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USA Today: "Who supports illegal immigration?"
As a follow-up to their critically acclaimed article "Nation splits 4 ways on illegals", USA Today will soon come out with an article called "Pro-illegal immigration groups split 7 ways". In the original story their "analysis" divided the nation into four groups: "hard-liners", "unconcerned", "ambivalent", and "welcoming".
Only "hard-liners" want to enforce our laws. And, see, it's a matter of sympathy and little else. The "welcomers" are sympathetic and the middle two groups might be sympathetic. The "hardliners" are completely unsympathetic, despite the fact that if our laws were enforced we could greatly reduce border deaths and stop worker abuse. Darn those unsympathetic meanies! Of course, there exists the possibility that USA Today is defining "sympathetic" as "useful idiots for those who seek to profit off illegal immigration", but let's ignore that.
Anyhoo, in the followup, they'll list some of the types of people who support massive illegal immigration:
The Starchildren: Borders? What borders! They don't want to build walls, they want to build bridges. And, they want to hold hands across the bridge while singing folk songs.
The Lunatics/Libertarians: As idealistic as the Starchildren, but idealistic in an evil way.
The Globalist Scum: (Their word, not mine!) They put George Bush in this category.
The Communists: Yes, they're still around! And, USA Today recognizes that - just like the Democratic Party - they see massive illegal immigration as a way to build a proletariat.
Borderline Traitors: (USA Today rushed to note that they don't mean traitors in the specifically legal sense, only in a general sense of supporting foreign citizens instead your own citizens). They put Dick Durbin and Harry Reid in this category.
Racial Power Groups: NCLR, MALDEF, LULAC, ETC, ETC, ETC.
The Barely Coherent: Howard Dean and Teddy Kennedy are in this group.
Posted to Immigration at 08:34 PM | Comments (10)
Bush missed a perfect border photo-op
This post and this one featured pictures of Bush's big photo-op on the border, featuring the leader of the free world tooling around in a dune buggy.
However funny/sad those pictures might be, they can't match this video. It's a CBS Early Show interview Bill Plante did with Bush during his big trip. Behind Bush, you can see three people jumping the border fence. (I can't tell for certain, but the laughter at the end sounds like it was then replayed on the Tonight Show or a similar program.)
If Bill Plante had been paying attention he could have encouraged Bush to rush over and welcome his "amigos" to America, but sadly that photo opportunity was missed.
Posted to Immigration at 02:19 PM | Comments (6)
RFID implants for "guest" workers?
Recently, Mayor Mike Bloomberg proposed a massive biometric database for every worker in the U.S.In a perhaps unrelated story, VeriChip Corporation has proposed RFID implants for "guest" workers:
"Makers of VeriChip have been planning for this day. They've lost millions of dollars trying to sell their invasive product to North America, and now they see an opportunity in the desperation of the people of Latin America," [Katherine Albrecht, author of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with RFID"] observes.Note that the former head of HHS, Tommy Thompson, sits on Verichip's board. He's apparently said he was going to "get chipped", but has so far refused to follow through.
VeriChip's [Chairman Scott Silverman] bandied about the idea of chipping foreigners on national television Tuesday, emboldened by the Bush Administration call to know "who is in our country and why they are here." He told Fox & Friends that the VeriChip could be used to register guest workers, verify their identities as they cross the border, and "be used for enforcement purposes at the employer level." He added, "We have talked to many people in Washington about using it...."
And, it's not just purported Americans proposing this, but also Alfaro Uribe, the president of Colombia:
...according to Sen. Arlen Specter, (R-Pa.) who said in a speech before Congress (PDF) that "President Uribe said he would consider having Colombian workers have microchips implanted into their bodies before they are permitted to enter the United States to work on a seasonal basis."It's not like he's opposed to them on principle, he just doesn't think they'd work. If something were developed that would be assured of working, have no doubt that a fine American such as Arlen Specter would support it.
And if you think that's going to work, consider what Specter thought of the idea. "I doubted whether the implantation of microchips would be effective since the immigrant worker might be able to remove them," he said.
Posted to Privacy at 11:29 AM | Comments (5)
NWO, Michael Douglas, guns, North American integration, Amero
The recent article "Michael Douglas backs U.N. gun ban" leads us on a wild ride through the fevered imaginations of globalists everywhere:Actor Michael Douglas – who for many years has been designated by the United Nations as a "U.N. peace messenger" – is backing the global body's upcoming conference on small arms trafficking.That leads to 1999's "The 40-year gun grab":
In a public service announcement, Douglas "spotlights the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and promotes an upcoming U.N. conference aimed at addressing the problem," according to the U.N. News Center.
The controversial conference wins the prize for having the longest name in memory: "The U.N. Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons." It is scheduled for July 26 through July 7 in New York City...
...David Patterson, deputy historian at the State Department, downplayed the possible significance of Freedom From War and the Blueprint for the Peace Race -- identifying them as "part of the propaganda war."Along the same lines comes a 2/27/05 radio interview (pay only, not listened to) described thusly:
"It's a recurring issue which conservative groups would put forward as an example of how we were willing to capitulate to the Soviet Union during the Cold War -- disarm unilaterally," Patterson said. "Of course, none of this was true, but it's still going the rounds of right-wing publications. We get these calls."
Michael Corbin interviews Gui Caron with Council of Canadians. They received a leaked confidential report on North American Integration. This council met to discuss the integration of Canada, the United States and Mexico into a new North American country through NAFTA. Read this confidential report (in PDF format) by clicking here. This report is a warning of things to come in that this group, which is comprised of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives are planning on launching a massive campaign to introduce a new slogan for the new North American country, together with a new currency, and strict security measures that will involve a National ID Card. Charlotte Iserbyt, author of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, joined during the second half of the hour to discuss the US National ID Card program, which is being designed and implemented by two high-ranking former Soviet KGB officers, who are working within the Department of Homeland Security.And, believe it or don't, there's even a WP page on the Amero, the proposed North American currency.
Posted to NAU at 04:57 PM | Comments (2)
Dick Durbin: consult with Mexico on border fence
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) added a provision to the Senate's immigration bill that says in part:
CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT -- Consultations between United States and Mexican authorities at the federal, state, and local levels concerning the construction of additional fencing and related border security structures along the United States-Mexico border shall be undertaken prior to commencing any new construction, in order to solicit the views of affected communities, lessen tensions and foster greater understanding and stronger cooperation on this and other important issues of mutual concern.
There's backstory and backfilling on this here.
Now comes Senator Dick Durbin (D-MX) (via this):
I mean, to think that we would build a fence without any conversation or consultation with Mexico — that doesn't makes sense... Good fences make good neighbors, too. And remember that when it's all over, there'll be cities across the border from one another in the United States and Mexico, and you'll find in most instances they try to find a level of cooperation... We ultimately want to have the cooperation of the Mexican government. That's going to make this a lot easier, to stop the corruption on either side of the border, to stop these coyotes that are taking thousands of dollars to push people across that border at the risk of losing their lives... We should have consultation. There's nothing wrong with that.
Posted to Immigration at 01:40 PM | Comments (5)
Sharon Runner stands up to Vicente Fox, Mexican-"American" legislators
Earlier today, Mexico's Vicente Fox spoke before the California legislature. As previously discussed, Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) conducted a silent protest. Another American went even further. Sharon Runner (R – Lancaster) refused to show up for the speech entirely. And, she might face a reprimand from the leaders in the legislature who have divided loyalties."I believe it is wrong for the California State Legislature to give this platform to a foreign head of state whose policies and corrupt government institutions pose a threat to the social, economic and security interests of the people of the United States... I will not be attending President Fox's address because I do not believe that his Administration has done enough to enforce our nation's mutual border laws and because his country continues to harbor and protect California fugitives from prosecution in the U.S."
"President Fox has a history of non-cooperation with American officials on immigration issues at both state and federal levels... Unfortunately, I am not surprised that the liberal majority in Sacramento would give President Fox this type of platform in California that puts him on equal footing with our Governor or our President. I would be open to discussion with President Fox if he were coming to explain his country's backward policies and offer some resolution and compromise to the California people. However, that is clearly not the case."
"This is one of those issues I feel that passionate about... I do not want to give credibility to the liberal majority's acceptance of illegal immigration and Mexico's official policies urging its citizens to break the law and come to the United States illegally."
"I think the California Legislature's liberal majority is confused, bending over backwards to support Mexico and illegal immigrants... I was elected by the citizens of my district and that is where I will be this evening, serving the people of the 36th Assembly District."
Posted to California at 08:26 PM | Comments (8)
Vicente Fox: Senate illegal alien amnesty a "monumental step forward"
Vicente Fox of Mexico spoke before the Alta California legislature earlier today, and heartily welcomed the U.S. Senate's sellout of this country:"It is a moment that millions of families have been hoping for. This is the moment that millions of people have been working for... Today's historic vote is a monumental step forward, but we recognize that there is more debate ahead."He and Arnold spoke privately for 10 minutes. In his big speech, Vicente also informed us that Mexico doesn't promote illegal immigration.
