Thread: Pence Again

No card, no job.....hmmm........what about those who just pop out those anchor babies and live on the welfare system? What will happen with those illegals? I know that alot of illegals ARE on welfare now and will probably continue to be. What will happen with this?

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.a ... E_ID=50639

Wednesday, June 14, 2006



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INVASION USA
Minuteman founder denies support of bill
Congressman claimed backing of immigration compromise

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Posted: June 14, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern



By Jerome R. Corsi



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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Jim Gilchrist (Courtesy Orange County Register)
Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist says he does not support a compromise immigration proposal by Rep Mike Pence, R-Ind., despite the congressman's claim to the contrary.

Pence told a Republican Study Group mini-retreat Monday at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., that Gilchrist backs his plan to form worker-placement centers outside the U.S.

But Gilchrist clarified to WorldNetDaily his remarks to Pence.

"I congratulated Congressman Pence on putting forth alternatives, "Gilchrist explained, "but that does not mean I think the alternatives Congressman Pence proposed are the solution. Quite frankly, I don't."


Gilchrist said the "only solution that has any chance of work is for us to close the borders first, before we start talking about any kind of a guest worker program."

He believes the bill by Rep. James Sensenbrenner that passed the House (HR 4437) is the only solution, not the Kennedy-McCain bill passed by the Senate (S. 2163) or the Pence compromise.

Pence has proposed creating private worker-placement agencies outside the U.S., "Ellis Island Centers," that would be licensed by the federal government to match foreign workers with jobs that U.S. employers cannot fill with domestic workers.

Illegal immigrants would first have to leave the U.S. and then re-enter, only after they had received a guest-worker permit from one of the "Ellis Island Centers" established to screen them for re-entry.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

WND pressed Gilchrist on whether he thought there was any merit to this idea.

"These placement centers are simply impractical," Gilchrist replied. "It's going to be like showing up to get a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Before you know it, every one of the probably 30 million illegal aliens in the U.S. already will claim to have been at one of Pence's centers to get a pass. How are you going to stop the black market in fraudulent documents from forging these passes?"

Gilchrist especially was pessimistic about the idea that Pence's guest-worker suggestion would be enforced.

"What is Congressman Pence going to do if the illegal immigrants just refuse to leave the U.S. to go to one of his centers?" Gilchrist asked. "Is he going to round them up and deport them? I don't think so."

WND asked Gilchrist if he thought employers would respect the guest worker provisions of the Pence plan.

"We have enforcement provisions now that we don't enforce, why should Mike Pence's plan be any different?" Gilchrist answered. "The 1986 law makes it a crime for an U.S. employer to hire an illegal alien today. Why don't we just start by enforcing that law?"

Gilchrist said the U.S. has "millions of illegal aliens being paid under the table by large employers who are openly committing payroll tax fraud and Congressman Pence's proposal just assumes employers are going to quit doing this? I don't think so. Employers are not going to check for Mike Pence's guest worker passes any more than today they fill out the forms I-9 INS forms required by the 1986 law."

WND asked Gilchrist if he had given Pence permission to say the Minuteman Project had endorsed the compromise.

"No," Gilchrist responded, "we did not give Congressman Pence that permission. We admire that attempt to compromise, but any compromise that does not first secure the border and enforce our current laws is going to end up accomplishing nothing." Under Pence's plan, Gilchrist said, "the end result would be that the illegal immigrants already here would just stay and more would feel an open invite to cross the border, assuming they would be 'guest workers' one way or the other."

WND asked Gilchrist whether he considered the Pence compromise to be an amnesty program.

"The Pence plan is going to end up being an amnesty just like all the other guest worker plans," Gilchrist responded. "No matter how you package the idea, as soon you open up the idea that guest workers can stay, every illegal immigrant wanting to be in the U.S. immediately reclassifies themselves as a guest worker.

"Is Pence's bill going to have the billions needed for law enforcement to prove otherwise? Again, I don't think so."

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Yj ... TEzMjg5ZWU

June 13, 2006, 6:32 a.m.

Another “No Amnesty” Amnesty
It was a nice try, at least.

By Mark Krikorian


It’s funny how every new “middle ground” on immigration is in the same place as the old ones.

