Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Reforming Immigration Reform
Townhall.com ^ | July 5, 2014 | Rich Tucker

Posted on 07/05/2014 4:53:33 AM PDT by Kaslin

Gentlemen,” Herbert Hoover told visiting dignitaries in June of 1930, “you have come six weeks too late.” The Depression, he declared, was over. Sadly, for him and for the country, he wasn’t correct.

Still, sometimes you do arrive too late and miss all the action. Take the group of immigration reform activists who crashed Rep. Eric Cantor’s “victory” party in June. “What do we want? Immigration reform! When do we want it? Now!” they chanted. Two problems: Cantor had, like Elvis, already left the building. And because of the primary results, the former House Majority Leader will be leaving Congress in January.

Even if Cantor had prevailed at the ballot box, this would have been an odd protest. His defeat was, at least partly, because he was working to push through a “comprehensive” immigration reform measure.

Cantor spoke about immigration last year, in the midst of a long speech at the American Enterprise Institute. He touched on many excellent ideas over the course of that speech: Education reform that favors students rather than teacher unions. Reducing regulations to make new, better medicines available more quickly. Simplifying the tax code.

But he also addressed immigration.

“A good place to start is with the kids,” he announced. “It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.”

Well, that sounds an awful lot like the DREAM Act, which has been introduced some 30 times in several Congresses but never approved. President Obama, vastly overstepping his constitutional bounds, basically enacted such a policy via executive fiat in 2012. He ordered the Department of Homeland Security to defer deportation proceedings against an estimated 1.7 million illegal aliens.

The President himself had admitted that he doesn’t have the constitutional authority to implement the DREAM Act: “The idea of doing things on my own is very tempting, I promise you, not just on immigration reform. But that’s not how our system works. That’s not how our democracy functions,” he told Hispanic activists in 2011. But 2012 was an election year, and the move generated some good PR.

The problem with this approach is that it’s starting at the wrong end.

Dealing with children who’ve been brought here illegally is always going to be one of our country’s most difficult problems. So instead of getting bogged down on that while trying to pass “comprehensive” reform, lawmakers should start where there’s wide agreement: close the borders. Crack down on people working illegally. Force illegals to “tag up” in their home country before they can return here.

After these less controversial problems are solved, lawmakers could then turn to the more difficult problems, such as what to do with “the kids.”

Instead, we’re dealing with the fallout of Obama’s unilateral actions.

“Between 2008 and 2011, the number of children landing in the custody of Refugee Resettlement fluctuated between 6,000 and 7,500 per year” FOX reports. “In 2012 border agents apprehended 13,625 unaccompanied children and that number surged even more -- to 24,668 -- last year.” AsThe Economist reports, “A leaked border-agency memo based on interviews with 230 women and children apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley concluded that they had crossed the border mainly because they expected to be allowed to stay.” So we’re making the most contentious problem worse, instead of solving the problems we generally agree about.

Now the president is again vowing action. “The only thing I can't do is stand by and do nothing,” he says. So he’s asking Congress (what a concept!) for more money for detention facilities and more judges to speed the processing of those who’ve been caught here. It’s a start.

The United States is a nation of immigrants. We have always welcomed the rest of the world, and we will continue to do so. But it must be done on our terms, and to our benefit. That’s where immigration reform needs to start.

Taking reasonable steps that enjoy overwhelming approval would be far easier than trying to enact comprehensive reform. Lawmakers could the border under control. But they have to stop making the perfect (comprehensive reform) the enemy of the good.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 0bamanation; 0bamawhitehouse; aliens; amnesty; history; illegals; immigration; immigrationreform
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 07/05/2014 4:53:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
This is the immigration reform we need:



Save this. Send it to your Representative and Senators. Send it to your friends and ask them to do likewise.
2 posted on 07/05/2014 4:57:11 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes EVERYTHING)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paine in the Neck

Whatever it is called, however tortuously obfuscated, IMMIGRATION REFORM is just a code-word for allowing criminals in this country illegally to become ‘legal’.

Any politician that is for this is an enemy in my book.


3 posted on 07/05/2014 5:02:08 AM PDT by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Incremental amnesty is still amnesty at the end of the day.

It is indeed ironic that Cantor made an immigration speech last year saying “reform” needs to start with “children”.

This only raises more suspicion among those who are perpetually suspicious that any conspiracy to bring these illegal children in was more than an Obama-Leftist-Democrat one.


4 posted on 07/05/2014 5:16:42 AM PDT by Nextrush (OBAMACARE IS A BAILOUT FOR THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All
There's nothing but arrogance from illegals...“We’re taking over, YOU Americanos leave, viva La Raza,” kill the gringo, when do we board the US gravy train, etc.

The Senate amnesty bill is dangerously flawed, and its glaring omissions WRT protecting US ntl security, cannot ever serve as the basis for useful legislation.

By legalizing illegal aliens w/out shoring up law enforcement, we hand an engraved invitation to global Third Worlders----all of 'em salivating to ride the US gravy train.....each seperatist group conniving to achieve its hidden agenda.