Meanwhile, from the American side of things:
Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, was among a group of Republican lawmakers who wore yellow buttons reading "No mas" to protest illegal immigration. They also were unhappy that Fox had declined an invitation to meet with them, even though he met before his speech with Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles.
"It was my silent protest to tell the president, 'Shame on you for shunning the invitation by a group of legislators who wanted to talk policy,'" Spitzer said.
He said he agreed with Fox's desire to expand economic growth and social opportunities in Mexico but questioned Fox's track record on those issues so far.
"I heard a lot of political platitudes," Spitzer said. "He set out a roadmap that if it were implemented would have the greatest incentive to reduce immigration."
Posted to Immigration at 08:12 PM | Comments (2)
20 reasons to oppose the Senate amnesty scheme
Sen. Jim DeMint offers Top 10 Reasons to Oppose Amnesty Bill and Sen. Chuck Grassley offers a different list of the Top 10 Flaws with the scheme.
Posted to Immigration at 09:31 AM | Comments (2)
Jimmy Carter praises Bush on immigration
ATLANTA - Former president Carter, a Democrat and frequent critic of President Bush, sees eye-to-eye with him on immigration.
Carter on Wednesday called the Republican president's commitment to immigration reform "quite admirable," saying he agrees with Bush's support of a system that would eventually grant citizenship to some illegals...
Posted to Immigration at 09:19 AM | Comments (5)
Heritage Foundation, Human Events on the Senate's amnesty scheme
Ed Meese offers "An Amnesty by Any Other Name".
See also "Terrorist Loophole: Senate Bill Disarms Law Enforcement", "Immigration Reform or Central Planning?", and "Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years" (that estimate has since been reduced to 53 to 60 million due to various amendments.)
And, from Human Events:
No conservative could vote for the immigration bill expected to come up in the U.S. Senate today. It is the worst bill ever considered by the Republican majority Congress... First, this bill may cause the Balkanization of America... Secondly, this bill will impose onerous social costs on American communities... ...The bill also insults the intelligence of Americans. Its supporters insist it is not an amnesty. It obviously is: It allows people who have entered our country illegally to stay here and be rewarded with U.S. citizenship... ...And, finally, the bill is loaded with bad surprises. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a true conservative, found multiple outrages buried in its fine print, which he laid out in a must-read speech delivered on the Senate floor...
Posted to Immigration at 05:33 AM | Comments (3)
More on Mike Pence's "W" worker visa illegal alien amnesty scheme
There's more on Rep. Mike Pence's "middle ground" "guest" worker scheme here. Under that scheme private companies would administer the program, vet applicants, and so forth. The things Pence forgot to deal with include:
* our "guests" would have U.S. citizen children, meaning they would never leave...
* the entire temp agency industry only employs 4 million people now. It couldn't deal with up to three times that many "guests"...
* fraud and conflicts of interest...
* difficulty of doing background checks, especially by private companies...
Previous coverage of this plan here.
Posted to Immigration at 03:26 AM | Comments (1)
Asian "guest" workers have a low "runaway rate"
The 2/20/05 article "New state import: Thai farmworkers" contains the following:[Mordechai Orian, president of the California-based labor contractor Global Horizons] says... the Thais have a lower runaway rate than the others and are more productive.The quote above and much more are discussed in this article about guest workers and "cryptoslavery". In addition to Bush, others mentioned include Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, and:
...the purpose [of the Senate's "guest" worker scheme] is to allow American employers to tap the enormous labor supply of impoverished Southeast Asian and Southern Asians—while continuing to encourage Latin Americans to illegally immigrate!Obviously, the reason my satire about the Jobs for South Asia Coalition didn't take off is because it didn't go far enough.
Further, in the long run, a guest worker program encourages illegal immigration from new countries, such as Indonesia. Which means that even if a future Congress, in a fit of sanity, were to eliminate guest worker programs, the Cheap Labor Lobby would still benefit from flows of illegal immigrants from new countries...
Posted to Immigration at 10:54 PM | Comments (2)
More on "NAFTA Plus" and "North America"
From this:Without announcing his intentions to do so, President Bush has decided to support the creation of a North American Union through a process of governmental regulations, never having to bring the issue before the American people for a clear referendum or vote.Much more at the link, and recall that earlier this week Vicente Fox had this to say:
The Bush Administration has decided to "back-door" the creation of a North American Union political entity that would effectively erase our borders with Mexico and Canada and create several super-regional governing bodies that would have jurisdiction over the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court...
"The future of North America must guarantee great competitiveness, greater regional security..."In 2002 he said:
"Eventually, our long-range objective is to establish with the United States, but also with Canada, our other regional partner, an ensemble of connections and institutions similar to those created by the European Union..."More in "CFR's Plan to Integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada", Should you trust anything Sen. John Cornyn says?, Charlie Norwood on CATO's latest anti-American proposal, and The "New Partnership in North America": double-plus NAFTA
Posted to NAU at 10:43 PM | Comments (2)
Mayor Mike has an immigration plan for you, Citizen
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is getting real with "Enforceable, Sustainable, Compassionate". He proposes four steps to immigration "reform".
The first is creating a national database so employers would know they're hiring legal workers: "The database must identify all job applicants in America based on documentation that cannot be corrupted--fingerprints or DNA, for example."
Couldn't we just get implants or something? Perhaps with GPS built-in so employers would be extra-double assured their new worker is here legally.
While he's right about the need to hold employers accountable, we already have ways to do that that wouldn't end up turning the U.S. into North Korea and turning all of us into little more than servants of the state.
If his line about greenskeepers (first link) wasn't clue enough, Mayor Mike is part of a certain corrupt class that really has no clue about this country's fundamental principles.
Dismissing the rest of his article is left as an exercise for any grade school teachers who want to give their class a slightly challenging assignment.
Posted to Immigration at 09:10 PM | Comments (2)
Sensenbrenner: White House trying to block House bill (HR4437)
This has been confirmed by someone else on the thread, so it seems accurate:
James Sensenbrenner just called in to Chris Core's conservative radio talk show [on KMAL] to report that Karl Rove, acting for the president, was actively trying to sabotage the House immigration bill by persuading other congressmen not to support it.
Posted to Immigration at 12:16 PM | Comments (3)
History repeats itself with illegal alien amnesty; the huge difference
Many of the aspects of the current immigration "reform" proposals are similar to the horribly failed past amnesties, and even some of the players - such as Teddy Kennedy - have been at this same game for decades.There is, however, a major difference between now and then that politicians, pundits, policy makers, and even bloggers would be very wise to heed: the internet.
If you wanted to find out the position of a politician on the 1986 amnesty you might have to go scrounge through microfiches at your regional library or buy a pass to a newspaper's archives. Nowadays, information like that is stored on dozens to thousands of websites and is almost instantly available. While censorship is certainly possible, completely wiping the record would be almost impossible and information on the positions of those thought leaders will be readily available for decades or centuries to come.
In other words, it will be much easier to hold, say, an amnesty-supporting pundit responsible than at any previous point in time. If amnesty is passed, that pundit's support for the massive failure will perhaps be brought up every time that he opines on this topic. That might even end a few careers as those pundits completely lose whatever credibility they might have had previously.
As for the deja vu aspects of this issue, even the NYT has taken notice with "Failed Amnesty Legislation of 1986 Haunts the Current Immigration Bills in Congress". They not only use the forbidden word in the title, but in the URL as well:
Day in and day out, as the immigration debate boils, the halls of Congress are haunted by the specter of Senate Bill 1200, the failed amnesty legislation of 1986.Then, they claim that the Migration Policy Institute is "nonpartisan". Let's let them have that one. Then, they highlight how this time around, doing pretty much the same thing would result in a different outcome. Then:
President Ronald Reagan signed that bill into law with great fanfare amid promises that it would grant legal status to illegal immigrants, crack down on employers who hired illegal workers and secure the border once and for all. Instead, fraudulent applications tainted the process, many employers continued their illicit hiring practices, and illegal immigration surged.
Today, senators who hope to put the nation's illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship say they have learned from the past. But some members of Congress and former immigration officials fear history will repeat itself.
Even some who favor legalization warn that the current bill, which requires illegal immigrants to submit affidavits, rent receipts and other documents as proof of eligibility, may fuel a wave of fraudulent documents and applications.
Many lawmakers engaged in this legislative fray are veterans of 1986, and several senators supported amnesty then, including Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania; Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa; Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana; Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York; and John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts...And, from back in 2000, "My Bush epiphany":
"Since the '86 law did not succeed, people are understandably skeptical," said Mr. Specter, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "But this time, things are different."
W.'s delusions of cultural similarity don't stop there. "Differences are inevitable" between Mexico and the U.S.," W. continued. "But they will be differences among family, not between rivals."And, 1984's classic WSJ editorial "In Praise of Huddled Masses":
Coming from the Republican candidate for president of the United States, the statement boggles the mind. It was bad enough when the Democrats in the 1980s started their socialist rant (soon echoed by the Republicans) that Americans are all "one family." But now George W., "The Man from Inclusion," has taken the "family" idea several steps further. For W., it is not just the United States, but the United States and Mexico, and ultimately the United States and the whole of the Americas, that constitutes one "family."