The latest “middle ground” proposal comes from Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.). Pence, who has solid conservative credentials as head of the House Republican Study Committee, offered what he billed as “The Real Rational Middle Ground on Immigration Reform” at a Heritage Foundation speech last month. Since there’s no actual bill to look at, we have to judge from Rep. Pence’s speech and other materials what the program would be like.

It starts out well enough. In seeking an alternative to amnesty, on the one hand, and mass deportations, on the other, he laid out a four-step plan. The first step is securing the border, and he included the entire enforcement bill passed by the House in December (with two minor modifications) in his measure.

Step two is to reject amnesty. That also sounds good, until you remember that Senators Kennedy and McCain also deny their amnesty plan is an amnesty. As do Senators Hagel and Martinez. And President Bush. They all deny that they support amnesty because, as the president says, the only thing that constitutes amnesty is “automatic citizenship,” whatever that is.

Pence has a broader definition of amnesty:

Amnesty is allowing people whose first act in America was an illegal act to get right with the law without leaving the country. Allowing twelve million illegal aliens to stay in our country instead of leaving and coming back legally is amnesty, no matter if fines or back taxes are paid, or how it is otherwise dressed-up or spun by its proponents. The only way to deal with these twelve million people is to insist that they leave the country and come back legally if they have a job awaiting them.

This is exactly the same as the “touchback” gimmick in the Senate amnesty bill, which would require illegal aliens who have been here between two and five years to cross the border to be enrolled in the permanent “temporary” worker program and then immediately return to their homes and jobs.

That brings us to the third step: the guestworker amnesty. Yes, amnesty. Or, if you prefer, legalization. Or normalization. Or regularization. Or earned adjustment. Or whatever is the euphemism du jour. The fact remains that the guestworker program in the Pence plan is explicitly designed to allow all illegal aliens to keep their jobs and domiciles in the United States without interruption.

The congressman is quite explicit on this point. In explaining the need for speedy processing of the guestworkers, he says:

No employer in America wants to lose employees for an extended amount of time. No worker who is earning money to feed and clothe a family can afford to be off the job for long. … And, an illegal alien currently employed in America will be willing to take a quick trip across the border to come back outside of the shadows and in a job where he does not fear a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In fact, I envision employers working with placement agencies to make sure that their long-time illegal employees get their paperwork processed, background checks performed, and visas issued so that they will be back on the job quickly.

In the 1950s, this process was called — in official U.S. government publications — “drying out the wetbacks.” Whether it’s called an amnesty instead, or is given some other label, the point is to let all illegal aliens stay legally.

But maybe the amnesty is time-limited? And in fact, part of Pence’s “no amnesty” claim is that the guestworker visa would be limited to a total of six years. This would be an encouraging requirement, except that, in the congressman’s words, “At that point, the guest should decide whether to return home or enter the separate process of seeking citizenship.” If legal immigration quotas are to remain in force, then these formerly illegal, now “temporary,” workers will have to leave, en masse, six years from now, which is precisely the mass deportation the congressman said (correctly) is unworkable. On the other hand, if these workers will be able to receive permanent residency outside the current limits, as they would be under the Senate amnesty bill, then this plan is the very “path to citizenship” that Rep. Pence made a big show of condemning. It’s unclear which of these is true, but it’s undeniable that the plan is either dishonest or amateurish.

Step four really takes the cake: a promise — really, truly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die — to enforce the ban on hiring illegals in the future. Pence himself says that since every illegal alien will be legalized, employers wouldn’t need to hire illegals, but that enforcement will be phased in nonetheless. This is exactly the bait-and-switch Congress perpetrated in 1986 — legalization first, enforcement later (i.e., never). It is for this reason that the House, animated by a “fool me twice, shame on me” skepticism, has insisted on “Enforcement First.”

There are plenty of other reasons to dismiss the Pence plan as unserious: by not calling for an end to automatic citizenship at birth, it makes the “temporary” claim meaningless; his gimmick of having the private sector screen the workers misses the point that they will still need to use (and receive security clearances for access to) the very same databases that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security use now; and to get “temporary” workers, employers will merely have to attest that they tried to hire Americans, rather than using objective measures to determine need, like rising wages or low unemployment in the specific occupation in question.

