"Sens. Cornyn, Kyl Prepare Massive Guestworker Plan"

Paul Egan of FAIR reports on a Senate immigration hearing attended by John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Those two worthies are preparing their own massive guest worker plan/amnesty (not to be confused with the McCain-Kennedy Open Borders, Open Wallets bill.)

According to Egan the meeting was one-sided in favor of Open Borders types:
...Deputy labor secretary Stephen Law proposed a wide-open foreign worker program, for every sector of the U.S. economy. He was joined in supporting this proposal by the other witnesses, including Tom Donohue president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Dan Griswold director of Trade Policy Studies at the CATO Institute, and Princeton sociology professor Douglass S. Massey (Douglas Massey).

The witnesses also told senators that illegal immigration would solve the social security problem. Assistant Secretary Law made the incredible observation that the use of h-1b guestworkers in the high-tech industry, proves there is continued job growth in the high-tech industry, completely ignoring the record high levels of under- and unemployment for U.S. high tech workers...

For his part, CATO's Griswold responded to a question about the tax burden of illegal aliens on local communities by claiming that illegal aliens pay more in taxes than they get in benefits. He went on to offer another gem, saying one of the main problems of the 1986 IRCA legislation was that it didn't liberalize legal immigration. (Meaning, unlimit it.)
Egan says that neither Kyl nor Cornyn endorsed the statements of the pro-Open Borders crowd, but I doubt whether they renounced them either.

In case you think Law's comments were just a one-off or didn't reflect Bush's opinions, bear in mind that Margaret Spellings (former assistant to Bush for domestic policy and our current Secretary of Education) said the same things in January 2004. That's discussed in Bush "guest worker" program to be "open to any type of employee", and, strangely enough, Dan Griswold was on the same panel at that time. See also Bush immigration plan could affect techies.

Comments

BTW, it's possible to live a good life without SUV's and big-screen TV's. Most Americans did so only a short time ago. I almost forgot how repulsive I find this kind of purely materialistic mentality. How long has LA lived in the US? Does he think the current economic conditions define the traditional American character? It must have some American who came up with the phrase "LIVE FREE OR DIE".

I live in the Third World country of Costa Rica and SUV's are ubiquitous. I pay $400 per month for a three-bedroom apartment in an exclusive community and live between two MD's. I guess Costa Rica should be expecting a flood of Australian illegals any day now. I don't think you will be able to convince sensible people that Australians are groaning under the weight of poverty.

You can't compare Australia to the US. Australia gets by with a minimum wage, a tax rate and a standard of living very few Americans would put up with. Ask an Australian laborer about his new SUV and big screen TV and they will laugh in your face.

Yes, housing in Australia is cheap outside the cities - but overall wages are much lower and consumer goods much less available. And of course Australia does have a lot of immigrants as well, although very few illegals. Go down to your local food processing plant and you'll be lucky to get work if your only language is English.

Why we don't need illegal alien construction workers.
http://majorityrights.com/
So all necessary jobs would in fact get done without immigrants but it would cost more. Otherwise how does Australia get by? Our immigration is controlled so we have nothing like the Hispanics. So who are the building workers in Australia? I ought to know as I have employed many of them over the years. They are people of British and European ancestry. And they may cost a lot per hour but because they know what they are doing they work fast. And housing in Australia is generally a lot cheaper than in America! Silly old Lee Harris!

jonjayray on 05/25 at 5:44AM

The momentum is gathering. The momentum is gathering. I'm starting to get optimistic that this Congress is actually going to address the issue.