...W. has unambiguously demonstrated his allegiance to the liberal policies of open borders and multiculturalism, characterizing everyone who dissents from those policies as driven by "resentment" and implying that they have no place in the Republican party...
...If Washington still wants to "do something" about immigration, we propose a five-word constitutional amendment: There shall be open borders... The nativist patriots scream for "control of the borders." It is nonsense to believe that this unenforceable legislation will provide any such thing. Does anyone want to "control the borders" at the moral expense of a 2,000-mile Berlin Wall with minefields, dogs and machine-gun towers? Those who mouth this slogan forget what America means. They want those of us already safely ensconced to erect giant signs warning: Keep Out, Private Property...
Posted to Immigration at 11:54 AM | Comments (4)
"Cardinal [Mahony] Antagonizes Catholics on Immigration Stance"
Via this press release we're informed that there's a 7 minute video here featuring:
Cardinal Roger Mahony and International Broadcaster Stanley Interrante of "Catholic News & Views" who provide their conflicting opinions on proposed legislation and the Cardinal's responsibilities... Provisions of the Catholic Catechism are cited by Interrante to demonstrate that any such action by the Mahony and his priests would against the teachings of the Church.
Posted to Immigration at 11:15 AM | Comments (1)
Senate illegal alien amnesty update for May 24
This page informs us that at 10am today there will be:a vote on a cloture motion – a motion to end debate on the bill in preparation for passage. If the cloture motion passes, a limited number of germane amendments could still be brought up if agreed upon in advance, but a final vote on the bill would likely be held Wednesday or Thursday. If 40 Senators (normally it would be 41, but Sen. Rockefeller is at home following back surgery) vote against the cloture motion, Senator Frist will have to choose to allow the debate to continue or let the bill die and move on to other business. He is almost certain to choose the latter.Please contact your senators and let them know what you think: senate.gov
UPDATE: The cloture motion passed. And, from Senate likely to pass bill on aliens:
The Senate is expected to approve as early as today the most significant and wide-ranging immigration reform legislation in two decades.
The bill would grant citizenship rights to an estimated 10 million illegal aliens currently in the country and allow them to collect Social Security benefits for work they performed while illegally employed in the U.S. The bill also grants complete amnesty to employers who have drawn the estimated 12 million aliens to the U.S. by illegally providing them with jobs.
In addition, an estimated 2 million new foreigners will be admitted to the country annually under the bill, more than doubling the current flow of legal immigration...
The 3 million [from the 1986 amnesty] became citizens, the border wasn't secured, immigration laws were not enforced and those 3 million were replaced by the estimated 12 million who are the subject of the current bill...
Posted to Immigration at 05:09 AM | Comments (2)
A traipse through the BushBot blogosphere
Believe it or not, there are still KoolAid-besotted bloggers out there who believe in Our Leader.One of them is "MacsMind", which was previously featured here giving Bush's critics a piece of his mind:
"Shut up whiners"He's back with this:
No one is above criticism, yet of all the Presidents of recent history - including the previous President - of which history will show to be the most corrupt ever - President Bush is a true leader and a true American hero.He also links to the strangely creepy "The Anchoress":
While not always agreeing on everything he presents, one think I admire about him is that he does stand behind what he presents and believes passionately in what he is doing and believes it to be in the best interests of the country.
That's called "Character"...
That made me wonder a little - has President Bush lost his bearings, or have we? Is it President Bush who has broken faith with "his base" or have they?I can't quite put my finger on why "TA" seems so creepy, but perhaps it has something to do with the pompous-yet-down-to-earth prose style, or perhaps it's the ever-so-slight whiff of propaganda, or perhaps it's because I suspect she's actually Ken Mehlman.
...The president who had delivered one gift after another to his base asked them to trust him, and his base sneered...
UPDATE: This is very, very scary. It has come to our attention that a NYC prat likewise has complaints about TA. I only found out about that after I posted the above. And, in Pajamas Media blog babe is scary, but hot I raised issues with Pamela. Only after posting that I found out that the same NYC idiot also had issues with her. Very scary indeed.
Posted to Bloggage at 02:43 AM | Comments (4)
Mike Pence's "W" worker visa illegal alien amnesty scheme
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) has introduced a "middle-ground" illegal alien amnesty scheme. It seeks to split the difference between the full-on amnesty in the Senate and the supposed only other choice of mass deportations. (As usual, the other choice of simply enforcing our current laws is not mentioned).As Rep. Tom Tancredo says:
Pence's plan would require illegal aliens to return to their home countries to apply for a new 'W' worker visa. Employers could hire as many foreign workers as they want under the W visa, and, in practice, they would likely hire the same workers who they employed illegally before. Pence wants to start the new foreign worker program before border security is even proved effective, which is the same strategy that was used in the 1986 amnesty. Twenty years later, the U.S. got amnesty as promised but no border security.The name isn't a joke, it's intentional. And, he first disclosed his scheme in an exclusive offering to Time Magazine:
"Pence's W visa is aptly named. It gives the Administration exactly what it wants: unlimited foreign workers first, enforcement later or never," said Tancredo. "Pence's plan is just the 1986 amnesty with a trip home tacked on."
Pence's measure would create private worker placement agencies called Ellis Island Centers, licensed by the federal government to match approved guest workers with jobs that cannot be filled by Americans — a variation on an idea offered by Bush back in January 2004. "U.S. employers will engage the private agencies and request guest workers," Pence says. "In a matter of days, the private agencies will match guest workers with jobs, perform a health screening, fingerprint them and provide the appropriate information to the FBI and Homeland Security so that a background check can be performed, and provide the guest worker with a visa granted by the State Department."You can read the details here:
mikepence.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=44113
This is basically the same idea I discussed in Denver Post, Bill Owens immigration proposal will make you laugh out loud. It was ultimately devised by one Helen Krieble, president of the Colorado-based Vernon K. Krieble Foundation.
One rather far-fetched option to prevent something like this from passing is described here. Basically, if Dennis Hastert tries to push this the pro-American House members would fire him as Speaker and bring in someone who'd represent American interests instead.
Posted to Immigration at 12:24 AM | Comments (1)
Send a brick to Senator Mel Martinez
There's a campaign to send bricks to various legislators as a symbol of the border wall. It's certainly a good way to get their attention, but I would perhaps prefer that people spend their time and money attempting to discredit those legislators instead. Be that as it may, the picture above is of bricks in the office of Senator Mel Martinez. Amie Parnes of the Naples News discusses the campaign here in the falsely-titled "Immigration foes throwing bricks at Sen. Mel Martinez", although she doesn't understand the issue very well.
Posted to Immigration at 11:58 PM | Comments (1)
March 10 Committee (illegal alien rally) want immediate citizenship for all
The March 10 Committee organized the big Chicago rally in favor of illegal immigration. And, they've revealed what they want: immediate citizenship for anyone who makes it over the border:Leaders with the March 10 Committee convened a meeting Saturday in Chicago of about 150 activists from around the country that settled on a more extreme position than many immigrant advocates and sympathetic lawmakers have supported.Gosh, that's got to be a kick in the teeth to those "American" politicians who supported foreign citizens marching in our streets: Gov. Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, and mayor Richard M. Daley.
Activists said all illegal immigrants should have the right to U.S. citizenship, even if they have lived in the country for only one day. The committee also called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop all deportations until an immigration proposal becomes law.
Jorge Mujica, a spokesman for the March 10 Committee, said he was not worried about losing the support of U.S. citizens who think immigrants should earn legalization through years of work in the United States...
Posted to Immigration at 04:29 PM | Comments (2)
Vicente Fox to visit colonies, meet with Alta California legislators
Vicente Fox of Mexico is starting a whirlwind tour of the U.S. today which will conclude on Friday. The apparent goal of the tour is to help immigration "reform". However, as with the illegal alien marches, he will end up helping the American side.He'll be in Utah for three days, then he goes to California. While in Utah he'll meet with Gov. John Huntsman, a supporter of Bush's amnesty scheme. He will also meet with leaders of the Mormon Church which is, unfortunately, like the Catholic Church a strong supporter of illegal immigration. (See also: Western Governors Association wants "guest" worker program and Utah's problem with "American" politicians).
He'll also travel to Washington state to meet with no doubt illegal aliens at farms.
Then, it's off to Alta California where he'll have a closed-door meeting with Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. He'll also meet with Arnold as well as Mayor Reconquista himself, Antonio Villaraigosa.
Here's an example of the "thanks for your help, Vicente":
"The Mexican government wants to do its part to promote an immigration reform," Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said in a Monday news conference. "Meeting with the Mexican community in these states, this Mexican government wants to show its total support for the defense of the their labor and human rights."Maybe he could lead a march through our streets waving his country's flag just for good measure.