Amnesty recklessly opens the door wide for illiterate, low-skilled aliens, born and bred in savage cultures, here to suck up US benefits and take jobs away from Americans.

Third Worlders may, in fact, contribute their labor to the US, but their loyalties are elsewhere----they have no intention of becoming Americanized....of participating as equals in American culture, revering our vast history, or preserving American values.

The Senate amnesty bill is a blueprint----it amply demonstrates that illegal separatist populations intend to usurp the US political system to advance their own hidden agenda.

================================================

Immigration “reform” includes two “slush funds” amounting to $150,000,000 that may be supplemented with additional taxpayer dollars for years to come, earmarked for non-profit organizations such as the blood-thirsty La Raza.

LA RAZA TEACHING HATE-AMERICA WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS La Raza Studies do not even try to sugar-coat its anti-America agenda and its bloodthirsty plans to kill off Americans: Raza Studies textbook “Occupied America,” by Rodolfo Acuña, includes a violent and blood-curdling speech given by university professor Jose Angel Gutierrez: “We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is, if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him,” (pg. 323).

The following is taken directly from La Raza's Occupied America (pg. 167): “.......execute all white males over age 16,” (AKA the Plan of San Diego).

America-hating Raza Studies teach (1) violence, (2) undermining US ntl security, and, (3) the need for Mexico to "re- take seven states in the Southwest...in order to make the SW a Chicano nation. "

SCHOOL BOARD NUT CASES Adelita Grijalva is the woman on the Arizona school board pimping La Raza indoctrination programs in Tuscon schools. Adelita is all up in arms about Raza Studies getting tossed via the AZ state legislature's action...she is the daughter of Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-7).

Cong Raul Grijalva is one of Mexico’s most productive and loyal Fifth Column in the US Congress....aiding and abetting the latino criminal underworld, colluding to take back the SW, and loot and pillage the US treasury.

Raul and friend.

5 posted on 07/05/2014 5:20:15 AM PDT by Liz (Another Clinton administration? Are you nuts?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Paine in the Neck
THE ONLY REFORM WE NEED--with one addition.

Demand your state and federal legislators add one question to welfare applications, EITC forms, healthcare forms, and all other subsidy forms (the list is endless).

THE QUESTION: How many us govt checks is the applicant now cashing? (Please list names on checks and amounts).

Important notation on bottom of forms:

<><> (A) Falsifying us govt applications is a crime.

<><> (B) Taking us govt money under false pretenses is punishable by 5 years or more incarceration.

6 posted on 07/05/2014 5:29:07 AM PDT by Liz (Another Clinton administration? Are you nuts?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Let’s start by owning the language..

The pro-AMNESTY crowd are the ANTI-IMMIGRATION crowd...

The illegal aliens are the ANTI-IMMIGRATION crowd..

The enablers of the illegal aliens are the ANTI-IMMIGRATION crowd...

how on Earth can someone insist on people actually going through the proper channels and process to come here ever be called “anti-immigration” ???

and yet that’s what is happening ...

How can I a REAL IMMIGRANT be called “anti-immigration” ???

and yet with today’s definition of the words...I am according to the illegal aliens and the media..

but I’m not...

I’m PRO-IMMIGRATION so I immigrated..

These people coming through our Southern border are not immigrants or migrants

Theyre not illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants..

To be an immigrant you have to immigrate..

The illegal aliens do not immigrate..

Just coming through the border illegally is not immigration, its crime...

So don’t let anyone call you anti-immigration or anti-immigrant...

If youre for immigration you are not against it..

BTW while the media yesterday called the good folks of Murrieta “anti-immigration” the didn’t call the illegal aliens and their buddies “pro-immigration”

They called them “counter anti-immigration”

See how idiotic its become ???

So let’s use the correct terms so nobody is confused about our stance..

We are FOR immigration...that’s why the border must be closed tight...

and anyone wanting to enter must knock first and ask for permission to enter...

If someone is found wandering in my backyard I don’t fly them around the country wondering what to do with them..

I call my local sheriff and he arrests them and takes them OUT of my property..

That’s cause I’m also PRO-VISITOR...


7 posted on 07/05/2014 5:38:28 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer

Immigration doesn’t need reforming ...

It just needs to be enforced...


8 posted on 07/05/2014 5:39:32 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Force every lib who supports this nonsense to take illegals into their house to live with them. Start with the Rats in Congress. If Crazy Pelousy is so happy to see the disease-ridden kids, let her take 5 or 6 home with her. No federal or state money, they want ‘em here, let them take care of them.


9 posted on 07/05/2014 5:44:39 AM PDT by Ironfocus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paine in the Neck

Saved. This is truly immigration reform.


10 posted on 07/05/2014 5:45:47 AM PDT by VRW Conspirator (Global Warming is caused by illegal immigrants!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Tennessee Nana
These people coming through our Southern border are not immigrants or migrants,... not illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants...

And certainly not refugees.

11 posted on 07/05/2014 5:53:03 AM PDT by VRW Conspirator (Global Warming is caused by illegal immigrants!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: VRW Conspirator

Oh yes I forgot about that one..


