Posted on 08/23/2007 12:25:14 PM PDT by Plutarch
Senator to assure that farm legislation is a priority in today's Fresno appearance.
WASHINGTON -- Get ready for another ride on the immigration roller coaster.
Today, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein will be assuring a San Joaquin Valley audience that Congress will once more take up a big agricultural guest-worker bill. A top priority for Valley farmers, the bill soon could resurface on Capitol Hill.
"Agriculture is going to push this thing," Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League, said Wednesday.
The agricultural guest-worker package is getting its second wind two months after comprehensive immigration reform collapsed in the Senate. It still faces very steep odds. However, political optimists can sketch out a scenario for snatching success from seeming defeat.
Dubbed AgJobs, the legislation first introduced in September 2003 culminated years of negotiations among farmers and the United Farm Workers. It would offer legal residency, and eventually U.S. citizenship, to 1.5 million illegal immigrants now working in agriculture. It also would streamline an existing guest-worker program.
Step one in the plan for passage calls for farmers and their allies to emphasize anew the dangers of losing an agricultural work force...
...Step three in the AgJobs game plan relies on employer anxiety over a new Bush administration plan for cracking down on companies that hire illegal immigrants. Two weeks ago, the White House announced plans to send out tens of thousands of so-called "no-match" letters.
These letters will notify employers that an employee's name and Social Security number don't match government records. Potentially, employers could be fined for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. More than one agricultural lobbyist believes the White House hopes that angry business leaders will now lean on Congress to change the immigration laws....
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
Basically, she just wants them to vote and will dangle free government welfare at them as an incentive
We already have a guest worker program...........enforce it. Most illegals won’t work on the farms anyway. If they did, farmers wouldn’t have a shortage of workers. Where are the 12-20 million illegals and their families?
if Di wants, Di will go wanting.
If it has a "path to citizenship", it ain't a "guest worker program"---just another way to get "amnesty" one piece at a time.
Go for it Fineswine... but remember... a lot of Dems helped us flood your switchboard a while back.
A shepherd on John Kerry’s family island of Naushon can earn up to $15,000 a year. Wowee Kazowie! Because of its “agricultural” purpose the Forbes only pay $400 a year in property taxes for the 2,500 acre island.
As I recall it would do a lot more than that. It would allow illegals who obtain a permit (i.e. the "Z visa" in the last incarnation) to qualify for welfare benefits in five years--prior to becoming citizens. It would provide them with taxpayer-funded lawyers and job protections Americans don't have (couldn't be fired except for cause). And in the event of firing, taxpayers would foot the bill for mediation.
Also, should the illegal die leaving minor children, there was a provision for Social Security benefits.
“Agriculture is going to push this thing...”
Well, guess who’s going to push back. We’re organized now.
One of the problems is that we don’t admit enough legal guest workers. Despite the fevered dreams of some here, most of them do not come here to go on welfare and actually do want to return to their homes. In fact, one of the problems some employers have with their “guest workers” is that when they earn enough money, they simply up and go home.
We have to make this possible. Guest workers from certain countries, such as Mexico and various other Latin American countries, should be able to come and go. They should not be able to bring their families but should be able to go home often enough to visit them.
And we should be strict in enforcing federal laws prohibiting non-citizens or unapproved people from receiving welfare and in requiring local jurisdictions to report non-citizens receiving services. And we MUST make sure that the police, social workers, hospitals, etc. can run ID checks and then report the results. Many local jurisdictions forbid this, and many FReepers are opposed to IDs. But if we don’t do this, the guest worker program will be meaningless.
As for permanent citizenship, most of temporary immigrants from Latin America don’t want it. Those who do should be able to go through the normal procedures, with perhaps a few special points for having lived and worked here for a few years. And in any case, they’d be better citizens than the thousands of Middle Eastern Muslims we keep letting in legally, either as “students” (taking off but not landing) or “refugees” (coming soon to a taxi stand near you, where they will search your luggage for alcohol).
Now who has fevered dreams? There is no such thing in the wide world as a temporary guest worker. Once past the border a majority will stay. Who is going to make them go? The Democrats? The OBL? They would be legal after all, with recourse to the Courts.
As for permanent citizenship... those who do should be able to go through the normal procedures...
Once on U.S. soil with legal status, each person represents a potential Democrat vote. The Democrats will fall all over themselves to offer permanent status and then accelerate citizenship. The nominally GOP OBL will again join with the Democrats, as that is how they will get their cheap labor. Your vision of docile, cheap, expendable, non-voting helots who toil here without families then are expelled is a fantasy.
Yessir, we are fevered over this issue!
One of the problems is that we don’t admit enough legal guest workers...seems to me we have admitted multi millions of Legal as well as 20 Million Illegals...wth are they doing? How many damx Ag workers are needed to prop up these GD farmers...they already consume more welfare that the poverty pimps...including the Illegals.
The deal is we do not trust any of these Public Servants to enforce any of our immigration laws...no more laws needed! Fix the PROBLEM FIRST!
ping
That is because these lobbyists believe that our current crop of DC Pols are "good" politicians - once they're bought they stay bought.
In a normal year, they'd be correct.
But the lobbyists have overlooked a fundamental issue with Pols - they love having their asses kissed, and will do nearly anything to ensure that the experience continues. They will, therefore, turn on their contributors and reluctantly accede to the wishes of the voters if they believe the option is to be thrown out of office.
No, we don't.
Oh, then I guess you want the present situation to continue. Millions of illegals say, thanks for the help.
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