UPDATE: From this:
Kicking off a four-day, three-state tour, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Tuesday that his nation wants to be part of the solution in the immigration debate, not the problem.The phrase "North America" is a bit of a secret code. While most will think he's refering to the space on the map with Mexico, the U.S., and Canada, he's actually referring to things like the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America", a precursor to joining those three nations into one superstate. It's even got its own site: spp.gov
"We don't set up walls, and that's not the way you're going to fix this situation," Fox said in Spanish to representatives of groups active in Utah's Mexican community. "It's not with fences that we are going to solve this problem."
There were cheers of "Viva Mexico" as Fox shook hands before leaving for an official dinner at the governor's mansion...
..."The future of North America must guarantee great competitiveness, greater regional security, greater availability of energy, greater trade exchanges and, naturally, a greater well-being for all of its inhabitants," said Fox, who is also scheduled to visit Washington state and California this week.
He spoke of the steps he has taken to strengthen the Mexican economy and the democratization of his country...
Compare that with this 2002 Vicente Fox speech:
Eventually, our long-range objective is to establish with the United States, but also with Canada, our other regional partner, an ensemble of connections and institutions similar to those created by the European Union, with the goal of attending to future themes as important as the future prosperity of North America, and the freedom of movement of capital, goods, services and persons.UPDATE 2: From this:
[Fox told the crowd:] "Even though you are far from Mexico, you are an integral part of Mexico... We will never forget you. We love you... ...Over there, we wait for you with open arms... Your family is over there. Your family that appreciates and loves you. Your home is over there."Shurtleff should reconsider his citizenship options, because he's clearly in the wrong country.
...Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff, a conservative Republican who just won reelection, choked up as he praised Mexican traditions in fluent Spanish.
"It's a culture that shows the importance of family, in which parents teach and care for children," Shurtleff said to cheers. "It's a culture that teaches by example the importance of labor and work. These are values that, unfortunately, we are losing here in my country."
...Fox on Tuesday praised Huntsman and the state government for being one of the few in the U.S. to allow illegal immigrants to pay the same tuition at public universities as legal residents, and for providing otherwise undocumented immigrants with cards that function as driver's licenses...
Posted to Immigration at 11:44 AM | Comments (2)
"Bush border policy linked to Carlyle deal?"
Joining the long line of articles trying to figure out why George W. Bush encourages massive immigration from Mexico comes this. The article could use a diagram showing how each person mentioned is linked to the other, but it basically boils down to Bush-linked companies wanting a slice of the "Hispanic" market.
Posted to Politics at 11:42 AM | Comments (1)
Call the Senate re: their illegal alien amnesty scheme
There's a list of contacts here. This page has updated information on various votes. And, if you want something to talk about, see "Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years". They've since reduced that to "just" 66 million, but the difference would probably be made up by all the illegal aliens who'd come here to take advantage of future amnesties.
Posted to Immigration at 05:50 AM | Comments (3)
Giovanna Dell'orto/AP: pro-illegal immigration propaganda on anchor babies
Giovanna Dell'orto of the AP offers "Citizenship by birthright up for debate". Here's the first, PIIPPish paragraph:
Laila Montezuma was 16 when she sneaked across the Rio Grande from Mexico with her mother, only to be abandoned by the smuggler paid to get them into the United States. They had to hire another "coyote" to reach Houston.
The article goes downhill from there, showing how the AP has reduced the "debate" to the level of a Sally Struthers infomercial.
Out of its 22 paragraphs, here's the breakdown:
* 11 deal with 4 sympathetic illegal alien victims and their heartwrenching stories;
* 6 offer biased background information
* 2 are devoted to supporters; one of those features a quote from the Migration Policy Institute
* 3 are devoted to opponents, including a quote from Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)
That's "balanced" according to the AP's guidelines.
Posted to Immigration_piipps at 04:36 AM | Comments (3)
Walls or Welcome: a false choice from the Catholic Church
Various dioceses of the Catholic Church are support immigration forums called "Walls or Welcome". One of them is described here. Obviously, the very title of the forum is highly misleading. Having a "wall" (actually one or more fences) is not in opposition to remaining a welcoming country. We can still welcome visitors and legal immigrants.What the Catholic Church means by "welcome" is, in reality, open borders:
...The Catholic Church does not officially support illegal immigration or lobby for open borders, said Gregory Kepferle, the CEO of Catholic Charities of San Jose. The church's position is that people should enter the country legally and that nations can control their borders as long as the controls are humane.There's always that "but", isn't there? They want to give almost anyone who comes here citizenship, which is just open borders with some minor controls.
But Catholic leaders are advocating for laws that would allow people who crossed into the country illegally or overstayed their visas to start on a path to legal residence, keep families together and provide a way for workers to enter the country, Kepferle said...
Posted to Immigration at 04:24 AM | Comments (1)
Two Mexican illegal aliens are former military
From this:The Hudspeth County Sheriff's Office intercepts 54 illegal immigrants just 90 miles east of El Paso, and among the group are two former Mexican soldiers.
The arrests were part of Operation Linebacker. Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West said it shows how local law enforcement can be another line of defense along the border.
The immigrants were caught on Highway 62/180, near the Guadalupe Mountains. That's where Hudspeth County deputies set up a checkpoint and within a matter of hours intercepted three trucks and one van loaded with illegal immigrants, totaling 54 people, including two children and six women.
The most alarming part, West said, was that two men were carrying Mexican military IDs.
"Two of the aliens that were mixed in with the crowd were either ex- or former military. One of them had been deported just two weeks ago," West said...
Posted to Immigration_terror at 02:19 AM | Comments (0)
More terrorists and illegal immigration reports
There are several reports listed here, including this recent one:
Watch this video of an ongoing investigation done by the news team from KGRV TV serving Harlingen-Weslaco-McAllen -Brownsville, Texas. (Video will open in your media player - it's a news segment.) It is part of an ongoing series highlighting the culmination of months of investigative research into the flow of terrorists over our borders. Fred Burton, a counter-terrorism expert of Stratfor, was interviewed on camera. He stated that now is the perfect time for terrorists to sneak across the border. Escalating violence and an unprecedented flood of illegals is distracting law enforcement and stretching it thin. Zapata County sheriff, Frederigo Gonzales Jr. says that as for WMDs, it is not a matter of "if", but "when".
There are a few quibbles with some of the points in the rest of the post; for instance, not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs. And, some of the, for instance, Iraqis caught at the border turn out to be Christians.
Posted to Immigration_terror at 01:05 AM | Comments (2)
Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Lonewacko
Remember the political compass online quiz? I just took that again and, despite my best efforts, I'm still in the same quadrant I was when I took the test a few years ago, the same quadrant into which they place Gandhi and the Dalai Lama. Despite my "leftie-libertarianism" being much closer to the center than either of them, I still wish all blogdom peace.
Posted to WackyHumor at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Elite vs. popular opinion on massive immigration: an analysis
From 2003 comes this long analysis from a former aide to Mexico's National Action Party (PAN). In that capacity he spoke with 80 putatively American legislators, mostly federal:...In these talks with the congressmen, this author encountered an unexpectedly large amount of sympathy for the proposal to extend amnesty to existing undocumented immigrants, and to even increase immigration from Mexico. Interestingly, several of them were proposing amnesty with us even before it became Fox's official policy (this was duly reported back to the campaign)...He goes on to divide those "congressmen" (that is, the 80 legislators with whom he spoke) into four quadrants similar to those in the political compass, analyzing the possible reasons those in each of those quadrants would support massive immigration. The following is not indicative of the rest of the article, but it does show how many legislators think when they think they're talking to a comprade:
...Only five congressmen expressed an unequivocal concern (four of them politely) with immigration in general, and opposition to illegal immigration in particular. The rest who expressed concern about immigration touched on the issue in passing, but did not emphasize it, preferring to touch on other matters...
...The traditional division between "conservatives" and "liberals," and then between Republicans and Democrats, is not a good way to explain this behavior...
...several congressmen mentioned how happy they were with their Hispanic constituents. The more usual compliments included: "They are grateful for whatever you give them;" "they never give me problems, I love going to their barrio;" "they are loyal;" "they are a gentle people;" and "they make ideal constituents." Referring to the mostly white population of his district, one congressman apologized for his "redneck" constituents who "don't understand" the importance of increased immigration. Another congressman spoke of the consequences immigration would eventually have for his competing party, in that it would "disappear, once and for all."
Posted to Immigration at 11:17 PM | Comments (3)
Andrew Sullivan is truly a lightweight
In the recent past this site has somewhat defended Andrew Sullivan because of his battles with Instapundit and other BushBots.
However, given his support for illegal immigration ("Panic builds up behind America's Great Wall", link), that policy will change. He diagnoses a large part of the opposition to illegal immigration as being caused by xenophobia and racism, even attempting to portray mass deportations and Vox Day's infamous column as representative of "grassroots Republican" thinking.
