Reality
01-07-2004, 07:56 AM
Here is President Bush's policy on how immigrants should be handled. Read between the lines. Illegals WILL ultimately get documentation, and no one will be deported, no matter what they say. Americans will lose jobs to immigrants in all job sectors. This is about cheap labor, $$$ and paybacks to big business. If you are as disgusted with President Bush as I am, E-Mail your congressional representative NOW!
If you need to find out who your representatives are, use this link: www.cmap.nypirg.org/netmaps/Mygovernment/LI/MyGovernmentLI.asp?cmd=start
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Politics
Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004
Bush Seeks New Rights for Forgn Workers
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of illegal migrant farmers, hotel
maids and others working in the shadows of American society would
be granted legal status and freed from the threat of deportation
under an election-year proposal President Bush wants Congress to
approve.
Bush called Mexican President Vicente Fox to brief him Wednesday
morning in advance of Bush's speech later in the day at the White
House.
``There are some jobs in this country, in our growing economy,
that Americans are not filling,'' White House press secretary Scott
McClellan said. ``That presents an opportunity for workers from
abroad who want to work.''
Bush's proposals break a virtual silence on immigration since
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks raised fears about border security.
The president argues that his plan would make America safer by
giving the government a better idea of who was crossing U.S.
borders, bolster the economy by meeting employers' need for willing
low-wage workers, and fulfill a mandate for compassion by
guaranteng the rights and legitimacy of illegal workers.
Likely to be left unsaid during the president's speech were the
political dividends White House advisers hoped the proposal would
pay.
By dangling the prospect of legal status to some 8 million
illegal immigrants now estimated to be in this country, about half
of them Mexican, Bush was granting a top priority of the business
community while making his most aggressive move yet to court
Hispanic voters - the nation's fastest-growing electoral bloc.
He won just over one-third of that constituency in 2000 but
wants to expand his support in the community to better his chances
for re-election in November.
The proposal would provide a way for illegal immigrants who can
show they have employment to work legally, although temporarily, in
the United States. The new ``temporary worker program,'' which also
would include people still in thr native countries who have a job
lined up in the United States, would not, like the temporary visa
programs already in existence that involve mostly technical
experts, apply only to a certain sector of the economy or industry.
Much of the detail of president's proposal was to be worked out
by Congress in future negotiations with the White House.
For instance, Bush wants to increase the nation's yearly
allotment of green cards that allow for permanent U.S. residency,
but won't say by how much, the officials said. Around 1 million
green cards a year are issued now, though just 140,000 of them are
employment-based.
He also wants the workers' first three-year term in the program
to be renewable but won't say for how long; he won't set the amount
workers should pay to apply for the program; and he won't specify
how to enforce the requirement that no American worker wants the
job the forgn worker is taking, according to administration
officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Perhaps the biggest unresolved question is how the plan will
allow illegal immigrants access, which they do not now have, to the
process of applying for green cards, or permanent U.S. residency.
Sensitive to the opposition of many conservatives in Bush's own
party to any reward for those who broke the law when they entered
the United States, the administration officials said repeatedly
that the president is not proposing blanket amnesty for illegals
and that the program is not linked to the green card process.
But they also said that workers accepted into the temporary
program could immediately, with an employer's sponsorship, begin
applying for a green card. Although these workers would get no
advantage over other applicants, an illegal immigrant who attempted
to apply now would simply be deported.
If permanent residency were not granted before the worker's term
was up - a likely outcome given the long backlog of applicants and
the relatively small percentage of applicants who recve green
cards each year - the person would have to return to his or her
home country to apply from there.
As a result, even though program participants would be allowed
to have dependents with them and be able to move freely between
thr country and the United States, immigrant advocacy groups say
the president's proposal falls short of the comprehensive reform
they say is needed.
``Extremely disappointing,'' said Cecilia Munoz, vice president
for policy at the National Council of La Raza. ``They're proposing
to invite people to be guest workers without providing any
meaningful opportunity to remain in the United States to become
legal permanent residents.''