In fact, I didn’t write about this plan when it was announced because I didn’t think it possible that anyone could take it seriously. I was wrong. Though the Pence amnesty plan hasn’t been widely covered, it has received support, or at a least respectful hearing, from insiders who will affect the final outcome of any bill. It’s no surprise, for instance, that amnesty supporters like Dick Armey, John Fund, and Michael Barone have had nice things to say about it (not to mention several newspaper editorial pages), but even supporters of Enforcement First, like Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and Newt Gingrich, have been more receptive of the plan than a close reading of it would warrant. It’s also ironic that Pence’s speech was delivered at the Heritage Foundation, given that his plan appears to violate Heritage’s “permanent principles” on immigration; it will be interesting to see what Heritage has to say about the plan.

In the end, the Pence Amnesty wouldn’t go down with the public any better than the string of other amnesty plans that have been proposed over the past couple of years. As Peggy Noonan wrote last week about the public’s suspicions regarding immigration plans: “they think — they assume, at this point, reflexively — that slithery, slippery professional politicians are using and inventing complications to obfuscate and confuse. ... Americans don't trust ‘comprehensive plans,’ because they don't trust the comprehensive planners.”

There’s only one way Congress and the president can earn back the public’s trust on immigration: Enforce the law — comprehensively, confidently, unapologetically. Then, after several years have passed and enforcement mechanisms are in place and working, and the illegal population has shrunk through attrition, Washington will have proven that, this time, it’s not lying about immigration.

Until then, no deal.

— Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and an NRO contributor.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns ... 01305.html

Compromise may hurt Pence
By Tim Chapman

Jun 15, 2006

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence has proposed what he calls a “middle ground” in the debate over immigration reform. For his efforts Pence is now the subject of harsh criticism from both sides of the debate. But it is the criticism from the anti-immigration hard-liners on the right that threatens Pence’s standing as a hero to conservatives.

The Senate, fresh off passing the McCain-Kennedy amnesty plan, appears adamant that its position on a guest worker program containing some sort of amnesty must survive. Meanwhile, the hard-core crowd in the House led by Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo is providing a much more vigorous critique of the Pence plan, concluding that it is weak on border security and tantamount to amnesty, even though the Pence plan has won support from conservatives including Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich.

Indeed, Tancredo says, the Pence plan “gives the administration exactly what it wants: unlimited foreign workers first, enforcement later or never. Pence’s plan is the ’86 amnesty with a trip home tacked on.” MSNBC commentator Pat Buchanan this week joined the fray with a column attacking Pence as a traitor to the conservative cause because of his “stealth amnesty” plan. Buchanan says one of the crucial steps ignored by Pence is to “[b]uild a fence along the 2,000-mile border to stop the flood.”

Also dealing a blow to the public relations effort for the Pence plan was Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist.

On a weekend call-in talk show, which featured Pence as a guest, Gilchrist phoned in with kind words for Pence’s plan and thanked him for engaging in the debate with new ideas. Pence misread Gilchrist’s comments as support for his plan and announced Monday at The Heritage Foundation that the Minuteman leader was in favor.

But Gilchrist denies that, telling World Net Daily, “I congratulated Congressman Pence on putting forth alternatives, but that does not mean I think the alternatives Congressman Pence proposed are the solution. Quite frankly, I don’t.” Gilchrist concludes, the “only solution that has any chance of work is for us to close the borders first, before we start talking about any kind of a guest worker program.”

What appears to be missing from the criticism of the Pence plan is an acknowledgement that it does put border security first.

A key provision of the Pence plan puts a two-year wait on implementing a guest worker program while the border is being secured, fence and all. After that waiting period the Department of Homeland Security would be required to certify the security of the border. Essentially, this provision is identical to Republican Johnny Isakson of Georgia’s amendment that failed in the Senate. That amendment was lauded by conservatives of all stripes and its defeat signaled the end of any conservative support for the Senate bill.