Thankfully, someone else has responded to Andrew Sullivan's column, sparing me the task. (Since Sully has fewer readers than, say, the HuffPost and has access to greater resources, you'd think he'd be able to enable comments. Perhaps he's afraid of everyone pointing out exactly how he's wrong.)
That site also links to this Mark Steyn column which, while featuring a bit too much humor, does contain this:
But a "worker class" drawn overwhelmingly from a neighboring jurisdiction with another language and ancient claims on your territory and whose people now send so much money back home in the form of "remittances" that it's Mexico's largest source of foreign income (bigger than oil or tourism) is not "immigration" at all, but a vast experiment in societal transformation. Indeed, given the international track record of bilingual societies and neighboring jurisdictions with territorial claims, it's not much of an experiment so much as a safe bet on political instability.
Posted to Immigration at 11:06 PM | Comments (1)
The view from Kevin Drum's window
Kevin Drum informs us that Sully is asking his readers to send in pictures from the windows of the cubicle whence they encumber the world with their thoughts.
Rather than provide my own, I decided to make a slight modification to the picture that Drum is good enough to provide. It's only a slight modification, so look closely:
Posted to Bloggage at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
Mexico keeps foreign-born from working at thousands of jobs
From this:If Arnold Schwarzenegger had migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he couldn't be a governor. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, firefighter hero of the Sept. 11 attacks, had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he wouldn't have been allowed on the force.Bear in mind that those being discussed above are naturalized citizens of Mexico who were born in other countries, not foreign citizens and not illegal aliens.
Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies "xenophobic," Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory.
In the United States, only two posts - the presidency and vice presidency - are reserved for the native born.
In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens.
Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governorships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans."
Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges...
Posted to Immigration at 03:34 PM | Comments (1)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein touts her own amnesty scheme
From this:California's senior senator called for an amendment to the immigration bill now moving through the Senate that would allow undocumented workers the chance to earn a green card after a years-long wait.UPDATE: From this:
Speaking on television Sunday, Dianne Feinstein called her “earned legalization program” a comprehensive, realistic program to clean up problems with visa programs and increase border security.
The Hegel-Martinez bill now before the Senate is not workable, Feinstein said, because it would require 4.8 million of the foreign workers in the country to return home before applying for citizenship.
The Senate rejected a California Democrat's plan to allow the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country to remain, work and eventually become Americans, preserving a fragile bipartisan coalition needed to pass the bill.
Several lawmakers who voted against the proposal offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday said they did so reluctantly, but out of necessity to ensure survival of the broader immigration bill. The legislation is expected to win Senate passage Wednesday or Thursday.
Posted to Immigration at 01:23 PM | Comments (3)
Senate amnesty bill is for employers too
One point that I haven't made as often as I should is that an illegal alien amnesty would also be an amnesty for those who've employed those workers:Among those who will be cleared of past crimes under the Senate's proposed immigration-reform bill would be the businesses that have employed the estimated 10 million illegal aliens eligible for citizenship and that provided the very "magnet" that drew them here in the first place.
Buried in the more than 600 pages of legislation is a section titled "Employer Protections," which states: "Employers of aliens applying for adjustment of status under this section shall not be subject to civil and criminal tax liability relating directly to the employment of such alien."
Supporters of the legislation insist that such provisions do not amount to "amnesty."
"The legislation we are considering today is not amnesty," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said last week. "That is a pejorative term, really a smear term used to denigrate the efforts at comprehensive immigration reform. This is not amnesty because amnesty means a pardon of those who have broken the law."
Mr. Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, and others argue that the bill is not amnesty for illegal aliens because they will have to pay $2,000 in fines before they gain citizenship.
The law does not, however, provide for such fines against employers who have broken the law by hiring the illegals...
Posted to Immigration at 11:26 AM | Comments (2)
USCIS director: Senate amnesty timeline is not "practical"
You have to wonder what else in the Senate's illegal alien amnesty scheme isn't practical as well:The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that would administer a new guest-worker program and rule on applications from millions of illegal aliens, says the pending Senate bill doesn't give his agency enough time to prepare for that giant task.He also offers a lukewarm defense against the charges by a whistleblower of widespread fraud at the USCIS.
"Quite frankly, I don't think that's really practical. Ninety days to register 12 million people. Do the math," Emilio T. Gonzalez, who took over as director early this year, told The Washington Times...
...He acknowledged that fraud could be a huge problem under a plan that divides the illegal population by year, and said "it's a big 'depends'" as to whether there are documents that are secure enough to prove beyond a doubt that someone has earned the status...
Posted to Immigration at 11:26 AM | Comments (1)
Correction: Bush may have lied one fewer time in big speech
In my discussion of Bush's big May 15 immigration speech, I took issue with this statement:And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.I maintain that those "guests" will never leave, and thus that Bush lied to the country.
However, here's Kaus on that statement:
Was it a Clintonian weasel (technically accurate in the zen-tautological sense that their "stay" doesn't conclude until it concludes)I'm forced to agree: in Bush's mind he might not have told a lie, because their "stay" will never end.
There's also this, which tends to show that Bush and the Senate don't intend our "guests" to ever leave:
Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) tried to amend the bill to stipulate that the 200,000 low-skilled immigrants allowed to enter the country under a new temporary-worker visa would have to leave when the visa expired. With Bush and his top political aides in Arizona, conservative Republican aides persuaded lower-level White House staff members to back the amendment, reasoning that Bush has always said he backs a "temporary worker program," not a permanent funnel of immigrants to the United States.If anyone who comes here is eventually offered citizenship, that is closely approaching an open borders position.
"It was a matter of truth in advertising," Cornyn said.
When word reached the backers of the compromise, they were furious, according to a senior Republican Senate aide involved in the events. Immigrant groups such as the National Council of La Raza and the National Immigration Forum had said they would withdraw their support for the Senate bill if the amendment passed. With no prospects for equality under the law, temporary workers would become a permanent underclass, like immigrant laborers in France, they reasoned. And if temporary workers were not offered a path to citizenship, they would simply go underground when their visas expired, re-creating the problem of illegal immigration.
Posted to Immigration at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)
Bush touts "guest" workers at National Restaurant Association meeting
Earlier today, president Bush spoke at the National Restaurant Association meeting in Chicago. In addition to discussing Iraq, he also apparently - yet again - promoted his "guest" worker scheme.The restaurant industry makes heavy use of "immigrant" workers, the (other) NRA has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians, and most of our politicians refuse to make sure that our immigration laws are enforced. Could there be a connection?
Note also this quote from John Gay, the NRA's chief of government affairs and public policy:
"We value the work done by our employees, documented or not... It's not like they broke into the bank to rob it... They broke into the bank to sweep the floor."The transcript is not yet available, but a preview is here and the AP's report on the speech is here. The latter only mentions the Iraq-related comments.
UPDATE: From this:
He praised the restaurant industry for providing many with their first job -- "a start" -- and showing people how to show up for work on time but said immigration must be safe, orderly and fair. "You can't secure our borders with thousands trying to sneak in," he said.UPDATE 2: The transcript is at whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060522-1.html
You not only help people put food on the table, but you provide many Americans with their first job, with a start. You teach people the importance of showing up on time, and working hard and meeting the needs of our customers. You're also America's largest employer of immigrants. And you know how essential it is that we have an immigration system that is safe, orderly and fair. (Applause.) And I agree with you, and that's why I laid out a vision for comprehensive immigration reform that would accomplish five key goals.If that weren't bad enough, here's one of the difficult questions that the leader of the free world was asked:
[...his five selling points deleted...]
The reforms I proposed regarding guest workers are really important for your industry. Your association estimates that restaurants will add -- will need 1.9 million new workers over the next 10 years, which means if you need workers -- your need for workers will be growing faster than the American labor force. So you understand why effective immigration reform must include a practical and lawful way for businesses to hire foreign workers when they can't fill those jobs with Americans. The restaurant industry has firsthand experience with immigrants and immigration law. And I appreciate your strong stand on Capitol Hill for comprehensive reform. (Applause.)
And here's where we are. The House passed a bill last -- an immigration bill last December, and the Senate is working hard on its version of the bill. The Senate needs to complete its bill now, so that the House and Senate can work out their differences and pass a comprehensive reform bill that I can sign into law. (Applause.)
Mr. President, my daughter's name is Jamie. She's a 16-year-old girl. What advice or recommendations would you give to her and to other youth of our country to help make our country a better place?The other questions are only slightly more challenging. Isn't it extraordinarily dangerous to have a political leader who never has to directly face criticism of his policies?
Posted to Immigration at 09:31 AM | Comments (1)
Useful Idiot Watch: Kossack wants to "Erase the Border"
A Kossack named Ben Masel offers "A Radical Immigration Plan: Erase the Border": dailykos.com/story/2006/5/20/112725/240The author was described in 1996 as Madison's [WI] own pot promoter, former candidate for Dane County sheriff and Libertarian candidate for Congress. He's also the Wisconsin chapter president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
While the post generates a few negative comments, many are supportive. And, there's only one negative comment that slightly implies that our good friends at Kos might be useful idiots for the "global elites" (comment #26 about Carla Hills of the CFR).
