Fix the broken immigration system

http://www.examiner.com/a-498086%7EEdit ... ystem.html

1/9/07

WASHINGTON - One of the most urgent problems facing the new Congress is our broken immigration system. Unchecked immigration threatens not only our physical and financial security, but the very future of the United States as a sovereign nation. So comprehensive immigration reform simply cannot be put off any longer.

Job one on immigration reform is regaining control of America’s borders.

Allowing millions of unknown foreigners to enter our nation illegally is foolhardy in the extreme in the post-Sept. 11 era. You would never let strangers move into your own home uninvited, then pay the intruders for being there. But that’s exactly what we’ve been doing at the national level for too many years.

Since 1980, illegal immigration has cut the going rate for unskilled labor in half, yet the cost of living continues to climb. Taxpayers are forced to make up the difference. A national policy that compels American workers to accept government handouts while importing even more poverty cannot be defended. As long as there are fellow citizens who lack good-paying jobs, health insurance and educational opportunities, immigration must be controlled — and then only those who follow our laws and respect our customs should be allowed to enter.

The 700-mile fence along the Mexican border approved by the last Congress is a first step, but only that. So much more remains to be done.

Employers who cannot find enough workers should get a limited number of temporary guest worker visas without waiting years for approval. However, such visas must be issued under much stricter controls, with employers and visa holders both required to regularly check in with immigration officials.

We don’t advocate the wholesale roundup of the 12 million illegal aliens already here, but we do insist that those who break our laws be immediately deported upon serving their sentences, as is required under federal law. It’s time the federal government takes this enforcement duty seriously. This will require unprecedented collaboration between federal and local law enforcement agencies. Jurisdictions that support such efforts should be rewarded. Those that refuse to cooperate or actively oppose the effort should be severely penalized.

The U.S. also needs a better way for employers to verify immigration status. Once such a system is in place, employers who knowingly hire illegals should be prosecuted. It’s manifestly unfair for some businesses to lure people here illegally to work for low wages that put companies that obey immigration laws at a competitive disadvantage — then force the latter to indirectly subsidize this practice in the form of higher taxes.

Job two is cleaning up the Bush administration’s immigration scandal.

There is ample evidence that federal employees have been lining their own pockets while allowing thousands of questionable foreign nationals to legally enter the U.S. Former Homeland Security supervisor Robert Schofield recently admitted to taking more than $8.1 million in bribes in exchange for phony green cards. Many other similar cases have been documented by Michael Maxwell, former chief of security at U.S. Customs and Immigration Services and corroborated by the Government Accountability Office. The administration has studiously ignored the documentation.

If the new Democratic majority is serious about restoring serious congressional oversight, they’ll launch a full-scale congressional investigation to determine how many other immigration officials like Schofield deliberately bypassed homeland security procedures — including a basic requirement to check green card applicants against the Terrorist Watch List.

Only when job one and job two are completed will it be appropriate to talk about a permanent path to citizenship.

Just a reminder.



>
> We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his
> thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration
> overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many
> of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by
> the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book,
> "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was
> destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across
> the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
>
> Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave
> a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound
> as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States.
> He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied,
> too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No
> nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee
> observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy
> of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"
>
> "Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "First, to destroy America, turn
> America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural
> country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension,
> conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures.
> It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a
> curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour
> Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural
> societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and
> tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of
> national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not
> independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an
> ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and
> Corsicans. ".
>
> Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and
> encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of
> belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural
> differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic
> dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the
> majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
>
> Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much
> effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin
> Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of
> our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved
> not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once
> dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left
> with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together."
>
> Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language
> and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl
> metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural
> subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as
> Americans, emphasizing their similarities."
>
> "Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least
> educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated,
> and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass
> have a 50%
> dropout rate from high school."
>
> "My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations
> and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in
> ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would
> get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of
> the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority
> failure on the majority population."
>
> "My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and
> promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I
> would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people
> worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they
> are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is
> against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes
> to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks
> believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common
> Language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece
> took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their
> liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two
> factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured
> political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" --From many, one. In
> that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead
> of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."
>
> "Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to
> talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word
> similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and
> paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion
> and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having
> established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the
> doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our
> immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has
> been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every
> individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of
> millions of them."
>
> In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound
> silence followed. Finally he said,. "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson
> Davis's book "Mexifornia." His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to
> destroy America . If you feel America. deserves to be destroyed, don't
> read that book."
>
> There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud
> above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew
> that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly,
> darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is
> being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our
> educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that
> practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate
> 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as
> corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California
> and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast.
> It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three
> slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace,"
> "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."
>
> Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the
> conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is
> deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration
> monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California
> wildfire and destroy everything in its path especially The American
> Dream.
>
> If you care for and love our country as I do, take the time to pass this
> on just as I did for you. NOTHING is going to happen if you don't!
>
>

This posting is one of the best I have read and is right on the money.

Yes, it is, one of the best postings, I read it a few months ago on Alipac, if there are going to be duplicate postings, then this is one of the best! :lol:

MOD EDIT