In an interview with Lou Dobbs on CNN, Pence responded to critics who claim his plan is weak on border security. “We do everything that the House legislation adopted last December does to secure the border,” Pence said. “My proposal is, Lou, that for the first two years after enactment, all we do is secure the border, and build the fence and deploy the UAV and build the additional capacity and have additional border patrols. A nation without borders is not a nation. That has to come first.”

Pence also rejects accusations that his plan amounts to amnesty. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Pence wrote, “my bill does not include a so-called path to citizenship, i.e., an amnesty, for the some 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Instead, it insists that they leave and come back legally if they have a job opportunity in the U.S.”

Still, Pence’s detractors aren’t convinced.

They’re so adamant about the perceived wrong-headedness of his plan that they appear willing to dismiss the young conservative as a has-been. Indeed, rather than disagreement followed by dialogue, some appear ready to banish the Republican Study Committee’s Chairman to the hinterlands of the conservative movement. In the above mentioned column Buchanan insists that the adoption of the Pence plan will mark “the end of Mike Pence as a rising star of the GOP.”

That would be a shame.

The idea that some so-called conservatives would abandon an up-and-coming Reaganite because they disagree with his good-faith attempt to find a workable immigration solution is a measure of the temperature at which this debate is being conducted.

Pence has demonstrated his commitment to the conservative cause time and time again. Without his leadership, it is likely that the RSC’s numerous victories in this Congress would not have happened. And that is no small thing.

Increasingly in this Republican Congress it has been Pence and his small band of conservatives that have been the only ones willing to stand up for principle. But that point appears to be lost on many hard-liners who are dead set on a “my way or the highway” approach to immigration.


Tim Chapman is the Director of the Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and a contributor to Townhall.com's Capitol Report.

Pence has a broader definition of amnesty:

Amnesty is allowing people whose first act in America was an illegal act to get right with the law without leaving the country.

Amnesty:
1. Pardon:
a general pardon, especially for those who have committed political crimes
2. prosecution-free period:
a period during which crimes can be admitted or illegal weapons handed in without prosecution

If it does not impose the penalty of law then it is an amnesty. No ammount of political double-speak can change this. The penalty for being in the U.S. illegaly is deportation and a moritorium on reentry by the offender for 15 years.

AI_BOT

http://www.sierratimes.com/06/06/16/Minuteman.htm

Minutemen Condemn Congressman Pence's Amnesty Proposal
Sierra Times

PHOENIX, AZ (June 15, 2006) – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”), released the following statement in response to the reported “endorsement” by the Minutemen of Rep. Mike Pence’s so-called “compromise” amnesty proposal:
“The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in no way, shape, manner or form endorses Rep. Mike Pence’s current amnesty proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and its leadership represent the U.S. citizen volunteers who from their first operations in Tombstone AZ five long years ago, have stood vigilant mission after mission on the front lines of our broken borders. By the hundreds, and now thousands nationwide, with cleared background checks and a rigorously enforced field SOP (standard operating procedure), we as free Americans are acting to secure our nation’s frontiers from foreign invasion in the face of overt federal government failure to do so. We are backed today by over 180,000 private donors and subscribed volunteers nationwide—and growing—and we would like to reassure the American people that while some in our grassroots movement have publicly expressed their own personal opinions, the official position of MCDC is unequivocal: Rep. Pence’s amnesty proposal is a sell-out; it is a politically opportunistic betrayal of the U.S. House’s stalwart action in HR 4437 to protect and defend these United States with ‘Border Security First,’ as is the Congress’ duty under the U.S. Constitution; and it is utterly rejected by the Minutemen.

“There is only one Minuteman organization standing operational watch nationwide at our borders and only one Minuteman organization building fences along the United States border with Mexico on private land using private donations. Others who tout the Minuteman name may support legislation that fecklessly undermines HR 4437 and grants amnesty to illegal aliens. But I can assure you that the premiere Minuteman group doing the actual hard work at the borders, with the firm support of the American people, does not and will not endorse any form of amnesty, no matter what kind of false advertising it is wrapped in, no matter which side of the political aisle it rears its ugly head.