The reaction to the cross-post at Maryscott O'Connor's site is even more positive: myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8691
The comments at the latter link shows how those "global elite" can make use of those useful idiots:
weeping for brunnhilde: As far as I'm concerned, the sooner we dismantle geo-political borders, the sooner we dismantle our own mental borders. Then maybe we'll recognize that we're all in this together and start to act like it. This is the hope, anyway.Those who seek to delete the borders in order to profit can make use of such idiots by appealing to their extreme and extremely misplaced idealism as well as their intense, psychologically-based desire not to be called racists. Since comments like #26 at the DK thread aren't going to do it, pushing back might consist of pointing out that the left wing of the Democratic Party wants the same thing as George Bush. Then, let BDS work its magic.
eugene: The conservative complaint here is that they don't like how globalization forces them to interact with people they consider their racial inferiors. Hence the fence.
MSOC: When asked as to my feelings about immigration ("the immigration problem"), I reply that I wish for open borders. Watching that little segment on Thursday's Colbert Report about the "Minutemen" was so thoroughly depressing and enervating, the humour was almost completely lost on me.
sfarnell: No borders = no nationalism. Yeah n/t
Note also that Masel says, "Canada could have the option to sign in on similar terms." Now, compare that to the opinion piece from Steven Hill of the CFR-linked "New America Foundation", which contains "not wishing to be left out, [Canada] would ask for inclusion". Going further, Masel even has this to say:
With "illegals" getting to vote, Texas ceases to be an Anglo dominion. effectively, Mexico re-conquers.As if that diary weren't bad enough, 'Mumon' offers "Jerome Corsi: Hegemony, Nativism and paranoia...." ( dailykos.com/story/2006/5/20/958/70763 ), about the article "North American Union to Replace USA?" As with the other useful idiots, Mumon supports the goals of Bush and other members of the "global elite", in effect acting as a CFR apologist. As does the blogger we refer to as "Hatrios": atrios.blogspot.com/2006_05_14_atrios_archive.html#114806872226565666
This amusing bit of wingnuttery from swift boat liar Jerome Corsi brings us back to the black helicopter era of wingnuttery which thrived so well under Poppy.COMPLETE TOOL UPDATE: From the libertarian perspective ( uncsense.com/root/2006/05/that_about_sums.html ) comes this:
Let me tell you conservatives and Republicans something: You disgust me with your incessant and evil harping about "illegal" immigration. You have lost completely and totally the spirit of what America was all about. Completely and totally. Nothing is left. You think it was about a constitution and laws. It was about leaving oppression and misery behind, risking it all -- including your very life -- and seeking new opportunity in a new land where you could trade in peace and hopefully earn for yourself and your loved ones a better life. It was about Declaring your Independence from those who would prevent you by force from exercising what you believed was your God-given (not government given; not democratically given) right to the honest and peaceful pursuit of your own life, liberty, and happiness.
Posted to NAU at 12:15 PM | Comments (8)
Senate massive illegal alien amnesty updates
There's a chart with a summary of all actions taken so far here.
Posted to Immigration at 12:15 PM | Comments (7)
"Border Patrol: Fence Stops 95% of Illegals"
From this:More than a ten years ago, the federal government built a fence along the San Diego sector in California. Ed Henry, assistant chief of the Border Patrol for that region, says that the impact was immediate.
"Apprehensions here are down a staggering 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000," he told National Public Radio last month.
Posted to Immigration at 12:09 PM | Comments (5)
San Diego: immigrant smugglers rarely prosecuted
From this:...The report focused on a Border Patrol station responsible for 13 miles of mountainous border east of San Diego. It said that only 6 percent of 289 suspected immigrant smugglers caught there were federally prosecuted for that offense in the fiscal year ending in September 2004.
Some were charged with different counts, but others were released by the Border Patrol or saw their cases rejected by federal prosecutors.
Federal officials say the report, provided to the AP by the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., reflects a reality along the entire 2,000-mile border: Judges and federal attorneys are so swamped that only the most egregious smuggling cases are prosecuted.
"Why are agents putting their lives at risk when the people perpetrating this illegal act just walk away from the whole ordeal scot-free?" the report states. "It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted."
Posted to Immigration at 12:07 PM | Comments (5)
Has the U.S. Senate endorsed use of forged documents and identity theft?
From this:The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents.The U.S. Senate is clearly saying that some forms of use of forged documents are acceptable. It's unclear how this would affect someone who's using the SSN of a U.S. citizen where that fraudulent use of their SSN has caused some sort of damage to that citizen.
"There was a felony they were committing, and now they can't be prosecuted. That sounds like amnesty to me," said Sen. John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who offered the amendment yesterday to strip out those provisions of the immigration reform bill. "It just boggles the mind how people could be against this amendment."
The Ensign amendment was defeated on a 50-49 vote...
What about all those U.S. citizens who've committed identity theft or have used forged documents? Will they get a pass too? Or, are passes only given out to citizens of other countries?
More on this here, here, and here.
Posted to Immigration at 11:47 AM | Comments (3)
What would a border fence cost?
There's some number crunching here.
Posted to Immigration at 11:15 AM | Comments (1)
What did we do to deserve this moron?
A similar picture is here. [UPDATE: That and the following pics are no longer there; links removed.]
A scowling closeup with El Presidente pointing his finger is here. In that shot, his shirt looks vaguely like a guayabera.
The following shots have a Border Patrol symbol in the background: middle ground, long, and a side view.
UPDATE: While I'm not partial to the source, this photo-op appears to have gone fully according to the script written by White House chief of staff Josh Bolten:
1 DEPLOY GUNS AND BADGES. This is an unabashed play to members of the conservative base who are worried about illegal immigration. Under the banner of homeland security, the White House plans to seek more funding for an extremely visible enforcement crackdown at the Mexican border, including a beefed-up force of agents patrolling on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). "It'll be more guys with guns and badges," said a proponent of the plan. "Think of the visuals. The President can go down and meet with the new recruits. He can go down to the border and meet with a bunch of guys and go ride around on an ATV."
Posted to Immigration at 11:25 PM | Comments (10)
Caption Bush in Yuma
There's an even less flattering picture here. [UPDATE: That image no longer exists]
Posted to Immigration at 11:20 PM | Comments (3)
Keep track of today's Senate votes on immigration
There's a live thread here.
Posted to Immigration at 11:47 AM | Comments (1)
"Mexican government running US immigration policy--Part I"
An interview with a former Border Patrol Supervisor is here:Because the U.S. Government is so eager to please foreign interests, particularly Mexican interests, Border patrol managers allow the Mexican Consulates to intrude far beyond the requirements of the treaties. There is no requirement under the treaties that the Consuls have access to aliens before they are interrogated, processed or even that the Consuls have access to Law Enforcement facilities. The agreement is simply that if an alien requests to speak to the respective Consul that they are allowed to do so. I think there is also a provision that the Consuls be notified of any injured aliens. The Border Patrol has gone far beyond these requirements in that Mexican Consular officials are allowed to solicit complaints from aliens, even when the aliens had no previous complaints...
[In a specific case in San Diego] Mexican officials impersonated Border Patrol Agents and checked a smuggler out of the hospital and returned the smuggler to Mexico and thwarted his prosecution by U.S. authorities. If this had been done by one of us, we would have been prosecuted for impersonating a federal officer. The Mexican government has special immunity...
Posted to Immigration at 11:45 AM | Comments (3)
President Bush visits Yuma Arizona
According to the local paper:
Bush is coming to Yuma to see the problem of illegal immigration first-hand. He is scheduled to tour the border, visit the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector headquarters and meet local officials. He will also make remarks at a press briefing.
Obvious to anyone who's looked into this matter, Bush is a major part of the problem; in effect he's going to be taking a look at his handiwork. The Q&A session will also reportedly be very short, and won't give the MSM the chance to ask those damning questions that we know they could come up with if only they had more time.
Posted to Politics at 11:40 AM | Comments (1)
Border Patrol Local supports Minuteman Project, bashes Bush
From this:The largest local union of Border Patrol agents in the country has declared its support for the Minuteman Project in Arizona, while at the same time slamming both the American Civil Liberties Union and President Bush.Similar article here.
According to its website, the U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544, which covers the Tucson sector of the agency, the volunteers involved in the border-monitoring Minuteman Project have been nothing but supportive...
"If only President Bush were so supportive of the rank-and-file agents," the site states. "While President Bush hangs out thousands of miles away in the White House, these people are willing to give up their time and energy to actually do something. While President Bush entices millions of illegal aliens to keep coming with his amnesty proposals and his demoralizing statements that he doesn't want Border Patrol agents chasing 'good-hearted people just coming here to take jobs Americans won't do,' the Minutemen are trying to get our laws enforced...
