Thread: STRIVE Act: HR 1645

KENNEDY & ILK CONTINUE TO OPEN THE FLOODGATES
By Neal Ross

April 7, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

Our government is at it again. We now have been introduced to the Flake-Gutierrez Bill for immigration reform, otherwise known as HR 1645, The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy, (STRIVE) Act, introduced on the floor March 22, 2007.

In 1986 we were presented with the Immigration Reform and Control Act, (IRCA), which was signed into law by President Reagan. It was supposed to put an end to our problems with illegal aliens.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy made the following comments regarding all his previous attempts at passing immigration reform bills.

"Out of deference to the critics, I want to comment on...what the bill will not do. First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same..."

He went on to say,

"Contrary to the charges in some quarters, S.500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and economically deprived."

Finally, he stated,

"As I noted a moment ago, no immigrant visa will be issued to a person who is likely to become a public charge..."

How short are our memories? Senator Kennedy says that we will not be flooded with a million new illegal aliens a year. What does Senator Kennedy think 20 million illegal aliens is, a drip in the faucet?

Representatives Flake and Gutierrez are now promising us the same kinds of things with their STRIVE Act. Are we that stupid and our memories so short that we are going to believe them?

How many amnesties must we give before the people of this country say enough is enough? How many facts must the people of this country be presented with before they realize they are being lied to about immigration?

Did you know that the United States grants 2 million immigrant visas per year? Did you know, in addition to the immigrant visas we also issue 400,000 H1B work visas per year, 900,000 additional employment visas, 660,000 student visas, and 455,000 temporary employment transfers?

How many guest workers do we need in this country before our elected officials are satisfied that not enough Americans have lost their jobs to lower paid immigrants? Congressman Flake, on the Lou Dobbs show, made the comment that 5 percent of our workforce is made up of illegal aliens, and that we can't just deport 5 percent of the workers in this country.

Isn't it a coincidence that according to the U.S. Department of Labor, in California, a state with a large percentage of illegal aliens, the unemployment rate is 5.2 percent?

So, what exactly does the STRIVE Act do for immigrants? First off it is an amnesty, no matter what they tell you. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

The STRIVE Act grants an almost guaranteed path to citizenship to most of the illegal aliens already here. First they become non-immigrants, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean, then if they can prove they have worked here for six years they, and their spouses and children, can become lawful residents. (Section 601) So instead of getting just the illegal aliens, we get the whole family, what a bargain!

It also makes them sit through English classes, just to show it is not in all actuality an amnesty. Yet the same was true in 1986 with IRCA, and everyone agreed that was an amnesty. (Section 601 & 602)

It also has a touch back clause in which they must return to Mexico for 24 hours before re-entering at an authorized port of entry. Current immigration law states that they must wait 10 years before attempting to re-enter the U.S. (Section 602)

Illegal aliens do not have to pay back taxes; they only have to enter into an agreement with the IRS to eventually pay the taxes. (Section 602)

The bill also requires taxpayers, you and I, to fund grants to private organizations to help illegal aliens apply for amnesty. (Section 662)

If an illegal alien applies for this amnesty and is denied for using fraudulent documents, the U.S. government cannot use that information to have that alien removed. Any government employee who divulges that information will be fined $10,000. (Section 604)

If you are currently in the U.S. on a legal visa, for whatever purpose, you do not qualify for this amnesty. However if you are in this country on an overstayed visa you do qualify. (Section 601)

The bill does not send illegal immigrants to the "back of the line". There are over 3 million aliens who have been approved for green cards as relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who have been waiting patiently for visas to become available. They will continue to have to wait overseas for years, even decades, for their visas to become available. Under the Flake-Gutierrez bill, millions of illegal immigrants who will claim to have been here illegally since 2006 can work in the U.S. and be eligible for permanent residence eight years after enactment (Section 602)

Employers who hired illegal aliens are absolved from all civil and criminal liability for having hired illegal aliens prior to this bill. (Section 607)

Illegal immigrants have other options to apply for amnesty under the Flake-Gutierrez bill - including the DREAM Act (title VI, subtitle B) and the AgJobs Act. (Title VI, subtitle C)

Legal immigration would also be increased with the passage of this bill. A conservative estimate puts the numbers at an additional 700,00 green cards issued per year. Remember, we already grant 2 million of them a year, so now we will be giving out close to 3 million green cards a year. (Section 511)

The H1B visas would go up to a maximum of 180,000 per year. Students with graduate degrees in math or science are exempt from those numbers, which will, in all actuality increase those numbers. (Section 507)

Section 517 gives organizations the right send however many women to the U.S. who have a “credible fear of harm related to her sex“, and we will have no choice but to accept them.

In this bill, the workers' employers can apply for green cards for them at any time, and the workers can apply on their own after having worked in the program for five years. Once the green card applications are filed, the workers can stay and work as long as it takes for a green card to become available. Thus, there could be many millions of these foreign workers and their families in the country at any one time in the future. (Sections 401, 407)

Now this one ought to get your attention. Employers are specifically allowed to lay-off American workers and replace them with "new" foreign workers as long as they lay-off the Americans more than 90 days before or after they file the petitions for the foreign workers. (Section 402)

You might also have heard rumors of the plan for a North American Union. Well the Flake Gutierrez bill mandates that the Department of Homeland Security identifies progress of developing and implementing an “immigration security strategy for North America that works toward the development of a common security perimeterâ€

Also see my recent posting Two other bills to fight...please help that speaks about this.

Our government is at it again. We now have been introduced to the Flake-Gutierrez Bill for immigration reform, otherwise known as HR 1645, The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy, (STRIVE) Act, introduced on the floor March 22, 2007.

This certainly waiting in the wings...

Zeezil, I did read that post and that's why I added this one!

Code:

Zeezil, I did read that post and that's why I added this one!

Good, LynnS, it's good to see that there is other eyes on this. Keep up the focus and pressure. Thanks