“Make no mistake, Rep. Mike Pence has sold out the American people and the House Republican leadership in his attempt to curry favor with the Rockefeller wing and the morally irresponsible ‘free-marketeers’ of the Republican Party. They wish to award their big donor, open border lobbyists with an unending supply of slave-wage labor and ethically unaccountable global marketplaces—all subsidized by the American taxpayer, and all at the expense of our national sovereignty, security and prosperity. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will not sell out the American people to these special interests. We will continue at our posts until this nation’s borders are actually secured. And we send notice to the U.S. Congress, as the American Peoples’ House—Stand Firm! We expect no less than that you each uphold the sworn oath you have taken to protect and defend America!”

http://www.opinionjournal.com

A Middle Ground on Immigration
Yes to guest workers, no to amnesty.

BY MIKE PENCE
Sunday, June 11, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

President Bush has set out his goals on immigration reform to the American people. "There is," he said, "a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant, and a program of mass deportation." I agree that a rational middle ground can be found--but amnesty is not the middle ground.

Instead, I will soon be introducing legislation, the Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act. This bill is tough on border security and tough on employers who hire illegal aliens. It will include a guest worker program--but it will not include an amnesty (nor require a huge new government bureaucracy to administer the program). I believe this legislation is a strong alternative to the amnesty plan passed by the Senate; and I hope that it will serve as an attractive alternative to my colleagues in the House of Representatives.

Since immigration reform must begin by securing our border, my plan incorporates the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, already passed by the House, in its entirety, with only minor changes. Thus my plan will add port-of-entry inspectors, end the policy of "catch and release," put to use American technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles, require a security fence to be built across our southern border, and require the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify that all these border security measures are substantially completed before any new guest worker program would begin.

But my bill does not include a so-called path to citizenship, i.e., an amnesty, for the some 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Instead, it insists that they leave and come back legally if they have a job opportunity in the U.S. They will be allowed to do so under the terms of a guest-worker program that will be implemented by firms in the private sector, not by a new government bureaucracy.

Private worker-placement agencies--"Ellis Island Centers"--would be licensed by the federal government to match guest workers with jobs that employers cannot fill with American workers. These agencies will match guest workers with jobs, perform health screening, fingerprint them, and convey the appropriate information to the FBI and Homeland Security so that a background check can be performed. Once this is done, the guest worker would be provided with a visa issued by the State Department. The whole process will take a matter of one week, or less.

My immigration reform plan does not favor illegal immigrants. Anyone may apply for a guest-worker visa at the new Ellis Island Centers; indeed, the plan may actually work to the advantage of applicants who have never violated our immigration laws, since guest-worker visas will be issued only outside the U.S.

There will initially be no cap on the number of visas that can be issued; for the first three years, the market and the needs of U.S. employers will set the limit on the number of guest workers. This is necessary in order to provide the incentive for illegal aliens in this country to self-deport and come back legally. After three years, however, a reasonable limit on the number of these "W" visas will be determined by the Department of Labor, based on employment statistics, employer needs and other research.

Nevertheless, there will be a limit on the amount of time guest workers can spend in this country. They would be allowed to renew their visas, but only for a period of up to six years. And in order to receive their first renewal, they would be required to study English and pass an English proficiency class.

After six years, a guest worker must decide whether to return home or seek citizenship. But he will do so under the normal rules and regulations of our naturalization laws. There is no path to citizenship in my bill.

Lastly, my immigration bill includes strict employer enforcement. It does so by incorporating the employer-enforcement provisions contained in the House-passed Border Protection bill. Thus, there will be established a nationwide electronic employment-verification system through which employers will confirm the legality of each prospective and current employee.

Employers who choose to operate outside the system would face stiff fines. Once the new enforcement system is in place, jobs for illegal aliens will dry up.

As the grandson of an Irish immigrant, I believe in the ideals enshrined on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. America always has been, and always will be, a welcoming nation, welcoming under the law any and all with courage enough to come here. But a nation without borders is not a nation, and across this country Americans are anxious about our borders.

Every night Americans see news images of people crossing the border illegally. They hear of people paying thousands of dollars to "coyotes" to smuggle them into the country; they worry that drugs will make their way into the hands of their children more readily. And they rightly fear that our porous borders make it more likely that terrorists will cross with deadly intentions against our families.