Posted to Immigration at 11:37 AM | Comments (2)
Mel Martinez opposed illegal alien amnesty... in 2004
Just as Harry Reid changed his mind from supporting America's borders into supporting massive illegal immigration, Mel Martinez (R-FL) seems to have done a 180, and much more recently. From October 24, 2004:
Our immigration policy should first and foremost ensure the security of our nation and those individuals posing a terrorist threat should be prevented from entering our country. I strongly oppose amnesty for illegal aliens.
Nowadays he's the author of the massive illegal alien amnesty known as Hagel-Martinez. Of course, he'll say it isn't amnesty, but if something acts like an amnesty and is seen as an amnesty by hundreds of millions of people around the world, it's an amnesty.
Posted to Immigration at 12:45 AM | Comments (4)
What is a Pelosi?
In case you're wondering what it is:
A strange and funny creature that is indigenous to the banquet halls and wine-tasting parties of Northern California. Its mating call is a shrill, repetitive howl; scientists have yet to decipher its meaning, but its frequency seems to be related to the proximity of television cameras. Some experts believe that the noisy, persistent call of the Pelosi really means nothing at all, but is simply a mere cry for attention.
(Via this)
Posted to Politics at 12:41 AM | Comments (1)
The "Open Letter on Immigration": a quick response
This site is circulating an "Open Letter on Immigration":
In cooperation with the Independent Institute I am looking for as many signatures as possible from economists and other social scientists. Brad DeLong, Greg Mankiw, Vernon Smith, Tyler Cowen and many others from both the left and the right have already signed on.
It's certainly an interesting letter, but it has little relevance to the current debate. No one is talking about completely shutting down immigration in general, but that's about all the letter covers.
And, the letter almost completely deals only with economic issues and not the many other factors involved.
For instance, it doesn't deal with:
1. The wisdom of having so many immigrants from one country.
2. Especially when that country used to own part of your country.
3. And, especially when many political leaders have expressed irredentist views and that viewpoint is held by a certain percentage of those immigrants.
4. The effects on our laws and political system of massive illegal immigration, such as its effect on political corruption.
5. The political power inside our country that Mexico and other countries have been able to obtain by sending us millions of people, and the impact of those countries continually trying to meddle in our internal politics.
And, at the end they even include this:
The American dream is a reality for many immigrants who not only increase their own living standards but who also send billions of dollars of their money back to their families in their home countries—a form of truly effective foreign aid.
I already discussed that in this article about remittances.
I think they need to write another letter that deals with everything involved in this issue.
Posted to Immigration at 10:40 AM | Comments (4)
NRO contributors oppose Bush immigration plan
They have reviews of Bush's big speech from George Borjas, Heather MacDonald, John O'Sullivan, and others. Most of them were a bit negative. Just a bit.
Posted to Immigration at 08:54 AM | Comments (2)
Mexico threatens to sue us if National Guard detains their citizens
From this:Mexico said Tuesday that it would file lawsuits in U.S. courts if National Guard troops on the border become directly involved in detaining migrants.Obviously, stronger border enforcement will lead to fewer coming, which will have the impact Mexico claims to want. So, why are they trying to make it difficult for us to do more border enforcement? Gosh, that's a tough one.
"If there is a real wave of rights abuses, if we see the National Guard starting to directly participate in detaining people ... we would immediately start filing lawsuits through our consulates," Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez told a Mexico City radio station. He did not offer further details.
Mexican officials worry the crackdown will lead to more deaths...
Related: Maricopa County Attorney: Mexico trying to block Arizona law
We're being sued by Mexico (in the International Court of Justice)
Posted to Immigration at 05:46 AM | Comments (1)
Immigration "reform" would be a disaster
Lawrence B. Lindsey - former chief economic adviser to President Bush and a supporter of "reform" - offers this:...Comprehensive immigration reform promises that people already in the United States illegally can apply for citizenship, but requires them to "go to the back of the line." But a key question is, the back of which line? The reform bill before the Senate doesn't require illegal immigrants to go back home--to, say, Hong Kong, to the end of the 10-to-15-year line there--to get a green card. Instead, it allows the current illegals to receive their green card immediately--having, in effect, jumped the line at the U.S. consulate abroad. Then, like other green card holders, they will be able to work here, collect government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, and travel as freely as if they had a U.S. passport.So, why aren't politicians discussing all these nagging little details? Why aren't reporters asking them exactly how they intend to implement their dream legislation?
The line the current illegals will go to the back of is the citizenship line. Under the proposed law, current illegals, newly minted green card in hand, will have to wait six years, then get in line to apply for citizenship. But even after six years, they will be years ahead of many people who have gone through the legal process and are waiting overseas for a consular official to let them come here. Once those who have been playing by the rules all along get here, they too have to wait six years before getting in line for citizenship.
If we really mean "the back of the line," that should be behind everyone who is already in the pipeline to come here legally. If you are granted your green card under the new "guest worker" system, you shouldn't be able to apply for citizenship until after everyone already on queue has had their citizenship adjudicated. It's a simple matter of not rewarding people for line-jumping.
This is more than an appeal for elementary fairness. There is a very practical reason to prevent queue jumping: It helps consular officials keep order on the front lines of immigration policy. How can anyone enforce the rules for entry to America if line-jumping becomes the law of the land? Once the world knows that we make citizenship easier for those who break the rules, enforcing the rules becomes a nonstarter.
We supporters of immigration reform correctly deride the "ship them home" crowd for gross impracticality. But any kind of queue-jumping allowed by a new reform will create a law-enforcement nightmare for every American consulate on the planet...
...But there is a difference between bureaucratic slowness and rigidity and the complete breakdown of the process. In 2004 the INS issued 946,000 green cards and naturalized 537,000 people. The proposed immigration reform anticipates giving green cards to up to 11 million people in one fell swoop and making them eligible for citizenship six years later. It is inconceivable that the INS could handle an eleven-fold increase in its workload...
Nor would this problem be easy to solve, even if Congress and the president were willing to budget for the flood of new work brought on by reform. Government bureaucrats require recruitment, background investigations by the Office of Personnel Management, training, and supervision by experienced personnel...
Then there is the issue of software--a term that covers a host of troubles. The proposed law contemplates that those issued "guest worker" status will be allowed to apply for citizenship if they perform the normal functions of citizens: paying their taxes, not breaking the law, and so on. Are we going to link the new "Earned Citizenship" program computer to the IRS computer to make sure taxes have been paid? How is the new program going to link with hundreds of state and local law enforcement authorities to discover which individuals have been law abiding?
...With so many political factions benefiting from the perception of failure, the current lack of forethought about these problems is stunning.
...In theory, the "reform"-oriented Senate bill is supposed to be combined with an "enforcement"-oriented House bill in conference to produce "comprehensive" reform. But substantial parts of the "reform" coalition have no interest at all in "enforcement." This includes many of the advocacy groups who staged the recent demonstrations and some of their political supporters. It probably also includes many employer groups, who have no interest in sanctions, and have embraced the guest worker approach only as a means of dampening demands for tougher enforcement.
...First, "the back of the line" for citizenship must really mean the back of the line. No newly legalized illegal should obtain citizenship before anyone who has already begun the application process. Second, substantial money, manpower, and management skills must be committed as soon as possible to implementing the new immigration procedures. The government must be candid with the public about the enormous magnitude of the effort it is about to undertake. Otherwise, the inevitable missteps will undermine citizens' and would-be immigrants' confidence in our seriousness about the rule of law. Third, the government must make enforcement credible. This may mean physical barriers to entry; it certainly requires stepped-up enforcement at workplaces and by dispensers of government services. Logic would dictate that enforcement, particularly at the border, begin even before all of the administrative apparatus is in place. At the very least, government should act to minimize the size of the problem it faces...
Since reporters won't do their job on this issue, please go to public appearances by politicians and try to ask them some tough questions.
Posted to Immigration at 02:59 AM | Comments (3)
AP: "Immigration Crackdown Could Create Ghost Town"
The AP offers a video report here that Yahoo or they subtitle with the following:
Visit Columbus, New Mexico, where some community leaders fear that blocking immigrant smuggling could put the town out of business.
While I didn't watch the video I have a pretty good idea of what it will and won't cover. They might give an ironic tip o' the hat to Columbus being the town where Pancho Villa conducted his infamous raid. But, they probably will treat transnational corruption as a wonderful good.
Posted to Immigration at 12:13 AM | Comments (2)
The GOP needs your help to damage the U.S.
Chairman Mehlman has issued an urgent plea:Dear ______,Here's the Fact Sheet: Overview: Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Obviously, it's extremely easy to rip that fact sheet to shreds, but just consider the bit about holding employers accountable.
Our immigration system is broken. And we need your help to fix it.
In his address to the nation last night, President Bush showed the way to getting real results on this difficult issue. We need your help today to stand up in support of the President's bold plan. Sign the petition and call your Senators and Representatives to demand immediate action on comprehensive immigration reform...
