Penalty Mitigation in the Immigration Reform Bill [White House Spokesman Responds: Post #53]

Free Republic ^ | 6-13-2007 | philman_36

[Species8472]

Agree 100% with Lurker. I will not give another dime to the republician party while this bill lives.

[what's up]

Thanks for the comments and the FACTS on the increase in fines on employers.

[GovernmentShrinker]

In the first quarter of FY07, criminal and civil forfeitures have totaled $26,700,000 for employers.

Whoop-dee-doo! So what was the taxpayers' tab for medical care to illegal aliens in the first quarter of FY07? And for federally mandated access to public schools for the non-citizen children of illegal aliens? Care to share those figures with us (with reliable sources to back them up)?

[ElkGroveDan]

You guys just don’t get it. NOBODY wants this. If you really want to do something that MIGHT fly, put up the border security elements in one bill. Pass it. Wait a year. If you can demonstrate results, THEN people might want to talk about what to do with the people who are here.

You need to know that Republican offices at EVERY LEVEL of state and local government are being flooded round the clock with calls on this. If the President signs any bill like this we can all kiss goodbye the party we’ve all dedicated our lives and careers to for so many years. The backlash will be immense.

You people are killing us in “fly over country”.

[jackieaxe]

You had THREE enforcement actions in 2004. I don’t think there is an employer that has a fourth offense with numbers like these. Stop blowing smoke up our butts and enforce the current laws.

[RasterMaster]

Anything short of deportation is AMNESTY....we don’t need more bad laws that won’t be enforced.

Light a fire under Chertoff, BUILD THE FENCE, enforce current law.

By the way, DEPORTATION is enforcing current law.

[Prokopton]

Don't you get it? We don't trust you.

The president signed a bill authorizing 10,000 new border patrol agents, Where are they?

The President signed a bill authorizing 800 miles of border fence, where is it?

The President says giving 12-20 million illegal aliens instant legal status is not amnesty. We are not that stupid.

If the President wants support for immigration reform, enforce the laws he already signed and above all, TELL THE TRUTH.

[Khuey]

Reminds me of “Read my lips, no new taxes”. The legacy...

[nicollo]

FYI, we’re not all not with you...

[cmiller623]

Millions of Americans who supported this President twice are mad at what is being done to us. I am one of them! I don’t support this Amnesty sham one iota. Please tell your bosses that they have no credability on this bill. Build the fence, fine employers who hire illegals and then we can talk.

[theDentist]

Sir, with all due respect, we were struck on 9/11/2001. The borders remain open and porous. Aside from the illegals just trying to make a living, and the drug smugglers who drive truckloads through without any concern, any terrorist can simply walk over the border carring the works for a dirty bomb and set it off in any number of major American cities.

The President's refusal to secure our borders, refusal to secure the sovereignty of this nation, and refusal to enforce the immigration laws as they exist now are, in my opinion, IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES. Why the Dems haven't pursued this yet is open to speculation.

This bill hasn't been presented to the GAO for an estimate of costs to the nation. Gee, I wonder why? Because it will cost us TRILLIONS of dollars??? Because it allows the Secretary to suspend these Fines, suspend the requirement for the illegals to leave these lands and apply for access?

How many more illegals will run for our border to get in if this were to pass? And I notice the Mexican Gov't CONTINUES to do NOTHING to assist us in preventing ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION...

In other words, sir, WHY SHOULD WE TRUST YOU?

[JRochelle]

I understand that people who have been ordered deported by a court of law and have refused to leave are going to be allowed to stay.

I find that to be very insulting.

This sham of a bill is a slap in the face of all who obey our laws and have respect for a court of law.

[mark3681]

With all due respect, Sir, the amount you have collected in fines probably wouldn’t be enough to keep your standard L.A. County Hospital emergency room open.

President Bush needs to understand that, though he is at the end of his term, what he does will affect those around him. The future of the Republican party is at stake. We are not out here beating our collective chests because we like the sound it makes.

Uphold existing law. Secure our borders. That is all we ask. And, that is what he promised.

[azhenfud]

Wecome Abroad.

Now that the formalities are done, what’s wrong with the ears in Washington?

Why can’t we get the execution of the 2004 BP agent law and the 2006 Border Fence law WITHOUT the cockamame horse exhaust we’re being handed?

Why has amnesty got to be tied to any border security provision at all?

You folk in DC really irritate the mess out of the GP when you don’t listen, when you keep making the same mistake over and over expecting different results.

[lilylangtree]

If the immigration laws all ready on the books aren’t enforced, what makes the administration think that this new proposed legislation will be enforced? Plus, why is new legislation needed anyway? As a Republican, a voter, and female, enforce the present laws now.

[Moose4]

Mr. Thompson,

First of all, I hope you’re not going to get in trouble by FReeping at work. :)

Secondly...Tony Snow used President Reagan’s old line on Laura Ingraham this morning—”trust, but verify.” The fact is, sir, there is no way that the conservative base is going to accept this bill, because we don’t “trust” no matter how much we “verify.” We haven’t been given any reason to trust!

For six years, we haven’t seen much of anything that indicates that the Bush administration gives much of a priority to Mexican border security. A bill has been passed authorizing several hundred miles of new fence...how much has been built, sir? A few miles? Why? Why has this bill not been complied with? How many new Border Patrol agents have been hired? Why has the President not taken a harder line with President Fox (and now President Calderon) on controlling illegal immigration on HIS side of the border? What is the President planning to do about removing Federal funding from cities that refuse to cooperate with enforcement efforts against illegals?

Fact is, Mr. Thompson, poll after poll after poll is showing that the American people do not want pseudo-amnesty. We want border enforcement first, interior enforcement second, and only then, can we even think about guest worker programs or “Z-visas.” The Administration, and the Republican party, ignore this sentiment at their peril.

No comprehensive bill. Seal the border, remove the anchor baby provisions, and deport the illegals that won’t leave. Streamline the legal immigration process. THEN we can talk about letting them back in as guest workers. Not one second before.

Welcome to Free Republic.

}:-)4

[B4Ranch]

“Operation Rollback,” assessed $15,000,000 in civil fines to employers, How much of these fines was actually collected and not forgiven for a promise not to do it again?

[B4Ranch]

“Operation Rollback,” assessed $15,000,000 in civil fines to employers,

How much of these fines was actually collected and not forgiven for a promise not to do it again?

[azhenfud]

"....assessed $15,000,000 in civil fines to employers..."

Assessed - $15,000,000
Collected - ?

[theDentist]

And one more thing: How dare members of the GOP in the highest offices refer to us as ‘bigots’ simply because we want immigrants to follow the rules as many of our parent did?