Thread: Commerce secretary attacks use of 'amnesty' in immigration d

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0606/062906cdam1.htm

June 29, 2006
Commerce secretary attacks use of 'amnesty' in immigration debate
By Keith Koffler, CongressDaily


Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez Wednesday weighed in forcefully on a semantic debate that is proving key in the contest over immigration reform, repeatedly denying that President Bush's "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants represents amnesty.

Gutierrez, who spoke with CongressDaily reporters in his office at the Commerce Department, was clearly frustrated with opponents of Bush's immigration proposals who he said were trying to boil complicated policy down to a catchphrase that stirs opposition among many voters.

"It's one word: amnesty," Gutierrez said. "The president's plan is not amnesty, but people call it amnesty and that seems to stick. But it is not amnesty."

In addition to establishing a guestworker program that would bring in new foreign workers on a temporary basis, Bush wants to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens after clearing certain hurdles, including some type of penalty for breaking the law.

"The president has talked about [how] you need to pay back taxes, you need to pay a fine, you need to learn English, you need to do a background check," Gutierrez said. "It's a hard-earned path to legalization. It's not amnesty -- amnesty is an unconditional pardon."

But a leader of House conservatives Wednesday said anything short of sending illegal immigrants home, at least for a short time, is amnesty.

"If you can get right with the law by paying a fine or paying back taxes, that's amnesty," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the Republican Study Committee.

"I really believe that most House Republicans, and frankly most Americans, view allowing an individual whose first act in this country was a violation of the law -- to get right with the law without going home -- is amnesty," said Pence, who spoke following an Oval Office meeting with President Bush on immigration.

"If you return home and apply for the legal right to be in the United States of America, that doesn't involve amnesty because you're applying for that visa outside the United States of America," Pence said.

In the interview, Gutierrez said "mass deportation" of illegal immigrants was not practical, asserting that the need for foreign labor was an "economic reality" and that he gets calls from business officials "all the time" about labor shortages.

Gutierrez mostly sidestepped questions about legislation passed by the Senate, which approved a measure that includes principles backed by Bush.

"All those concerns will be addressed if we have comprehensive reform," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said legislation should not be delayed. Both the House and Senate have passed bills, but a conference is yet to start.

But Gutierrez also declined to criticize a decision by House Republican leaders to stage a series of hearings over the summer, which probably precludes finishing a bill before the fall.

"I believe that they will hear what I heard when I went out and talked to people about it," Gutierrez said, asserting that there is broad support in the country for "comprehensive reform" of the type backed by the president.

"If the purpose is to go out and listen to the American people, a debate is always a good thing," he said.

Gutierrez said that both he and the president would continue to push the immigration issue during the summer.

Bush's meeting with Pence was an unmistakable gesture toward conservatives who reject the president's proposal as amnesty.

Pence presented Bush with his own immigration plan, which would require illegal immigrants currently in the country to first return home before being able to qualify for work in the United States.

Pence would create so-called Ellis Island Centers, private entities that would screen and then place illegal immigrants with U.S. employers after the immigrants had returned home.

Pence was clearly flattered by White House efforts to embrace him. Both Bush and Vice President Cheney were in attendance at the session, which was extended from a planned 15 minutes to 40 minutes, according to Pence.

Pence described the president as intrigued by his proposal, but acknowledged that Bush had offered no commitment to support it.

"He thought it was an interesting idea, to ask the free enterprise system, the private sector, to create these Ellis Island Centers outside the United States of America," Pence said. "I left with the undeniable impression that the president of the United States thought our proposal was worth considering."

This document is located at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0606/062906cdam1.htm

Commerce Secretary Gutierrez has obviously underestimated the intelligence of the American people. When something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's normally a duck! Please don't insult our intelligence, we know what amnesty is. We also know that the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN) is what is guiding this amnesty debacle. Yes, the members of the ACTPN and other corporate interest are only interested in 'cheap labor' and have used every opportunity to bend Bush's ear.

Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations "ACTPN" provides the U.S. Trade Representative with policy advice on matters concerning objectives and bargaining positions before entering into trade agreements, the operation of any trade agreement once entered into, etc. ACTPN consists of members including representatives of non-federal governments and labor, industry, agriculture, small business, service industries, retailer and consumer interests.

