Thread: GOP platform gets tougher on immigration

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Agreed. If there is any real hope here, it is that Romney will be true blue on immigration enforcement and what we are hearing is chatter from the pro invasion systems and RINOs around Romney trying to define him and control him.

W

You could very well be on to something here. Maybe the RINOs surrounding Romney are trying to define and control him. Just like you, I too hope in the end they are not successful in their endeavor. Not only do I think Kobach's trust in Romney is a positive thing, I also think Romney's refusal to select Rubio as his running mate is very telling. After all, it was the media and RINO's that kept trying to shove Rubio down our throats as the candidate that would give Romney the most traction. Eat your hearts out, Giuliani, Gingrich, Jeb Bush, John McCain, and all the other RINOs that were attempting to force Rubio into play! Thank you Romney for failing to succumb to their demands.

Originally Posted by kevinssdad

That does'nt look so very tough. Notthing said about amnesty or a dream act, nothing said about deportation.

It's certainly a lot tougher than the Democrat plank which specifically supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens (amnesty) and the Dream Act that also offers amnesty.

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/republican-...ion%92-262976/

Pro-immigrant activists criticize Republican platform

Published August 23, 2012
EFE

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta and other activists on Thursday criticized the "extremist positions" of the Romney-Ryan Republican presidential ticket against immigration reform and the DREAM Act, which would grant permanent residence to qualified undocumented youth.

The immigrant community should view "with great sadness, repudiation and even fear" the content of the Republican platform regarding immigrants, said Gutierrez in a conference call with Hispanic reporters.

Huerta called the efforts of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, as an advisor to Mitt Romney, to include measures against immigrants in the platform that will be presented at the GOP convention next week a "war on immigrants."

"We were hoping for a change in tone" on Romney's part, but the Republicans "have demonstrated that they have no room for us," said Cesar Vargas, an undocumented immigrant and cofounder of the "DREAMers" organization DRM Capitol Group.

The participants in the conference call said it was at the urging of Kobach, widely seen as the architect of anti-immigrant laws in Arizona and Alabama, that the Republican platform committee decided to include a call to complete the wall along the border with Mexico as well as to express opposition to letting undocumented immigrants pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

Gutierrez said that states like Illinois, Texas and California had agreed to charge the same tuition to students who are state residents without regard for their immigration status.

For the Republicans to say they are going to eliminate that study possibility is "inhumane," he said.

"Those young people stopped being immigrants a long time ago. They are Americans, but (the Republicans) want to treat them as if they were from another planet," he added.

The Democratic Party, meanwhile, is experiencing "a time of hope" with President Barack Obama's executive order to defer deportation of the kind of young undocumented immigrants who would benefit from the DREAM Act, Gutierrez said.

He emphasized the workshop held Wednesday at Chicago's Benito Juarez High School, where 400 undocumented young people filled out Deferred Action request forms.

Vargas, who arrived in the United States at the age of 5 and just graduated from law school, said that he and the other DREAMers are not looking for handouts but rather opportunities.

"My story is the one of many young people who participated in this process. I want to keep studying to become a lawyer and represent my community," he said.

Huerta said that she is sad about the move backward that the Republican proposals would mean, in particular because the contribution of immigrants would be ignored.

"They want to move us backwards, forgetting that they were also immigrants. With their discriminatory actions they're showing that they don't know history," she said. EFE

Pro-immigrant activists criticize Republican platform | Fox News Latino

I did read, however, (I think from Mark Krikorian) that the cheap labor RINOs were able to slip some language in the platform about a new "guest worker" program. I think we all know what that means.

Originally Posted by Motivated

I did read, however, (I think from Mark Krikorian) that the cheap labor RINOs were able to slip some language in the platform about a new "guest worker" program. I think we all know what that means.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Can anyone provide this information. Just goes to prove you can't always have your cake and eat it too.

Ironic that political parties don't want to alienate the aliens.

National Journal 8-21-12
Republican Platform Calls for Guest-Worker Program

Republican Platform Calls for Guest-Worker Program - Fawn Johnson - NationalJournal.com

CAMPAIGN 2012

Republican Platform Calls for Guest-Worker Program

By Fawn Johnson
Updated: August 21, 2012 | 4:03 p.m.
August 21, 2012 | 3:21 p.m.

AP Photo/John Bazemore
Farm workers in 2011 load a truck with cucumbers in Leslie, Ga.