In another attempt to placate conservative critics, Bush is
proposing incentives to induce the workers ultimately to return to
thr home countries, including allowing them to collect retirement
benefits in thr home countries based on Social Security taxes
paid here.        
If you need to find out who your representatives are, use this link: www.cmap.nypirg.org/netmaps/Mygovernment/LI/MyGovernmentLI.asp?cmd=start
-------------------------------------------------------
Politics
Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004
Bush Seeks New Rights for Forgn Workers
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of illegal migrant farmers, hotel
maids and others working in the shadows of American society would
be granted legal status and freed from the threat of deportation
under an election-year proposal President Bush wants Congress to
approve.
Bush called Mexican President Vicente Fox to brief him Wednesday
morning in advance of Bush's speech later in the day at the White
House.
``There are some jobs in this country, in our growing economy,
that Americans are not filling,'' White House press secretary Scott
McClellan said. ``That presents an opportunity for workers from
abroad who want to work.''
Bush's proposals break a virtual silence on immigration since
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks raised fears about border security.
The president argues that his plan would make America safer by
giving the government a better idea of who was crossing U.S.
borders, bolster the economy by meeting employers' need for willing
low-wage workers, and fulfill a mandate for compassion by
guaranteng the rights and legitimacy of illegal workers.
Likely to be left unsaid during the president's speech were the
political dividends White House advisers hoped the proposal would
pay.
By dangling the prospect of legal status to some 8 million
illegal immigrants now estimated to be in this country, about half
of them Mexican, Bush was granting a top priority of the business
community while making his most aggressive move yet to court
Hispanic voters - the nation's fastest-growing electoral bloc.
He won just over one-third of that constituency in 2000 but
wants to expand his support in the community to better his chances
for re-election in November.
The proposal would provide a way for illegal immigrants who can
show they have employment to work legally, although temporarily, in
the United States. The new ``temporary worker program,'' which also
would include people still in thr native countries who have a job
lined up in the United States, would not, like the temporary visa
programs already in existence that involve mostly technical
experts, apply only to a certain sector of the economy or industry.
Much of the detail of president's proposal was to be worked out
by Congress in future negotiations with the White House.
For instance, Bush wants to increase the nation's yearly
allotment of green cards that allow for permanent U.S. residency,
but won't say by how much, the officials said. Around 1 million
green cards a year are issued now, though just 140,000 of them are
employment-based.
He also wants the workers' first three-year term in the program
to be renewable but won't say for how long; he won't set the amount
workers should pay to apply for the program; and he won't specify
how to enforce the requirement that no American worker wants the
job the forgn worker is taking, according to administration
officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Perhaps the biggest unresolved question is how the plan will
allow illegal immigrants access, which they do not now have, to the
process of applying for green cards, or permanent U.S. residency.
Sensitive to the opposition of many conservatives in Bush's own
party to any reward for those who broke the law when they entered
the United States, the administration officials said repeatedly
that the president is not proposing blanket amnesty for illegals
and that the program is not linked to the green card process.
But they also said that workers accepted into the temporary
program could immediately, with an employer's sponsorship, begin
applying for a green card. Although these workers would get no
advantage over other applicants, an illegal immigrant who attempted
to apply now would simply be deported.
If permanent residency were not granted before the worker's term
was up - a likely outcome given the long backlog of applicants and
the relatively small percentage of applicants who recve green
cards each year - the person would have to return to his or her
home country to apply from there.
As a result, even though program participants would be allowed
to have dependents with them and be able to move freely between
thr country and the United States, immigrant advocacy groups say
the president's proposal falls short of the comprehensive reform
they say is needed.
``Extremely disappointing,'' said Cecilia Munoz, vice president
for policy at the National Council of La Raza. ``They're proposing
to invite people to be guest workers without providing any
meaningful opportunity to remain in the United States to become
legal permanent residents.''
In another attempt to placate conservative critics, Bush is
proposing incentives to induce the workers ultimately to return to
thr home countries, including allowing them to collect retirement
benefits in thr home countries based on Social Security taxes
paid here.