You don't need something similar to a national ID card to do that. There's a voluntary program that currently a very small number of employers use to verify SSNs. And, there are 500,000 people all using an SSN with all zeroes. It's much easier to do workplace enforcement than Bush says. And, if he won't do workplace enforcement now, should anyone trust him when he says he'd do it after his "reforms" are passed?
There are also some very highly redacted supportive comments from others here:
gop.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=6324
gop.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=6325
Posted to Immigration at 11:11 AM | Comments (4)
Los Angeles Times supports Bush immigration speech
They offer the editorial "The right words". Their only quibble is that he wasn't specific enough:
The president has given the process some much-needed direction, urgency and even a moral framework.
As I briefly described here and in other posts, allowing illegal aliens to come or stay here is actually immoral.
Posted to Immigration at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)
Scales fall from eyes of BushBot Hugh Hewitt over border fence; Captain's Quarters
Or: A fence, a fence, Hugh Hewitt's fiefdom for a fence
Currently at this site is a transcript of the interview Hugh Hewitt did with ICE Assistant Secretary (and Chertoff daughter-in-law) Julie Myers. Just some of the questions from HH reveal how it went:
...But in terms of actual fencing fencing, how many miles are we talking about? ...Is he committed, though? Did you have a talk with him about extending, for example, the San Diego fence, which is 1,400 miles long, and the El Paso fence, which is many miles long, double, and sometimes triple barrier fencing? Is that on the table? ...So we're still unclear of how far the administration is committed to actual fencing on the border? I mean, concrete, physical fencing? ...And there were no specifics in terms of miles on that. ...But expand on what that means, because I've got to tell you, I'm underwhelmed, because I thought you'd come out with administration talking points on the fence, which was number one to me. And obviously, they haven't issued those. ...So I'm back to the fencing conversation. If fencing is the best way to stop them at the border, why don't we have a plan laid out for that? ...Assistant Secretary Myers, correct me if I'm wrong. I think you just walked the administration back from the fence. ...Ms. Myers, I just want to go back over the fence, because I must tell you, I wagered everything on the President being serious about the fence, because the fence works. And whenever I've heard people talk about it, it works. It works in San Diego, it works in Israel, it works in El Paso. But I must say, I'm completely underwhelmed. It doesn't seem like you really believe in it. (pause) Ms. Myers, are you there?
And then, the final comments:
Well, I appreciate your coming on. I must be just candid with you. I think that's disastrous, politically. I think that is a nightmare, both policy and political wise, because I thought the President had come down for the fence, but you're saying it's really a much subtler approach. ...All right. Thank you, Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers. I'm just stunned.
UPDATE: Now even stalwart Bush supporter Captain's Quarters says:
It really seems as if the White House wrote a speech to just pacify their critics instead of actually responding to their concerns. If this is how seriously the administration takes border security, then we need to bring a screeching halt to the immigration reform bill until that attitude changes.
What's sad is that both those people are probably serious and thought all this time that Bush was on their and America's side.
Posted to Politics at 10:48 AM | Comments (2)
New York Times goes nuts over immigration
That rag provides "Border Illusions":
President Bush's speech from the Oval Office last night was not a blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform. It was a victory for the fear-stricken fringe of the debate.
Because, we know that anyone who supports the sovereignty of this nation is simply driven by fear.
Rather than standing up for truth, Mr. Bush swiveled last night in the direction of those who see immigration, with delusional clarity, as entirely a problem of barricades and bad guys.
Obviously, they're trying to confuse their readers about legal immigration vs the illegal variety.
His plan to deploy "up to 6,000" National Guard troops to free the Border Patrol to hunt illegal immigrants is a model of stark simplicity, one sure to hearten the Minuteman vigilantes, frightened conspiracy theorists, English-only Latinophobes, right-wing radio and TV personalities, and members of Congress who have no patience for sorting out the various and mixed blessings that surging immigration has given this country...
Thankfully, there are papers like the NYT that can see clearly about this issue, unlike those scared, fear-stricken people who want to enforce our laws. Note also the use the loaded term "hunt" to describe the lawful actions of the Border Patrol. The Mexican government uses similar terms to the ones used by the NYT.
And, while "surging immigration" has certainly given many people benefits, it's largely accrued to those who employ them. For instance, as greenskeepers.
He denounced "amnesty" again, but did not speak up forcefully enough for a citizenship path for the 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants who, in huge national marches in recent weeks, have made their hunger to assimilate powerfully clear.
Bush supports amnesty. The NYT is apparently unwilling to admit that Bush is on their side. And, of course, waving the flag of Mexico, shouting racial slogans, and proclaiming this as your "homeland" is a great way to show that you have a deep hunger to assimilate.
It does not ennoble our democratic experiment by importing a second-class society of worker bees who are vulnerable to exploitation and have little incentive to adopt our values.
In article after article and editorial after editorial the New York Times has supported illegal immigration. And, the bill they support would encourage millions more illegal aliens to come here. Either they can't think things through, or they fully support a "second-class society of worker bees".
If there must be guest workers, there must also be a path so they, too, can seek citizenship if they choose.
Lewis Carroll would be proud of that sentence. If they can stay here, then they aren't "guests", right?
It is still possible that a good bill will emerge this year, but only if Democrats and moderate Republicans hold firm to protect the fragile flame of good sense against the deter-and-deport crowd.
What exactly is the NYT's issue with "deter-and-deport"? Aren't those necessary functions of a sovereign nation? And, won't those be required even if the NYT's dream legislation passes?
In fact, earlier in the piece they claim that Kennedy-McCain would "tighten the enforcement of immigration laws in the workplace". Isn't that used as a form of deterrence? And, what happens to those illegal aliens who are detained in workplace sweeps?
Exactly how serious is the NYT about the "reform" it supports? If they mock the enforcement of our current laws, what makes anyone think they won't do the same thing about those who want to enforce their dream laws?
Posted to Immigration at 10:43 PM | Comments (7)
Live-blogging Bush's immigration speech
Is he insane? This is the same speech he's delivered countless times. Does he expect a different result? Is he intentionally trying to drive his popularity down to 20%?
For decades, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders... First, the United States must secure its borders. This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign Nation.
Bush has had over five years to secure the border, and it's been well within his ability all that time. It's a matter of will and nothing more. In this speech, he's admitted that he's violated his oath of office.
We are a Nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws. We are also a Nation of immigrants, and we must uphold that tradition, which has strengthened our country in so many ways. These are not contradictory goals – America can be a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time.
Yes, that's why we have an immigration system, complete with a set of laws that the Bush administration refuses to enforce.
And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.
How exactly is Bush going to do that? If he almost completely refuses to deport people other than at the border now, is he - or President Clinton - going to do that? And, of course, our "temporary" workers/"guests" will have U.S. citizen children, they'll buy property, and so forth. Isn't it going to be extremely difficult to deport someone who has U.S. citizen children? In fact, another argument used in his speech could be used by Bush or others to keep those "guest" workers here:
That middle ground recognizes that there are differences between an illegal immigrant who crossed the border recently – and someone who has worked here for many years, and has a home, a family, and an otherwise clean record.
In other words, there's a deep conflict within the same speech.
There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant, and a program of mass deportation.
Obviously, that's a false choice, and the rational middle ground is not amnesty. It's simply enforcing our laws.
The absolute idiots at the WaPo offer "On Immigration, Bush Seeks 'Middle Ground'". They do not explain that that "middle ground" is based on the false choice described above.
---
On a lighter note, here's a fun game of mix and match:
1. "A Very Good Start --Finally."
2. "Shut up whiners"
3. "...his plan is the right plan in all respects..."
4. "If you think that is amnesty, then you are either a moron or a liar. If you ar truly a Republican to begin with, if you are truly a conservative, then you will applaud this speech and support the reforms he has articulated. Otherwise, you are not a Republican. You are not a conservative. You are a LIAR. A LIAR"
A. Hugh Hewitt
B. "MacsMind"
C. BlogsForBush (Mark Noonan)
D. The unhinged BushBot Alexander K. McClure at Polipundit
Answer: 1A, 2B, 3C, 4D
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Bush doesn't really have a complete plan, just outlines. But he has spoken favorably of the Senate plan. Now, see Senate Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants Over Next 20 Years.
If you don't want that, contact your senators.
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UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt momentarily puts a finger outside the reservation for a millisecond:
My interview with Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers staggered me, undoing in a handful of minutes my confidence in the president's commitment to border security first. Either the president's team had not communicated effectively with sub-cabinet appointees about the fence, or the president doesn't really believe in the fence, because Assistant Secretary Myers is clearly not a proponent of the fence.
UPDATE 2: See also "Did these ploys sneak into Bush's speech?" That was written before the speech.
Posted to Immigration at 05:02 PM | Comments (3)
Bush/Senate plan: 80 to 217 million more legal immigrants by 2026
From this:U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) today unveiled an impact analysis that shows the Senate immigration bill – should it become law – would permit up to 217.1 million new legal immigrants into the United States over the next 20 years, a number equal to 66 percent of the total current population of the United States.
Even if the maximum levels are not reached, the incr