Posted on 03/22/2010 8:09:39 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Candidate Obama was direct, specific and seemingly sincere when he promised three things on immigration: to create secure borders, to remove incentives to enter the U.S. illegally and crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and to bring people out of the shadows.
For those who believed that, well ... never mind. Those campaign message points are ones anyone could agree with. (I would add that there should be a fourth point: no amnesty.) The details may end up being different than his press releases, but let’s take him at his word for a moment.
What’s wrong is the president’s approach. He included only a passing reference to comprehensive immigration reform in his State of the Union speech this year, and then promptly punted to Congress. Congress? We have seen how well that has worked for the president’s other initiatives this past year. Having had a little experience passing legislation, it is obvious the president is not prioritizing this effort. Passing major legislation works best when the president uses his megaphone to talk about the issue — and Members can amplify it when they join in — and then work with Congress. If left up to Congress alone to drive a message, an issue as complex as immigration will fragment into a million shards on the floor.
Illegal immigration and our broken immigration system is a serious matter and should be a Congressional and presidential priority. Difficult? Yes. But sometimes the things that are the most difficult are the things that most need to be done.
And, for a faltering president with a disappearing agenda, immigration is one issue, despite its complexity and challenges, where the president could find some bipartisan support and success — that is, if he approaches it correctly.
Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are expected to introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation soon. I don’t know what it will contain. I don’t know that I’ll support it. But whatever specific provisions it includes, I know that their bill, along with a major immigration march scheduled for this month in Washington, D.C., will reignite the immigration debate.
Given the complexity and the magnitude of the problem, if immigration reform has any chance of bipartisan success, either this year or next, it must contain border security measures much stronger than the current law. What we are doing now just doesn’t work. As a matter of national security, we absolutely must secure our borders.
We also must find a way for people who are here illegally to pay taxes and get right with the law. The legislation must create a program so businesses have the employees they need — such as a fair and efficiently run guest-worker program. In Texas we know firsthand that the only reliable measurement for knowing how many people we need here to take these jobs is the marketplace.
What we don’t need is another czar, summit or federal agency that creates artificial limitations on supply and demand. To be successful, immigration legislation must be the product of a bipartisan effort and can’t be written in the deep recesses of the AFL-CIO.
Our country will never build a wall tall enough or a ditch wide enough to keep a man from feeding his family. Finding a comprehensive solution to illegal immigration means that isn’t our only answer. Unfortunately, the president seems to have other priorities.
Former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was Majority Leader and Majority Whip.
LOL....
“amnesty through chain migration, i.e., family reunification, would approach 70 million over a 20-year period, assuming there are only 12 million illegal aliens. We cannot assimilate such numbers. An amnesty would destroy the United States of America with the stroke of a pen. “
My guess is 80-90 million, based upon 20 million illegals.
America would die.
Well, surprise, surprise, surprise.
I wonder how many around will continue to defend this clown.
I hate the word bipartisan....it means bend over.
While I despise Obama, Pelosi and Reid, at least I will give them credit for fighting for what they believe in. Too many Republicans and so-called “conservatives” are primarily interested in lining their pockets and the pockets of their friends.
Care to point out where the “sell out” is? He’s not speaking for amnesty. No citizenship. “Guest workers” only and make them pay taxes.
And crack down on those businesses that hire illegal workers.
We also must find a way for people who are here illegally to pay taxes and get right with the law. The legislation must create a program so businesses have the employees they need”
Sounds like blanket amnesty doublespeak to me. We’ve got double digit unemployment and 20% underemployment. How difficult is it to find help in that type environment?
Instead, we have a sorry tract record of immigration advocates like Grahamnesty, Chuckie and McCain opposing the exclusion of the most undesirable of the lot even in return for amnesty.
Here are the Senators who voted against the Cornyn amendment , which would have established a permanent bar for gang members, terrorists, and other criminals looking to snag a shamnesty visa. Republicans underlined:
FWIW, Kyl was a designated "no" vote as a parliamentary procedure so he could reintroduce the amendment at a later date. Anyone else who voted "nay" should be considered an ally of La Raza and an enemy of the American people.
Say it ain’t so. I love Dick Armey. How many times can my heart break in one week? ugh.
Tom DeLay was not voted out of office. He wasn’t “booted”. He was hounded out of office by the racist Chris Bell (Democrat Texas) who was sour grapes about losing his seat to a black Democrat because of redistricting.
He filed an “ethics” charge that the partisan prosecutor Ronnie Earle took up and STILL has not brought to trial 4 years later.
But revise the historical record as you see fit.
PS Ronnie has left the case and lost his bid for the Democrat nomination as Lt. Governor.
Are you happier with Pete Olson in Tom DeLay’s seat? Nancy Pelosi running Congress?
Work permits OK. Green cards OK.
Filing tax returns YES. Citizenship NEVER. That’s the price for breaking our laws.And any violation greater than a speeding ticket is a ticket back to the hellhole you left.
I lived in his district during the impeachment of Clinton. I faxed him and demanded he follow the constitution and send the articles of impeachment to the senate the following day. He didn’t respond. What he did was allow several months for the media to convince the idiot public that “it’s all about sex”. He was on my enemy list after that.
Bottom line is he was a bug sprayer who went to D.C. and cashed in like the rest of them.
End welfare and you will see Americans taking all sorts of jobs they currently “won’t do”.
But for now, it may pay more to sit on the ass.
Just remember, vote republican at any cost! They are better than any democrat. /sarc
Funny. India(a third would country), has managed to do just that without any problem at all. From 2005:
“India builds a 2,500-mile barrier to rival the Great Wall of China
Villagers on the Bangladesh border say the fence will cut them from their homeland
-snip-Officials say that the fence has already stemmed the flow of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants attempting to cross into India from about 65,000 annually a decade ago to just 10,000 this year”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article782933.ece
Delay is part of the kleptocracy. Obama isn’t worried about the bill excluding people here illegally because by the time he’s done there will be over 12 million newly minted Democrats eligible for tuition, health insurance, welfare, food stamps, social security, and legal voting. And the borders won’t be secure and there will be more coming everyday.
Just come out strong for amnesty for illegals, Tom Delay. Stop mealy mouthing around.
Most of these border state politicians are the same. They are for open borders and amnesty for illegals. It's the only way the see to pander to the Latino populations in their states, and they're too insular and shortsighted to realize that all they're doing is trying to force their narrow interest on the entire nation.
We recently heard from Dick Armey. Now we hear from Delay, both cowed and cowardly border state politicians on this issue.
Barry's on this link stink on Stupak. After yesterday, I'm feeling a real incentive to leave. Where to go? Criminals to the south of me, commies to the north, stuck in the middle again.
This is amnesty. Anyone who entered this country illegally should not be awarded by allowing them to stay and work here. This is the Orwellian use of language used by the pro-amnesty types who coined such phrases as "undocumented workers," "getting to the back of the line," and coming out of the shadows.
The legislation must create a program so businesses have the employees they need — such as a fair and efficiently run guest-worker program
We have 16 million Americans out of work, yet we are still bringing in 125,000 LEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS A MONTH. We don't need any more guest worker programs.
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