He HAS to know this amnesty talk just drives conservatives crazy. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but it could be he’s intentionally trying to crush our enthusiasm. That would likely help the GOPe incumbents. However, it’s more likely he really believes this crap. That just shows how out of touch Jeb Bush is with the Republican base. Despite the best efforts of the powers that be, most Americans do not want amnesty, aka comprehensive immigration reform.
I gotta say I’d probably want unlimited immigration if I was an unprincipled CEO who wanted to bring in more skilled labor. That’s so much easier than hiring Americans who might need additional training to do the work. Forget about building a talented workforce of Americans. Import whatever one needs.
This mentality pisses on America. Who cares about the impact to our culture when we import millions of people who hold un-American, foreign concepts like socialism? Who cares if an American who needs work remains unemployed? Every American brought out of dependency makes this country that much stronger, and the benefits last decades!
I’m sorry, but Romney was the final straw for me.
Same for me. If there isn't a true Conservative at the top of the ticket, I will do a write-in.
These arrogant elitists think we will continue to vote for the slightly less of two evils. 2012 was the very last time for me.
I’m not even an American and I understand it. Unconditional amnesty sends the wrong message and rewards the wrong people. Let’s say you’re sitting around in central America wondering if it’s worth taking the risk of paying people to smuggle you into Arizona. Then you hear that everyone who did that over 25 years can grab all the benefits of citizenship without paying any sort of penalty. The risk then reduces to whether you’re caught or not. And you have to figure, how hard are they going to look for me, if they have this sort of policy?
Those calculations might not always be true, but over time they will increase the tide of illegal immigration. At this point, what I would suggest is a conditional amnesty. If people come forward within a specified time, if they are willing to sign documents that they will pay a tax surcharge for the rest of their working lives, and/or a substantial fine, then they can stay. If they refuse or don’t come forward and get caught, then it’s automatic deportation. I am quite tempted to say deport the lot, but this way you get some of the benefits of the more productive and their offspring, and an implied commitment to the country that was lacking in the first instance. In any case, it seems unlikely that anyone would come forward voluntarily if there was no either/or proposition. Of course, it’s just the suggestion of an outsider and I fully respect the concept that it’s your call, your country. This is what I would advise, anyway. It might help the economy to take this approach. No doubt there is a correlation between illegal immigration and income tax avoidance.
Also there should be a constitutional ban on Spanish as an official language either federally or in any state. Cut off that false hope so that the Hispanic population realize that linguistic integration is going to be part of the deal. Canada has had this same challenge with Chinese and Indo-Canadian immigration with various half-hearted attempts to make their languages official, and it has been rejected with the result that more of these (legal) immigrants are anxious to learn English (or improve their English as quite a few speak some to start with).
And the Mexican border should be further sealed and guarded to the maximum extent possible. Foreign and economic policy should concentrate on the improvement of the Mexican and other central American economies so that their populations are less inclined to emigrate.