Republicans are attempting to balance their party's disparate opinions on immigration by taking a tough stance on illegal immigrants in the United States while at the same time calling for a new temporary foreign worker program.

The Republican National Committee's 2012 platform on immigration, adopted on Tuesday, calls for a "legal and reliable source of foreign labor through a new guest-worker program."Â

"It wasn't even attacked," crowed Brad Bailey, a Texas restauranteur who lobbied heavily for the inclusion of a guest-worker program in the document. Bailey was expecting immigration hard-liners to go after the proposed temporary worker program because a standard GOP campaign line says that illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans. Businesses dispute that statement, saying there are many jobs (like roofing and fruit-picking) that Americans won't do.

The Republican platform also seeks long-term detention for "dangerous but undeportable aliens" and proposes to make gang membership a deportable offense. It is typical of electoral policy platforms to be vague on details--this isn't legislation, after all. It's the tone that counts. Note the crime-related wording when it comes to gangs and detention, reinforcing an idea important to Republicans: that they are tougher on illegal immigration than President Obama.Â

"Complaining about the problem is no longer working. Republicans need to lead in repairing our nation's immigration policy," Bailey said on Monday in an e-mail to supporters of a guest-worker program.Â
The Hispanic vote is in play in the general election, and how Republicans handle the immigration question will be a critical factor in determining whether conservative Hispanic voters can be convinced to cast their votes for Mitt Romney.

Hispanics as a group tend to be more conservative than traditional Democrats; half identify themselves as "independent," according to a recent Gallup poll. But two-thirds of them voted for President Obama in 2008, in part because he promised to push for a broad immigration overhaul that would create a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. Some Republican strategists worry that harsh rhetoric from Republicans about immigration will scare those independent Hispanics away.

The inclusion of a guest-worker program in the GOP platform marks a victory for business-oriented Republicans who are worried that a strict "enforcement-only" approach to immigration will ruin certain industries, such as agriculture, which relies heavily on undocumented immigrant labor.

"It was brutal," said Bailey, the founder of the free-market nonprofit group The Texas Immigration Solution, who is lobbying aggressively for businesses' access to foreign labor at the Republican National Convention. "I'm a rookie. I didn't know anybody. I was stopping people during bathroom breaks."

Bailey is flaming a tinder box within a party that has struggled for years with its commitment to "the rule of law," which sometimes conflicts with businesses' consistent use of immigrant labor--both legal and illegal.

With some 12 million illegal immigrants working in the United States, it is difficult to imagine the government committing the resources to extricating all of them. Yet Republicans chafe at any policy that would ease off on punishment for immigration violations.

"We are a party that recognizes that illegal means illegal," said Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a platform committee member and outspoken immigration hard-liner who was the brains behind Arizona's tough immigration law. "If you want to open a job tomorrow, you can remove an illegal immigrant today."

Kobach's considerable influence was on display at the Republican platform committee meeting on Tuesday, as he shot down several suggestions from other members who questioned the necessity of mandating electronic verification of workers or asked for market-based quotas on foreign workers. At Kobach's request, the committee added language to the platform calling for mandatory electronic verification of workers, a border fence, and an end to "sanctuary cities" and in-state tuition for illegal immigrant college students.

Bailey knew he was fighting an uphill battle when he brought his proposal for a temporary worker program to the Republican convention.

He is one of many business leaders who say enforcement-minded Republicans should adopt a broader view of immigration to acknowledge their need for labor.Â

Many business leaders want more than a guest-worker program. Texas has advocated work visas for undocumented immigrants who are already in the country. But that idea goes too far for GOP members who are squeamish about giving any legal status to illegal aliens.

"When you are sitting in the back of the room and have no relationships with anyone on the subcommittee, you are fighting an uphill battle," Bailey wrote in his e-mail. "We understand that this is NOT a perfect document. But sometimes in life and in politics we have to compromise and negotiate."

Republican Platform Calls for Guest-Worker Program - Fawn Johnson - NationalJournal.com

Romney keeps using California as an example of what not to do. A failed state that is going bankrupt. Senior citizens living in fear as they are being killed in their homes. Prey to the lowest denominator. As cities go bankrupt and police are being laid off.

California's young having to compete with illegal alien young for their education and jobs. Having to compete with illegal students not only for classes, not only getting instate tuition but also getting finacial aid. Bills going through our legislature to allow 2 million illegals to compete for the few jobs left in California. California wanting to raise taxes on the ones that actually pay taxes.

I hope and pray that if Romney wins he keeps his eye on California and puts a stop to it.