http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/su ... 330304.htm

Posted on Mon, Dec. 05, 2005

U.S SECURITY

Bush's immigration reform falls flat

By Michael Comer

Speaking in Arizona and Texas recently, President Bush is making a desperate attempt to save his unpopular plan that grants amnesty to illegal immigrants.

He wants us to believe that a massive illegal immigration amnesty and the admission of millions of additional foreign "guest" workers is "immigration reform."

While the president's speeches included tougher-than-usual talk on border security and immigration enforcement, mostly due to public pressure, it's clear he has no intention of carrying through on his campaign promise that he would not support an illegal immigration amnesty.

Under the president's proposal, an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. would be reclassified as "temporary workers" and allowed to stay up to six years.

The number of illegal immigrants has increased over the years. This proves there is no such thing as "temporary." How the president can say this is not an amnesty is a mystery because it passes several amnesty tests.

The president also wants to "match willing workers in other countries with willing employers in this country," by the way, at whatever wage the employer wants to pay. This may be the death knell of the American middle class, many of whom already are unemployed or underpaid because of these wage thieves.

This proposal will change none of the challenges we face today due to uncontrolled immigration: overcrowded schools and roads; air and water pollution; wage depression; depleted local government budgets; increased drug trafficking and other crime; and the re-introduction of diseases such as tuberculosis.

And Sept. 11, 2001, has added a new perspective.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is apprehending an increasing number of Other Than Mexicans at the border, including residents of countries known to harbor terrorists.

The freedom with which illegal immigrants can obtain driver's licenses, checking accounts, mortgage loans and jobs facilitates those in the country who are here to cause us harm.

Illegal immigration is the No. 1 problem facing America today. The president should instead be endorsing the only comprehensive immigration reform bill that has ever come before Congress: H.R. 4313, the TRUE Enforcement Act. This legislation, and anyone serious about immigration reform, has these priorities:

1. Require employers to verify work eligibility and penalize noncompliance.

2. Seal the borders and provide for interior enforcement of immigration laws.

3. Integrate local, state and federal immigration law enforcement.

4. Cut overall levels of immigration.

5. No amnesty. Instead, over time, identify and remove those here illegally.

Until these things are done, and the myriad other immigration loopholes are addressed, no one will believe this administration is serious about immigration reform and this country will remain at risk.