Pres.State of Union Remarks Will Not Foster Trust

[CCUSA]

January 19, 2007








President's State of the Union Remarks on Immigration Will Highlight Why He is Not Trusted by the American Public


Washington DC - When President Bush delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, he is certain to propose, yet again, an immigration reform package that provides amnesty to tens of millions of illegal aliens, millions of new guest workers for business interests, and another set of worthless promises to the American public to enforce immigration laws in the future. With the change in congressional leadership, President Bush is hopeful that 2007 will be the year he finally succeeds in passing a guest worker amnesty plan that has been consistently rejected by the American public and the majority of his own party.

The immigration policy changes Bush has advocated in the past, and will call for yet again on Tuesday, have contributed in making him one of the most unpopular presidents in history. They also reflect this administration's dangerous ideological tendency to ignore inconvenient facts and public opinion in pursuit of its own goals.

"What we will hear from President Bush on Tuesday will be a radical immigration agenda that is designed to satisfy business's demands for an endless supply of low wage labor, but one that will represent a looming disaster for the vast majority of Americans," predicted Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "For Americans who work for a living, who pay taxes, send their kids to public schools, care about the environment, or who believe that a nation is more than just a random collection of people who happen to share a piece of geography, what the president will call for will be the undermining of their hopes and aspirations."

While President Bush's plans for what he calls immigration reform will be long on rhetoric, it is certain to be short on details. Important questions such as, how many immigrants would qualify for what will amount to an amnesty program; how many additional relatives will subsequently be reunited; how massive a bureaucracy would be required to implement an amnesty of this magnitude; how meaningful background checks would be carried out on tens of millions of applicants; what impact such a proposal would have on U.S. population growth and the environment; how local governments would pay for additional services and infrastructure; and other critical concerns will not be addressed because neither the president nor the congressional leadership has the vaguest idea.

"What is likely to be proposed will be the domestic equivalent of the disastrous policy in Iraq," warned Stein. "It was easy enough to depose Saddam. But what happens after that, nobody really thought through. Similarly, 'solving' the problem of mass illegal immigration by having Congress pass, and the president sign, a mass amnesty bill is the easy part. What we do the morning after, no one is quite sure.

"One way or another we will eventually extricate ourselves from the situation in Iraq by bringing the troops home. Unfortunately, the disastrous immigration plan the president will propose in his State of the Union will have no escape mechanism," Stein said. "The time to consider the consequences is before any amnesty plan is implemented, not after."

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, non-profit, public interest membership organization of concerned citizens who share a belief in stronger border enforcement, an end to illegal immigration, and a reduction of immigration levels consistent with national interests.

FAIR's nationally recognized spokespersons are available for comment prior to, or after the State of the Union Address.