Immigration bill gets a hearing

Subcommittee takes testimony on the issue despite earlier failure of a similar bill.

WASHINGTON - Although the debate about a comprehensive immigration overhaul was stopped cold in the Senate earlier this year, the House immigration subcommittee held a hearing on the issue Thursday.

The session, called by subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren, came as a surprise because there is nearly no possibility of an immigration bill getting through Congress before the 2008 presidential election.

The hearing examined the STRIVE Act, which would toughen the nation's borders, create a new guest worker program, require employers to verify the legal status of their workforces and allow an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to earn their way to citizenship. It had many of the same elements as the failed Senate bill.

Lofgren, D-San Jose, said she was enormously disappointed by the Senate's failure to pass a measure and wanted to give the issue a full airing in her subcommittee. "The details matter … and today, we will get the details," she said.

The subcommittee heard from a dozen witnesses, including House members, activists and people whose lives were personally touched by the immigration issue.

Eduardo Gonzalez, a Naval officer, told the subcommittee he was worried that before he gets back from his third deployment overseas his wife may be deported because she is undocumented. And Tony Wasilewski told the panel that his wife of 14 years was deported this year because she was denied political asylum. She took their 6-year-old son back to Poland with her.

Much of the testimony at the hearing was a repetition of old talking points on the issue from those who support or oppose the comprehensive approach.

"We should be ashamed of ourselves," for not passing a bill, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez "We have failed the American people."

They are at it again. This is the House bill that is almost identical to the Senate's Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 that caused an uproar during the summer and got shot down due to its amnesty provisions. Allow me to draw your attention to Title 6 of the Strive Act. ________________________________________________________

TITLE VI – LEGALIZATION OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Title VI of the STRIVE Act provides two new programs for certain qualified illegal aliens to acquire citizenship. These programs mirror the ones in Title IV of the STRIVE Act, but are for illegal aliens rather than new or prospective immigrant workers.

[edit] Conditional Nonimmigrant Program

The Conditional Nonimmigrant Program creates a new six-year visa for illegal aliens and their families.

Requirements for Conditional Nonimmigrant Status:

Establish continuous presence in the U.S. on or before June 1, 2006
Verify employment in the U.S. before June 1, 2006 and employment since that date
Complete criminal and security background checks
Pay a $500 fine plus necessary application fees
Must not be ineligible to receive a visa pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act
Has not been convicted of a felony or three or more misdemeanors
Has not participated in the persecution of another person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion
Has not been convicted by final judgment of a particularly serious crime and there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the alien has committed a particularly serious crime abroad before arriving in the U.S.

There is a penalty of up to five years' imprisonment for anyone who willfully falsifies information in an application for conditional nonimmigrant status.

[edit] Earned Citizenship

The Earned Citizenship Program for Undocumented Individuals provides qualified conditional nonimmigrants and their families with an opportunity to apply for lawful permanent resident status (green card) and eventual citizenship.

Applicants must:

meet employment requirements during the six-year period immediately preceding the application for adjustment
pay a $1,500 fine plus application fees
complete criminal and security background checks
establish registration under the selective service (if applicable)
meet English and civic requirements
undergo a medical examination
pay all taxes
show admissibility to the U.S.
meet a Legal Reentry requirement during the six-year period in conditional nonimmigrant status, no later than 90 days before filing an application for adjustment to lawful permanent resident status.

Some additional features of the Earned Citizenship Program for Undocumented Individuals are:

applicants go to the back of the line for permanent visas
current immigrant backlogs must be cleared before qualified conditional nonimmigrant visa applicants (and their families) can adjust to permanent resident status
new penalties for making false statements in an application for earned citizenship are created
immigrants who adjust from a conditional nonimmigrant visa (including dependents) to lawful permanent resident status shall not be counted against the numerical visa caps
those appealing decisions associated with the application for adjustment to permanent status have access to a defined administrative and judicial process

[edit] Other provisions

Title VI includes the following acts:

DREAM Act of 2007
AgJOBS Act of 2007
Strengthening American Citizenship Act of 2007

Title VI also creates grant programs to assist new workers and to address poverty in Mexico.

