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
Spokesman for President Bush Posts on Free Republic About Immigration Bill
Posted by kristinn
On News/Activism 06/14/2007 11:16:52 AM PDT · 539 replies · 10,276+ views
“Fred Thompson 2008 - Law and Order on the border”
That’s grrrrrrreat!
The "I'll see you at the bill signing” that Bush proclaims “is not dead " is too stupid for words and is making the speculation of a hidden agenda VERY credible. In fact, I, as many here, would no longer believe any theory to the contrary.
So... if the President does not pull back now and comply with the will of the people AND his own party (because they still have to answer to the voters) then there can be no other logical conclusion than the President does have a hidden agenda, it is not in the interests of American Citizens and the demonstration of total distain for the will of the people in the form of government proclamations that are not "from the consent of the governed" will cause MAJOR upheaval in the very structure of our government.
The total distain by the current administration for the will of the people in the form of government proclamations are also pointing to the exact organizations and individuals that are controlling the President. And control it is because everyone, right down to the dummies at DU can see that no matter how many times the President tries to tell everyone “this is not amnesty” no one believes him because right there in the bill IS AMNESTY!. You even spell out that it is amnesty while trying to say it is not!
..from FOX news TODAY!
The base immigration bill seeks to tighten border security, put an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to permanent residency
What is the Presidents motivation to lie?
What kind of fools are you people?
Are you inventing a new level of low in backstabbing pond scum?
Do you, or anyone among you really think ANYONE believes you any longer? This administration has not a single shred of credibility left.
Yup. The name "Bush" has become another four-letter word. John and John Quincy they ain't.
Like totally. ;)
holy cow.
“You may fire when you are ready Gridley.”
Commodore George Dewey, 1 May 1898, at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
Thank you for increasing the penalties for employers who willfully hire illegal aliens without proper verification. Please provide evidence of how you are going to enforce those requirements and how long it will take to eliminate hiring of illegal aliens.
Please address whether you will propose increasing the fines and penalties outlined in U. S. Code, Title 8, as applied to those aliens who enter or have entered our Country illegally.
Throwing them all into this one bill simply reinforces that the Administration and COngress WANT all of the nasties hidden in the current bill.
I sure hope that the President has something up his sleeve and is going to have a "Just Kidding" moment coming up in the very near future.
Because his immigration stance has all but torn the Republican party apart. I'll vote for Fred. But I'll be danged if I'll EVER vote a straight line R ticket again. I'll vote for the few I like and can take the trouble to follow and the rest I'll leave swinging in the breeze.
You people have NONONO idea what kind of fire you've lit by betraying your base. The GOP better LIKE being out of power because it's gonna be for a LONG, LONG time.
You actually thought we'd LIKE giving illegals their own lawyers so we could have a govt paid lawyer fighting a govt paid court to not deport a perfectly legitimate deportaion target.
You thought we'd REALLY give away our children's futures and dilute our votes and wages just on the president's word that this was good stuff???????
You politico's are mad. Only explanation I can think of.
The reason that 80% of America is against this bill is that it's tearing up Dem AND Rep neighborhoods. Not that you ivory tower types in your heavily policed and gated communities would know about such things.
Get the wall built and manned, then we'll talk about what to do with the ones already here. Not before!
If you want to represent Juan and Juanita so badly, the fine. Let them vote for you. not me and my wife ever again!
like WAY, man!
I don't think they're too concerned about that one.
Thanks Jim!
The will of the American people will prevail.
Build the stupid fence, how hard can it be? Dig hole,,, Put in large post,,, Etc...
Good one, “Admiral”! ;)
No one has responded yet? Figures. Yall ping me if Dubya..no if Mr. Bush shows up.
Thank you for increasing the penalties for employers who willfully hire illegal aliens without proper verification. Please provide evidence of how you are going to enforce those requirements and how long it will take to eliminate hiring of illegal aliens.
Please address whether you will propose increasing the fines and penalties outlined in U. S. Code, Title 8, as applied to those aliens who enter or have entered our Country illegally.
How about deportation. I see no provision for deportation. I see no deportation apparatus being set up to send back home those who
a) Don't sign up for z visas
b) Those who are denied z visa beacuse of felonies
c) Those who get z visa but then engage in criminaility
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.