I believe that my Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act is a solution that those opposed to amnesty and those who propose a guest-worker program can both support. It offers a solution that those calling for the humane treatment of illegal immigrants can embrace.

And I believe that this solution is one the American people can embrace. This is the real rational middle ground.

Mr. Pence is a Republican congressman from Indiana.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199489,00.html

Has Rep. Mike Pence Found Middle Ground on Immigration Reform?

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

This is a partial transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," June 13, 2006, that was edited for clarity.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: So, it looks like putting the National Guard at the border is helping. According to officials, detentions along the U.S.-Mexican border fell 21 percent in the first 10 days of June from a year ago.

That was a plan that Indiana Congressman Mike Pence supported. And he’s a pretty hot topic of conversation in Washington right now on this immigration issue, and all because he just might have found a middle ground that unites those opposed to giving illegals amnesty and those equally opposed to treating them like criminals.

With us now, the man behind the leave-and-comeback legal strategy, Rep. Mike Pence.

Congressman, good to have you.

REP. MIKE PENCE R-IND: Thanks for having me on.

CAVUTO: How does your plan work?

PENCE: Well, it’s a very simple plan. We embrace, in what’s come to be known as the Pence Plan, a comprehensive immigration reform that begins with what we passed in the House — strong border security. In fact, my bill is nothing but border security and reinforcement for the first two years of implementation.

Secondly, we do all the tough employer sanctions that also passed the House of Representatives last year. Then, after we do those things, we reject amnesty but we create a new no-amnesty guest-worker program that uses the private sector to create new Ellis Island centers just outside the country, so that people who are here illegally or people outside the country that want to work on a two-year work visa can come, get a background check, get an employment opportunity confirmed, and a health screening, and be able to come into the country legally. It requires people who are here illegally to leave the country to apply for a visa. And that’s why it’s — it truly is a no-amnesty guest-worker program.

CAVUTO: Let me ask you, Congressman, with all good intentions, isn’t this like stealth amnesty?

PENCE: Well, it’s just not.

You know, the law makes distinctions all the time on the basis of geography. It is my view that the Senate passed an amnesty bill, because, well even though they don’t call it that — the Senate passed legislation that allows people to pay a fine, pay back taxes, otherwise, a series of penalties. But the bottom line is, they can stay in this country and get their status corrected. They can get right with the law inside the United States. That demands, as a matter of law, that they be granted some form of amnesty. Under my proposal, we simply require people to leave the country and apply for the legal right to enter our country from outside the United States. That, in and of itself, the fact that people are applying to come into our country from outside, means that amnesty is truly not a factor.

CAVUTO: So, how do we resolve this?

Many people talk about yours being the real middle ground on this. The president, as you know, sir, indicates that his is. But we’re never going to be in a position of saying to millions who are here illegally, ship them back, as some of your more conservative House members say. That’s just not going to happen, right? Or is it?

PENCE: Well, you know, I think even some of the strongest supporters of the House bill will openly say that they don’t advocate mass deportation. But I want to identify with something you just said. You know, the president called for a rational middle ground between mass deportation and amnesty. The only problem is, he then endorsed the amnesty bill of the Senate as that middle ground. What we think is the middle ground is border security, tough employer sanctions, and then creating a new system. Again, don’t miss this point. We want to use the private sector, the people that run that credit card, or the people that place millions of Americans in jobs every year, to run these privately-run Ellis Island centers outside the United States.

CAVUTO: But, you know, maybe the president’s approach, though, was and is right. If it means these Guard troops are out there, and then the number of people hopping over the fence or whatever, the border, is down — and down dramatically — maybe his approach is the one that’s working.

PENCE: Well look, there is no question that the 6,000 National Guard troops on the border are having an impact. I welcome that. We could use more help down along the border. We have got to secure our border. I said many times a nation without borders is not a nation.But I simply believe that the overwhelming majority of the 10 to 12 million people who have come here illegally would really jump at the chance to get right with the law, to make a trip home, and go to a privately-run Ellis Island center for the opportunity to submit to a background check and be issued a biometric visa...

CAVUTO: OK.

PENCE: ...that would allow them to come into our country. It’s a...

CAVUTO: All right.

