Immigration Deal Reached

Bush hails Senate immigration deal



George W. Bush on Wednesday hailed as "historic" a bipartisan Senate compromise that offers the best hope in years of reforming America's broken immigration system.

The deal, which was hammered out over the last month by 10 senators including Ted Kennedy, the Democrat from Massachusetts and Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, would provide "a pathway" to US citizenship for the 12m "undocumented workers" already in the United States.

It would also set up a new temporary guest worker programme for unskilled immigrants and a merit-based system for skilled immigrants to attain a green card. The bill would further tighten border security, particularly along the US's 2,000-mile frontier with Mexico, and toughens penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens.

"I have been around long enough to know that opportunities like this don't come around very often," said Mr Kennedy. "Senators from both parties are now determined to solve this crisis, secure our borders and bring millions out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America."

Mr Bush, who has identified comprehensive immigration reform as one of his key priorities in the 20 months he has left in office, said it would create a system that was "secure, productive, orderly and fair". The US president said he hoped it would be enacted by Congress before the end of the year.

However, Arlen Specter, one of the Republicans who helped broker the compromise, conceded it was likely to attract criticisms from the left, which would see it as unnecessarily draconian, and the right, which is already alleging that it will provide an "amnesty" to the 12m illegal immigrants. "Without this [compromise] there will be anarchy," said Mr Specter. "This is the best that can be done."

Last year the Republicans lost a significant share of the Hispanic vote in mid-term congressional elections after they pushed through a purely enforcement-based immigration reform that included building a 700-mile fence on the southern border.

Among the Republican presidential candidates, both John McCain, who initially sponsored a reform bill with Mr Kennedy, and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, have come under increasing attack from the party rank and file for associating themselves with alleged "amnesty" for illegal aliens. But the Democrats and the labour unions are also divided.

"This has reached a stage where both parties see a lot of merit in getting this issue out of the way," said Edward Alden, an immigration analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations. "This probably has a better-than-even chance of being passed."

 

This amounts to nothing less than closet amnesty. Doesn't surprise me in the least coming from a bunch of CFR puppets.

 

Well I think it's a start. I don't know what else can be done with the 12 million plus that's already in the U.S.

 

12 million? Are you serious? Do you honestly believe that number? It's likely at the very least DOUBLE that.

This will legalize the 20-30 million that are already here, while encouraging others to flood into the country, and it's all being allowed by a treasonous government which is working to destroy this country by design.

 

According to the news (CNN), there is an estimated 12-20 million.

What this basically means is that those who initially broke the law to begin with can be forgiven if it is politically expedient.

 

In my opinion, that's still cutting it short. The media will never give us the true number, and even then, it's still impossible to determine exactly how many are here.

 

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
- Frank Zappa



Nothing can be further from the truth with regards to this matter.
Frank, wherever you are, I think you got it right.

 

Like I said it's a start. Washington has been Bsing around too long with this.

More people seem to be for it than against it. They were going to have to go with some sort of legalization for the immigrants already here. I'am for a guest worker programm. This will bring people in legally in a controlled way so that they won't have to deal with smugglers and also have people being able to work for American wages. This should end the talk of immigrants hurting wages.

 

I agree, Washington has been dicking around with this issue for so long.

There's just no way we can round up 12-30 million illegals including their children born here in this country without causing major disruption in our society.

It seems, both parties finally decided it was time to find a way to settle this issue, before the next election campaign starts...

 

Not to get off topic, but Zappa was the man!

 

It's a start to what? The complete evisceration of America and national sovereignty as we know it?

This is going to do nothing to stop the influx of people coming into this country illegally, and I honestly hope people are not gullible enough to believe the rhetoric, which is coming from those who want open borders and total amnesty for all illegals. This is part of a much bigger agenda called the North American Union.

Rewarding people for breaking the law will surely draw more people into this country to bring down our wages, deplete the economy, and destroy all semblance of national sovereignty.

The only people who could support such a thing are those who have no idea regarding the consequences that will arise because of it, or the underlying agenda surrounding the illegal immigration issue.

 

How will they bring down wages if they enter America legally through a guest worker program? The reason illegals work so cheap is because of their illegal status. I would think this guest worker program will require them to be paid what an American would get paid for a particular job.

How are they hurting the U.S economy when it's well known that various U.S industries such as agriculture and construction would suffer if it weren't for these workers? There don't seem to be enough native born Americans who want to pick our food.

 

Do you honestly believe 20-30 million people, who are here illegally, are here to work? Sure, some of them are... but not all of them. I can guarantee you a good number of them are NOT here to work. So who supports them? Who provides them medical treatment? (I am an American citizen and I don't even have health care.) Have you not heard that banks are allowing illegals to open bank accounts without any valid ID? This isn't by mere chance.

The fact is, when you flood a country with people from another culture, who cannot speak the language or easily assimilate into our society -- many of whom openly hate the country -- you create all kinds of problems down the road economically, culturally, socio-politically, etc..

And I am sick of hearing about them taking jobs that Americans won't take. This is the typical corporate rhetoric that is coming from people who want amnesty for illegals, which many of the dumbed-down public have no problem regurgitating like robots, unable to see the big picture they're not being let on to by the media. The fact is, there is a growing number of working poor in the US whose jobs are being taken by illegals. Not just farm work, but factory work and other forms of labor.