Members (appointed for two-year terms): Margaret Cushing Whitman, President and CEO, eBay; Steven Rollie Rogel, Chairman, President and CEO, Weyerhaeuser; Frank Henry Habicht II, CEO, Global Environment and Technology Foundation; Jerome Jasinowski, President, National Association of Maunfacturers; William Frenzel, Guest Scholar, Brookings Institute; Rodolphe Vallee, Chairman, CEO, R.L. Vallee, Inc.; Bernard Aronson, Managing Partner, ACON Investments and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); Edward Emma, President and CEO, Jockey International; Jill Considine, Chair and CEO, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).; Wythe Willey, President, National Cattlemen's Beef Association; Edward Perkins, Crowe Professor in Geo-Politics and Executive Director of International Programs, Univ. of Oklahoma and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).; Richard Rivera, Vice Chairman, Darden Restaurants; Pete Hanna, Chairman, President and CEO, Hanna Steel Corp.; John Rowland, Governor of Connecticut, Jean-Pierre Rosso, Chairman, CNH Global; Hersh Kozlov, Senior Partner, Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP; Samuel Palmisano, President and CEO, IBM; JoAnn Brouillette, President, Demeter; Herbert Johnson, Chairman, SC Johnson & Son; Hector Ruiz, President and CEO, Advanced Micro Devices; Melinda Bush, President and CEO, HRW Holdings; Richard Wardrop, Jr., Chairman, CEO and President, AK Steel Corp.; Grace Nichols, President and CEO, Victoria's Secret; Larry Liebenow, President and CEO, Quaker Fabric; Michael Goldstein, Chairman, Toys "R" Us Children's Fund; Thomas Mottola, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Entertainment, George Fitch, President, IOP Associates, Mayor of Warrenton, VA; Luis Lauredo, President, Hunton & Williams, Latin American Services, LLC; James Winston Morrison, President, Small Business Exporters Association; Walter Bernard Duffy Hickey, Jr., Chairman, Hickey Freeman Company; Robert Edward Grady, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group Morgan; Yaping Wang, CEO and Chairman, Angeles Optics, Inc.; James Philip Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Paul Norman Beckner, President and CEO of Citizens for a Sound Economy.

I think it's disgusting that the Bush administration is only interested in pleasing corporate American and the elitest. The American middle, and lower, class can be damned as far as the Bush administration is concerned! It's all about the money and anyone that doesn't think so is fooling themselves.

"I believe that they will hear what I heard when I went out and talked to people about it," Gutierrez said, asserting that there is broad support in the country for "comprehensive reform" of the type backed by the president.

Well, I WONDER just WHO he talked to....the LaRaza clan???!! It certainly wasn't anyone I know. The ones he talked to were the corporate greeds. That's ALL he cares about anyway!

"The president has talked about [how] you need to pay back taxes, you need to pay a fine, you need to learn English, you need to do a background check," Gutierrez said. "It's a hard-earned path to legalization. It's not amnesty -- amnesty is an unconditional pardon."


Well let's add 275 knuckle pushups and 250 clam crunches every day, 6 hours of community service every day, no more free medical and dental, no more free food, no more bi-lingual signage, no more driving, no more drinking for the rest of your life in America.

Oh and how about a rebate from all the city, county, state and federal taxes that have been paid since the last amnesty in 1986 for Immigration and Naturalization NON-enforcement because you promised we would not get bent over again. Billions of dollars have been spent in these areas with traceable results. That would be no more daunting of a task than figuring how much SS we owe someone with forged documents as proof of his duration in America at our expense when he stole someone else's identity.

IF THESE PEOPLE GET AMNESTY, I WANT MY PERCENTAGE OF TAXES BACK FROM NON-ENFORCEMENT OF OUR LAWS FOR 20 YEARS. I ALSO WANT BLACKS IN THIS COUNTRY TO GET REPERATIONS FOR SLAVERY IMMEDIATELY. A LOCKED DOWN TIGHT BORDER AND I DON'T EVER WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THIS SUBJECT AGAIN.

Trouble

OH AND I WANT THE SAME BACK TAX RATE TO BE PAID THAT THE ILLEGALS ARE GOING TO GET FOR EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN THAT WANTS TO GET CAUGHT UP ON TAXES. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. WE SHOULD GET AT THE LEAST "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY" UNDER THE LAW.

I might add more of my own demands for amnesty if the mods keep hanging with me. I am sick of 75% of Elected Leaders in all parties from city, county, state and federal.

Trouble

If you put lip stick on a pig, it is still a pig. What the administration is proposing is amensty and most people are smart enough to see right through it.

No matter how Guiterrez says it, it is still amnesty. If they get to stay here while they apply for citizenship it is amnesty. Not to mention all the perks our Senate gave them in their bill. I say send them back and let them apply like everyone else. There are no special cases here. They broke our laws by coming here and this guy says they are all law abiding people. What an idiot

Why all this insistence to keep used aliens? Do I owe them something? Why not just send all the ones here home and get fresh workers. They could bid on a reverse auction and we could select the cheapest bidders thereby doing the most good possible for our economy?

"It's one word: amnesty," Gutierrez said. "The president's plan is not amnesty, but people call it amnesty and that seems to stick. But it is not amnesty."

The current punishment for illegal entry into the United States, as outlined by federal law, is deportation. If an illegal alien is not deported, then he has recieved amnesty from the required punishment. It's not a complicated concept Mr. Gutierrez.