Thread: Nation Ahead of Congress on Immigration, Bush Says

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines


Nation Ahead of Congress on Immigration, Bush Says
Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer
1:50 PM PDT, June 6, 2006


ARTESIA, N.M. -- President Bush today sought to minimize the differences that have divided the House and Senate over immigration, and said that consensus was growing across the country for changes in immigration policy, as he focused on the need for strict law enforcement in a speech to Border Patrol recruits.

"It seems like there's nothing but disagreement on immigration policy in Washington," Bush said. "Yet there's a growing consensus among all parties and all regions of the country that fundamental reforms are needed."

ADVERTISEMENT"In other words, people are coming to the conclusion we got to do something about a system that isn't working," he said at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, in southeastern New Mexico about 100 miles from the Mexican border. "And while the differences grab the headlines, the similarities in approaches are striking."

The center is a 2,540-acre campus ringed with barbed wire. Recruits undergo a 19 1/2-week training schedule that features intense physical workouts, vehicle pursuits, firearms use, self-defense and Spanish language classes.

"Our failure rate is 30-to-1," said Maria Valencia, spokesperson for the U.S. Border Patrol, explaining that the center graduates one border agent for every 30 applicants.

In May, Bush called for an increase of 6,000 in the Border Patrol by 2008 — a 50% increase over current levels.

The facility here, where all the agents are trained, can graduate 1,700 a year.

With Bush looking on, recruits demonstrated scenarios for capturing illegal immigrants, among them a checkpoint, halting a vehicle, and checking a train.

Recruits use three rail cars, deployed on tracks in the middle of their campus, to learn how to look for illegal immigrants smuggled in boxcars.

With temperatures nearing 100 degrees, Bush emphasized that despite the angry debate over immigration, there was agreement over the need to control the nation's borders "so that every illegal immigrant caught at the border" is sent home.

"We agree that the government needs to crack down on businesses that hire illegal workers," he said. "In other words, in order to help you do your job, we all agree that if someone's hiring somebody who's an illegal immigrant, they've broken the law and we need to crack down on that."

"We agree that it's unacceptable to have millions of illegal immigrants living in our country beyond the reach of law and the protection of law," he said, adding: "And we all agree that immigrants to America must assimilate into our society. They must embrace our values and learn to speak the English language."

With the Congress far from beginning work on reconciling the immigration measures passed by the House and Senate, Bush is seeking to minimize the differences, and encouraging the yet-to-be-named conferees representing each chamber to find common ground.

The House bill focuses exclusively on law enforcement measures; the Senate bill, more to Bush's liking, takes a broader approach, addressing law enforcement efforts as well as paths that could legally approved work in the United States for foreign residents and to eventual citizenship.

Pressing for steps that could appeal to both those favoring a crackdown on illegal border-crossing and those seeking access to the American job market for immigrants, the president noted that he had asked Congress "to increase the number of detention facilities along our borders" and also said the nation needed to acknowledge that it was a magnet for job-seekers.

"It seems to me if we want to protect this border, we ought to recognize they're coming, and give them a temporary worker card," the president said.

"It seems to me if we want to protect this border, we ought to recognize they're coming, and give them a temporary worker card," the president said.

Do I have this right? He just said that we should hand Al Queda operatives a temporary work card? Didn't we already do that for the 9/11 plane hijackers.
Somebody up there in Washington D.C. lower the net on this idiot!

"We agree that the government needs to crack down on businesses that hire illegal workers," he said. "In other words, in order to help you do your job, we all agree that if someone's hiring somebody who's an illegal immigrant, they've broken the law and we need to crack down on that."

"We agree that it's unacceptable to have millions of illegal immigrants living in our country beyond the reach of law and the protection of law," he said, adding: "And we all agree that immigrants to America must assimilate into our society. They must embrace our values and learn to speak the English language."

AND THEN

"It seems to me if we want to protect this border, we ought to recognize they're coming, and give them a temporary worker card," the president said.

Mr. President, the American people are not idiots. In one speech, you've managed to give diametrically opposing points of view.

NO AMNESTY BY ANY NAME. SECURE OUR BORDERS. ALL ILLEGALS DEPORTED. NO ANCHOR BABIES. NO SOCIAL SECURITY TOTALIZATION WITH MEXICO. FINE AND JAIL EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS. ENGLISH AS THE OFFFICIAL LANGUAGE. OBEY OUR CURRENT LAWS.

"It seems to me if we want to protect this border, we ought to recognize they're coming, and give them a temporary worker card,"

That is one of the most inane statements I have ever heard! That is like saying: "It seems to me that if we want to protect our homes, we ought to recognize these thieves are coming, and we should all have spare keys made for them.

greyparrot,,

"It seems to me that if we want to protect our homes, we ought to recognize these thieves are coming, and we should all have spare keys made for them.

PERFECT! After all, we know that thieves have more rights than the homeowners do!

greyparrot,

What a great statement!