An email sent to me:

HOOVER & EISENHOWER DEPORTED MILLIONS OF ILLEGALS!=20

Here is something that should be of great interest for you to pass=20
around. I didn’t know of this until it was pointed out to me. But, back=20
during the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the=20
deportation of all illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to=20
American citizens that desperately needed work. And then again in 1954,=20
President Dwight Eisenhower deported 13 million Mexican nationals! The=20
program was called “Operation “Wetback” so that American WWII and Korean=20
veterans had a better chance at jobs. It took 2 years, but they deported=20
them! Now, if they could deport the illegals back then, they can sure do
it today!! If you have doubts about the accuracy of this information,
enter Operation Wetback into your favorite search engine and confirm it
for yourself. Reminder. Don’t forget to pay your taxes... 12 million
illegal aliens are depending on you!

Deportation can be done, you bet it can Kitty!

Operation Wetback in 1954 simply jump started a mass exodus of illegals. About 80,000 illegals were deported from Texas in 1954-1955 via train and ship. When the word got out of the difficulties of the repatriated aliens in Mexico, rough treatment by Mexico's aristocratic government, they simply left the US on their own , the way they had come.

Also there is a lot of revisionist history about Operation Wetback , which seeeks to obscure its success. It is not easy to find the tuth: Operation Wetback was a huge success.

A Social movement to get out of the US was created.

Of course the liberal moonbats and RINOs flap their arms and waggle their tongues , becuase they want a socialized society here in the USA, like Canada's "cultural mosaic" model. It would be the ruinatio of America, and the devolution of personal freedom, and the onset of socialized medical care, as well as governmental social engineering like they have in China and Russia.

And these AH keep trying to pass amnesty bills.

They should be run out of office for NOT enforcing current law!

Operation Wetback details:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html

I just got my Social Security earnings statement: it said that “current SS laws will probably be changed soon” since by 2041 payroll taxes will only pay 75% of required revenue to fund the program.
Our pin-headed salons must think that the solution to that problem is to add 20-30 million (not including their friends and relatives) new claimants to the system.
My response: I want to retire at age 60, with a 20% increase in payments.
We can’t agree?
OK, then how do I resign from this lousy retirement plan?
I can’t? Why?
Because you need the money for other things? Like what?
For such things as solving global warming, providing munitions and weapons to Palestinians and in order to serve as Mexico’s Department of Health, Education and Welfare?

Wait a second . . . let’s start over.
Start over when?
No, not from the beginning of this post,
from 1776.

My counsel to Christians who understand the commission given to believers (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) to beseech men to be reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ and His Atoning Blood, is to use all means to win the Mexican (and other)invaders to Jesus Christ. If they are known to be in your town, get some clear Gospel material in Spanish, and go to them for the purpose of evangelism.

And my declaration to U.S. citizens along with our federal government, is to work to get illegal immigration — THE INVASION — stopped cold, and to get ALL invaders returned to their own country.

Yes, I do believe the two are consistent. I believe that nationhood is a concept supported by the Scriptures throughout, and that, Until Christ returns to Rule and Reign, all movements that lean toward weakening national sovereignty and pressing “the global village” are inherently antichrist.

At the same time, although we cannot, individually, assume the authority to apprehend and deport the invaders, it is within our commission and ability to personally evangelize any invader who will listen to the Gospel of the Grace of God (Acts 20:21).

Someone asked me, “Well, if you lead an illegal (invader) to Jesus Christ, and they become a Christian by God’s Grace, wouldn’t your heart be inclined to find a way for him/her to remain in the USA? NOPE! My heart would be inclined to work for his/her removal and return to Mexico (or wherever). My heart would be inclined to try to convince him/her to return to Mexico on his/her own . . . and remain there as a Christian missionary-evangelist to his/her own national people.

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