Let's not also forget the birthright citizens (or "anchor babies") that the US must take on every year as a result of this. I hear so much talk about overpopulation, but what do these people think is happening in the US by taking in more people than we can handle?

I shouldn't even be arguing over these points, because it goes a lot deeper than what you and most others are being lead to believe. The fact is, the plan is well in the works to do away with borders completely by the year 2010 as part of the North American Union, which is being implemented by stealth and without congressional oversight. This blanket amnesty ties in with this, but most people cannot see the forest for the trees, thanks largely in part to a controlled media that treats its viewers like idiots.

The fact is you need to wake up and understand what's going on. Stop believing everything the politicians and the media tell you because they're lying to you. All they do is lie.

And for all those who want to accuse me of being racist or "xenophobic," go right ahead, because that is the route most people take when they cannot debate the facts like intelligent, well-informed people. I am not against the illegals. I am against the people in the government who are using the illegals for their own gain, allowing mass illegal immigration into this country to fulfill their own diabolical agenda that the average dumbed-down American has no clue about.

 

My question is why can't the 12-20 million illegals be returned to Mexico? Every time they are found they should be extradited. It wouldn't happen all at once. It would be as gradual as their immigration has been.

Instead there are so many restrictions as to how they can be handled by law inforcement and social services agencies that they actually recieve more benefits from out society than legal citizens do.

Mexcio would be impacted hugely, and that's probably why we won't even consider it. President Fox was promised by Bush that we would continue to hire and house his poor, and even wanted these workers to receive Social Security and Medicare from the US when they retire to Mexico.

This bill is just the first step in progressing towards everything that has been promised to Mexico through the SPP program.

 

Well, it that was so, this whole joke has been going on for years.
This whole border issue is a big joke considering that millions and millions of people have been able to cross here illegally for so long.

 

Well, if that was so, this whole border issue is one big joke.
And the fact that millions and millions of people have been able to cross here illegally for so long points to the fact that this joke has been going on for so long.

 

You are right, it is a joke. The public are given nothing but smoke and mirrors.

 

When 2010 rolls around and the world hasn't ended, the NAU hasn't happened, the NWO hasn't arrived, and the life goes on, will you finally realise how badly you have been conned by fearmongering conspiracy theory clowns?

 

well if enough (admittingly a lot) people wake up and take action and don't want it, than it won't happen..so my guess is NO. So its not the best question.

Otherwise, it will happen..if not 2010..than 2012...or 2016, ect.

But do just a little research. talks of this are starting to seep into the mainstream even, not to hard to find anymore.

 

Sorry, I haven't read the whole thread, but came across this and thought I would contribute it:

WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

The immigration bill unveiled yesterday by the Senate, which would grant amnesty to virtually every illegal alien in the country, plus an unknown number of their relatives, amounts to a complete sell-out of the interests of the American public, declared the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The Senate bill, S. 1348, includes immediate and irrevocable benefits for tens of millions of illegal aliens, access to low-wage foreign labor for business interests, and nothing but more worthless promises to the American public that the government would enforce immigration laws in the future.

S. 1348, which the Senate is expected to vote on as early as Monday, was hammered out behind closed doors, bypassing the hearings process or any assessment of the fiscal, labor market or environmental impact. The bill would grant amnesty to nearly every illegal alien in the United States as well as children and elderly parents who may be residing outside the country. Within 24 hours of filing an application, illegal aliens would be granted work authorization and relief from possible deportation, without any background checks. In addition, the legislation calls for the admission of 400,000 additional "guest workers" plus their dependent family members each year, some of whom will be permitted to remain permanently.

"In agreeing to this bill, the United States Senate has broken every promise that has been made to the American people," charged Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "The bill reneges on promises that amnesty would never again be offered to people who are in this country illegally; it violates commitments that Congress has made to protect the interests of American workers; and it compromises the security of this nation by granting legal status to people who may pose a threat to the nation. Adding to the betrayal, this surrender of the public interest was negotiated by senators who had personally pledged, as recently as last year, never to agree to any bill that includes amnesty."

The provisions of the bill that call for tougher immigration enforcement in the future were described by FAIR as "worthless and an insult to the intelligence of the American public." The 2007 version of immigration reform contains the identical set of promises to secure the borders, establish a verifiable worker identification system, and enact penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens that Congress and successive administrations have made and broken countless times over the past 20 years.

"The security and enforcement provisions are less than meaningless. They will either not be funded, endlessly delayed, or ignored all together," Stein declared. "While tens of millions of illegal aliens will reap rewards and enjoy access to the courts to appeal any denial of benefits, the American public gets shafted with no avenue for appeal."

FAIR is calling upon the Senate to delay voting on S. 1348 until the bill receives a full public hearing, and until a thorough study of its impact is completed. "This is a bill that will quite literally affect the future of this nation. Its ramifications deserve more than a weekend's review on the part of the people who will vote on it," said Stein.

Federation for American Immigration Reform



Copyright © 2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.

I suggest we all start calling our Senators immediately. This can't be good for We The People!