PENCE: It truly is a no-amnesty proposal. And I hope as many of your viewers as possible will check out my Web site and read all about it.

CAVUTO: We will, Congressman. Thank you very much for joining us.

PENCE: Thank you, Neil.

http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/2006/060523mp.asp

Renewing the American Dream: The Real Rational Middle Ground on Immigration Reform

By Mike Pence

The Heritage Foundation

May 23, 2006

Note (5/23/06): Earlier today, Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) presented an alternative proposal for immigration reform. As a courtesy to our readers, ACU is pleased to provide a transcript of the congressman's speech, legislation from which he will soon be introducing.

I come before you today in the midst of a national debate over immigration reform. While I acknowledge that, as the New York Times stated Sunday, we are near the “end game” on immigration reform in the United States Senate, we are far from reaching the kind of compromise that would make a legislative outcome possible in this session of Congress. I bring these remarks in the hopes of offering a new approach and a real middle ground on immigration reform.

One week ago President Bush set out his views on immigration reform to the American people. He stated: “There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant, and a program of mass deportation.”

I agree with the President that a rational middle ground can be found between amnesty and mass deportation, but I disagree with the President that amnesty is the middle ground. Amnesty is not the real rational middle ground. In the coming days I will introduce the Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act, which as I will discuss today sets forth a real rational middle ground between amnesty and mass deportations.

The Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act is a bill that is tough on border security and tough on employers who hire illegal aliens, but recognizes the need for a guest worker program that operates without amnesty and without growing into a huge new government bureaucracy. I believe that it is a strong alternative to the amnesty plan being debated by the Senate and pushed by the President, and I hope that it will serve as an attractive alternative to Members of the House.

As the grandson of an Irish immigrant, I believe in the ideals that are enshrined on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Located on a plaque on Lady Liberty’s pedestal are the words of Emma Lazarus from the “New Colossus”:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

America always has been and always will be a welcoming nation, welcoming under the law any and all with the courage enough to come to this shining city on a hill. But, a nation without borders is not a nation, and across this country Americans are anxious about the security of our border.

Every night Americans see news images of people crossing the border illegally; they hear tales of people paying thousands of dollars to so-called “coyotes” to smuggle them into the country; they worry that drugs will make their way into the hands of their children more readily; and they rightly fear that our porous borders make it more likely that terrorists will cross with deadly intentions against our families.

In 2005, Customs and Border Patrol stopped 1,189,114 people from illegally crossing the border. Of that number, approximately 165,000 were from countries other than Mexico. Over 200 were from Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that twelve million illegal aliens are currently living in America. Just a few months ago, that estimate was eleven million. In a few more months or years, that estimate will grow to thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty or more million illegal aliens, unless we do something to turn the tide.

And, we must do something because this is a problem of epic proportions. It is a problem that threatens the very fabric of America. Every time I am home in Indiana, I hear about this issue from my constituents. Hoosiers are concerned. Americans are concerned. I am concerned.

We can control our borders. At the same time, we can find a real rational middle ground for dealing with the illegal immigrants currently in America. A lot of people in Washington are talking about what we can do, but the solutions they are offering, up to this point, are not workable and they are not acceptable to millions of hard-working Americans who believe in law and order and the American Dream.

The Senate is debating a bill that will provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Amnesty is no solution. It only will worsen the problem because it will cause more people to come here illegally with the hope of someday having their status adjusted.

I see the solution as a four-step process. Securing our border is the first step. The second step is to make the decision, once and for all, to deny amnesty to people whose first act in the United States was a violation of the law. The third step is to put in place a guest worker program, without amnesty, that will efficiently provide American employers with willing guest workers who come to America legally. The final step is tough employer sanctions that ensure a full partnership between American business and the American government in the enforcement of our laws on immigration and guest workers.


On border security, the House of Representatives got off to a great start in December 2005 when we passed H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. The Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee were able to put together a strong bill that will secure our borders.

The House-passed bill was a first step. In fact, my bill begins by including the House bill, with a couple of minor changes. The House got it right, and aside from removing the felony provision for illegal presence and clarifying that no one is trying to put Good Samaritans behind bars, I am keeping this language as-is. We must take a tough approach on securing this nation’s borders. I have said it once today and will say it again, “A nation without borders is not a nation.”

