals.
And that this WH hack actually believes his drivel is a winning argument (on FR of all places) shows how SCARINGLY out of touch Bush and his people are.
That, I believe can be attributed to cognitive dissonance -- holding two diametrically opposed opinions and stumbling around in the twilight zone of indecision, still trying to decide between the red pill or blue pill -- like moths flirting with the flame.
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