Free Republic

"We conservatives believe government has one legitimate function — public safety. Protecting the border is public safety." The border police force also would enforce ignored laws that ostensibly forbid the hiring of illegal immigrants. For farm labor, Haynes supports a temporary guest worker program. "People coming into this country now are exploited at every level," he says. "They're exploited by traffickers, they're exploited by a large chunk of employers, they're victims of crime they can't report because they're afraid of being caught." Haynes is under no illusion that the Legislature will pass his measure. So he's aiming for a ballot...

It's bad enough Washington has denied Border Patrol agents the funds, manpower and tools they need to do their jobs effectively and safely. What's worse are the messages they are sending the loyal, brave, front-line defenders of this country: Don't do your job! In case you haven't heard, Border Patrol agents in the Arizona area guarded by the civilian Minuteman organization were told not to make too many arrests in the aftermath of volunteer, month-long effort to hold back the floodtide of invaders coming from Mexico on a daily basis. The message was clear to the rank-and-file Border Patrol agents...

Maybe I sound like a one-note Johnny beating to death this issue of illegal alien "cheap labor." But, I believe, when President Bush tells us we need to keep our back door wide open because "there are some jobs Americans will not do," he is acknowledging a profound lack of faith in the free enterprise system and the law of supply and demand. Putting aside for the moment all of the policies of the federal government designed to artificially inflate wages – such as minimum-wage laws, high taxes and wealth-transfer schemes – why are the wants and needs of agribusinesses...

President Bush has candidly explained to the nation that we need illegal immigration into this country because of the "cheap labor" it provides. I believe he's wrong on two counts. We don't need cheap labor, and the labor isn't cheap. If he's right about our need for cheap labor to keep our country growing, the most logical step government could take would be to eliminate minimum-wage laws across the board. Why is government artificially keeping labor costs up, while telling us we need cheap labor to grow our economy? I would suggest to you it is none of the government's...

Speaking to reporters, Schwarzenegger on Friday likened the armed Minuteman group that has roamed the Arizona-Mexico border looking for illegal immigrants to a "neighborhood patrol" that has succeeded where the government failed. A day earlier, he called their work "fantastic" and chastised the Bush administration for failing to secure the border. Schwarzenegger also had said Thursday that a Spanish-language billboard characterizing Los Angeles as a Mexican city was "divisive," a comment echoed by conservative groups. Last week, the governor said the U.S. should "close the borders" — a remark his staff said was imprecise and for which he later apologized....

RUSH: Moving on (story): "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged federal officials to beef up enforcement and secure the state's borders against illegal immigrants, saying Tuesday that they must clean up a 'lax situation' instead of 'trying to run the other way. Close the borders. Close the borders in California, and all across Mexico and the United States,' Schwarzenegger told hundreds of newspaper publishers at Newspaper Association of American convention the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. 'Because I think it is just unfair to have all of those people coming across, and to have the borders open the way it is,' the...

RUSH: Condoleezza Rice was officially sworn in today at the State Department, and President Bush was there. She was sworn in, by the way, by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and the president had some interesting things to say to the State Department staff on the day after Condi threw down the gauntlet to the State Department staff, and I would like for you to hear what President Bush said. We have three bites. The first bite here, he rattles the liberals and the State Department bureaucrats by declaring that freedom is on the march. PRESIDENT BUSH: On Sunday,...