12 posted on 07/05/2014 5:55:40 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: VRW Conspirator

Given the fact that various churches are supporting the influx, we must conclude the influx are considered as new congregants


13 posted on 07/05/2014 5:58:44 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
The United States is a nation of immigrants.

A nonsensical statement that means nothing. What nation isn't a nation of immigrants? And the reality is that 85% of us were born here. The only reason this hackneyed statement has been pushed by the open border crowd is to say that the more immigrants the better.

No one in America is native born. Even the so-called native-born Americans came across the Siberian land bridge about 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.

We have always welcomed the rest of the world, and we will continue to do so. But it must be done on our terms, and to our benefit. That’s where immigration reform needs to start.

We only "welcomed the rest of the world" with the 1965 Immigration Act that abolished national origin quotas as a factor in our immigration policy. Our previous immigration policies excluded Asians and Africans and preferred northern and western Europeans over southern and eastern ones. Ted Kennedy and his cabal wanted to make America look like the rest of the world. We are paying the price now.

14 posted on 07/05/2014 6:26:25 AM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paine in the Neck
Thanks for posting "Reverse the Magnet." It is so immoral to lure people here by dangling incentives in front of their eyes: it is suborning perjury, fraud, trespass, and a whole lot more.

No matter who's doing it ---farm labor contractors, recruiting agents, or government agents --- offering benefits, entitlements, incentives, subsidies, jobs, education, etc. etc. for people to break the law is as bad as "human trafficking", I think. It IS a form of trafficking, under a different name.

15 posted on 07/05/2014 6:57:23 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Cordially.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Paine in the Neck
Save this. Send it to your Representative and Senators. Send it to your friends and ask them to do likewise.

I have seen this posted many times on FR. It is fine as far as it goes, but there are some glaring, important omissions that need to be corrected. Specifically:

40% of the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens came here legally and overstayed their visas. We need a system to track and deport visa overstays. The fence only solves part of the problem.

There is no mention made of reducing legal immigration substantially from our current level of 1.1 million legal, permanent immigrants annually. We have just had the two largest decades of immigration in American history. Over 29 million legal immigrants have entered this country since 1990.

We need to confine chain migration to the nuclear family vice the current extended family policy. There is no way we can "end chain migration." You can't exclude spouses and children. No one would support it.

No mention of the 650,000 guest workers we bring in annually who take American jobs and depress wages.

We should be advocating mandatory e-verify. It is currently voluntary except in AZ, which had its law upheld by SCOTUS.

You need to clarify what you mean by no government benefits. Whom does this apply to and what benefits are you talking about?

De facto amnesty is something McCain, Graham, Rubio, and the rest of the pro-amnesty use to push amnesty. They say that by doing nothing, we have essentially de facto amnesty. There is a big difference between de facto amnesty and real amnesty.

16 posted on 07/05/2014 7:02:11 AM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Tennessee Nana

Immigration needs to be reformed, but not how the amnesty advocates define reform. The two big reforms that need to be made are: (1)A major reduction from the current 1.1 million legal immigrants a year; and (2)moving to a merit based immigration system from the current kinship system.


17 posted on 07/05/2014 7:11:16 AM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: kabar; Liz

When I came here in 1971all you could bring was a spouse, and any under aged children..

no grandmas or sisters or cousins or even adult children..

The list of people eligible to immigrate only included those with an American spouse not a Granny or even an American child...

so there was no “chain migration”


18 posted on 07/05/2014 7:28:43 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Tennessee Nana
so there was no “chain migration”

There was chain migration in 1971. The 1965 Immigration Act provided for it. Once you got here, received your green card, and became established, you could support other relatives coming here. Naturally, they couldn't accompany you when you first applied to come here.

The 1965 Immigration Act created the so-called family reunification system, chain migration caused the numbers in this category to steadily rise. Five years after chain migration began, the number of immediate relative admissions had nearly doubled (from 32,714 in 1965 to 79,213 in 1970); ten years after, it had almost tripled (to 91,504 in 1975); 15 years after, it was nearly five times higher (151,131 in 1980); 20 years after, it was nearly six times higher (204,368 in 1985); 25 years after, it was seven times higher (231,680 in 1990); less than 30 years after, it was eight times higher (249,764 in 1994); and in 2001, 36 years later, the number of immediate relatives admitted 443,964-over 13 times higher.

Since most immigration categories have a limit to the number of people who can be admitted each year, immigrants' relatives back home must often wait for years to be admitted. Because of chain migration, over three million aliens have been told they are eligible to immigrate but have to wait. Many of them do not, figuring that, since they are eligible anyway, they should not have to wait for the U.S. government to get around to doing the paperwork. In this way, chain migration-and the expectations and long lines it produces-increases illegal immigration.

The problem will get worse. The illegal aliens given amnesty by Congress in 1986 are now fueling naturalization in record numbers. As these former illegal aliens become citizens, all of their immediate relatives qualify to come immediately to the United States, and start new migration chains of their own.

19 posted on 07/05/2014 7:55:10 AM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Paine in the Neck

Ping.


20 posted on 07/05/2014 8:11:33 AM PDT by Zippo44 (Liberal: another word for poltroon.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson