Bush to address nation on immigration
posted at 10:17 am on May 12, 2006 by Allahpundit
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Monday night at 8 p.m. John Hinderaker suggested it two days ago:
Give a major speech in prime time. Say that you still think that a long-term solution to the immigration issue should include a guest worker program. Acknowledge, however, that many Americans disagree and there is currently no consensus on a long-range policy. Say that, more fundamentally, you’re now convinced that our first priority has to be getting control over our borders. Until we control our borders, and know who is coming and going, any immigration policy we may announce will be meaningless anyway.
Expect this to figure prominently.
We’ll have video highlights here, of course.
Update: He didn’t have much choice, really. We’ve reached critical mass.
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Well, he might be giving a speech, but I am not holding my breath that he will make “control of the border” a top priority.
The only thing missing from this announcement is whether or not he will be holding hands with El Presidente Fox while on the air.
I hope I’m wrong, but geez…
wccawa on May 12, 2006 at 10:23 AM
I am waiting for our President to use the E word. Enforcement! I haven’t seen one bill or even a speech that uses this word honestly.
Please Mr. President, when you present a “plan” or a “position” on illegal immigration, include the “enforcement mechanisms.”
Tell us how the plan will deal with those that “don’t want to play.” Tell us about the nuts and bolts of how we will punish those who won’t play by the rules. Deportation has always been threatened, but rarely implemented.
We need a verifiable method of deporting undesirables. Without this in place any plans are just more false promises.
Gault on May 12, 2006 at 10:33 AM
…IN SPANISH?
bucktowndusty on May 12, 2006 at 10:34 AM
Oh no. I hope we don’t have another Fallujah on our hands on the Mexican Border.
Vincenzo on May 12, 2006 at 10:35 AM
Maybe President Bush will remind us of some facts:
It is ALREADY against the law to enter the United States illegally, punishable by a fine and imprisonment. It is ALREADY against the law to hire illegal aliens. We don’t need new immigration laws, we only need the current laws to be enforced – and a fence. Read on: Learn the facts about illegal immigration that every American should know.
FACT: “Immigrants” are people lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. “Illegal aliens” are people who enter the United States without permission; their presence in the United States violates the law.
FACT: United States Code, Title 8, Chapter 12, Subchapter II, Part VIII, Section 1325, states: “Any alien who enters the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.”
FACT: United States Code, Title 8, Chapter 12, Subchapter II, Part VIII, Section 1324a, states: “It is unlawful for a person or other entity to hire for employment in the United States, an alien, knowing the alien is an unauthorized alien…”
FACT: In 2006, jobs, elementary school education, drivers licenses, in-state college tuition, bank accounts, food stamps, health care, and even home ownership, are all offered to illegal aliens. Some city councils are even considering letting illegal aliens vote in elections because they have children in public schools. The states of Washington, California, New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah provide in-state college tuition rates to illegal aliens; other states are considering the same tuition policy. Several states grant drivers licenses to illegal aliens, ignoring the fact that driver’s licenses are used as a form of ID nationwide. In a few instances, illegal aliens received expensive organ transplant surgery free of charge, and they were placed ahead of tax-paying Americans on the waiting list for the scarce organs. Realtors and lenders in several cities have been known to help illegal aliens purchase homes. Several American cities have become sanctuaries for illegal aliens: In 2003, Seattle’s City Council passed an ordinance preventing the city’s police from questioning the immigration status of people they meet on the streets. For aliens crossing America’s southwest border illegally, water-stations are provided to make the trip through the desert easier. Humanitarian groups placed the water stations along known illegal alien smuggling routes in the Arizona desert.
FACT: In June 2003, the United States Park Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police announced the “Ten Most Dangerous National Parks in the United States.” Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, Amistad National Recreation Area in Texas, and Big Bend National Park in Texas, claimed the top three positions because of the high volume of illegal alien smuggling activity in those parks. At Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the rangers estimated that 250 violent drug smugglers and illegal aliens march through the park and public campground areas each night.
FACT: In April 2005, a group of U.S. citizens calling themselves “Minutemen” went to the U.S.-Mexico border to observe illegal aliens entering the country and turn them over to the U.S. Border Patrol. The Minutemen proved that illegal immigration could be stopped by placing more guards on America’s borders, but President George W. Bush derided the efforts of the Minutemen by calling them “vigilantes.”
FACT: In 2006, it is estimated that more than 12 million illegal aliens reside in the United States. In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security said that it apprehended 1,046,422 illegal aliens, but experts said that nearly 3 million people illegally entered the United States that year. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially reported that there were approximately 7 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, and that 67 percent of them, or 4,690,000 people, had entered the United States without being stopped or questioned. They had entered the country illegally by sneaking across the border. Source: “Yearbook of Immigration Statistics,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2002, 2003.
FACT and OPINION: It took only 19 people to destroy the World Trade Center and kill nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. Americans can’t afford to allow millions of people to illegally cross U.S. borders and reside in the United States on the assumption that most of them are just “migrant workers.” Allowing and encouraging illegal immigration to the United States, especially after 9/11, is dangerous and foolhardy.
Thank you.
Michael S. Class
Web Site: http://www.MagicPictureFrame.com
Blog: http://www.MagicPictureFrame.blogspot.com
michaelsclass on May 12, 2006 at 10:40 AM
Folks, consider this a warning: our comment section is not a bulletin board for your blog posts. I’m going to let Michael’s stand just so you know what I’m talking about. But the next time it happens, it’s coming down, no questions asked. Okay?
Allahpundit on May 12, 2006 at 10:50 AM
My guess is Bush will talk extremely tough on border security, but in the end nothing will change. He’ll make sure of that. It’s almost as if he’s being blackmailed or bribed into leaving that border open for Mexicans AND terrorists to cross. Yep, I said it. Bush MUST KNOW that terrorists are using the border to gain access to our cities. So, while doing a great job in the GWOT abroad, what could possibly explain his willingness to allow terorists to use the Mexican border to enter the US?
msplitt on May 12, 2006 at 11:02 AM
A few crumbs to placate the ignorant masses. Gimme a break.
Internationalism uber alles! Wait – how do you say that in Spanish?
dman on May 12, 2006 at 12:16 PM
dman
el internacionalismo en total
msplitt on May 12, 2006 at 12:19 PM
Drudge has a headline (with no link yet) up:
SOURCES: BUSH PLANS NATIONAL GUARD ON BORDER…
If Bush puts the National Guard on the boarder I will stand up and cheer. I will call and write in my thanks. I’ll fork over some cash to the GOP.
ZRyan on May 12, 2006 at 1:18 PM
TALK IS CHEAP. Democrats TALK all the time, we KNOW they are lying when their lips are moving. Some are beginning to wonder if that also applies to the current crop of Republicans.
NRA4Freedom on May 12, 2006 at 2:06 PM
Even if Bush puts troops on the border, it’s what he orders them to do that is important. Will they cover the full 2,000 mile border? Will he order them to secure small parts of the border, and then notify the Mexican government of their position, allowing illegals and terrorists to simply walk around them?
msplitt on May 12, 2006 at 2:26 PM
We have the laws in place and with good purpose. Discipline ignored is always hard to re-establish. We must freeze illegal crossing of the border and enforce existing laws on those already here. We don’t have to feel bad. We overlooked it for a while, and now they are taking advantage of us, marching in our streets, and demanding more services and demanding our land. Time to roll up our sleeves and act. It won’t be pretty, but we’ll feel better inside and have more respect from without.
CountryDoc on May 15, 2006 at 12:45 AM
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