Therefore, we must make America a nation with borders. We must man the door. I believed that in December 2005 when I voted for the House bill, and I believe it now.

The President called for 6,000 more Border Patrol agents and the use of the National Guard in the interim. I welcome that call and support it, but it is not enough. The House-passed bill adds port of entry inspectors, ends catch and release, puts to use American technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles, and requires the building of a security fence across approximately 700 miles of our Southern border.

These are the kind of actions that will bring about a new day on our border. Instead of “coyotes,” drug-runners and criminals ruling the border, American law enforcement will rule the border. Instead of terrorists having the ability to sneak through a porous border, they will find a secure border hardened to prevent their illegal entry.

However, as I have been thinking about securing our border, a thought kept coming back to me. So many of the people crossing the border are not crossing for nefarious or devious reasons. The great majority of illegal border crossers do so in order to find work or to be with family members working in America.

I have come to believe that securing the border would be much easier and allow for a better use of our resources if we could eliminate these people from the ranks of those crossing the border illegally. The House bill will secure our border, but it will do it even better when its provisions can concentrate just on those illegal border crossers who are criminals, drug dealers and possible terrorists. In order to do that, there must be a legal means for the great majority of people seeking temporary work to come to America.

A few months ago a very dedicated and resolute American came to me with an idea. Her name is Helen Krieble, and she is here with us today. Thank you, Helen, for being here.

Helen is the founder and president of The Vernon K. Krieble Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to public policy and America’s founding principles. She is on the front-lines in this debate, literally. She hires ten guest workers each year for her business, the Colorado Horse Park, which is a major equestrian and events center in Parker, Colorado. She hires them legally, but as she can tell you, it isn’t easy. The bureaucracy is confounding.

So, she came to me with an idea. She asked why we couldn’t have a no amnesty guest worker program run by the private market instead of the government. Helen’s idea represents the core of the Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act, and I readily acknowledge that. Helen is living proof that the best ideas don’t come from Washington, DC, but come from the creative minds of men and women living the American Dream.

Step two is to say no to amnesty in any form. My bill offers a no amnesty solution to the problem of twelve million illegal aliens living in our country. Some argue that there is no amnesty if these twelve million illegal aliens are required to pay a fine or back taxes. The President and many in the Senate seem to believe this to be the proper path.

There is no support back home in my district for amnesty, and this has nothing to do with race or ethnic discrimination. It has everything to do with the fundamental belief of every American in law and order. America is, and always has been, a welcoming society. This sentiment is essentially an expression of a moral principal. The ancient words, “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him for you were aliens in Egypt,” reflect the sentiment of millions of Americans who share this compassionate view of the illegal aliens in our midst. But, there still is no support back home for amnesty.

Amnesty is allowing people whose first act in America was an illegal act to get right with the law without leaving the country. Allowing twelve million illegal aliens to stay in our country instead of leaving and coming back legally is amnesty, no matter if fines or back taxes are paid, or how it is otherwise dressed-up or spun by its proponents. The only way to deal with these twelve million people is to insist that they leave the country and come back legally if they have a job awaiting them.

But people ask, “Congressman, if you’re not going to provide amnesty, what are you going to do with twelve million illegal aliens”?

They recognize it is not logistically possible to round-up twelve million illegal aliens, put them on buses and conduct a mass deportation. It also is not realistic to think that some American businesses can operate without these workers. And, it is unreasonable to think that people who came to America illegally and found jobs will voluntarily leave those jobs and opportunities without knowing whether they can return legally.

Therefore, the solution is to setup a system that will encourage illegal aliens to self-deport and come back legally as guest workers. This may sound outside of the box, and it is. It may sound far-fetched and unrealistic, but it isn’t. It is based on sound, proven conservative principles. It places reliance on American enterprise and puts government back into its traditional role of protecting its citizens. Let me explain to you how it will work.

Private worker placement agencies that we could call “Ellis Island Centers” will be licensed by the federal government to match willing guest workers with jobs in America that employers cannot fill with American workers. U.S. employers will engage the private agencies and request guest workers. In a matter of days, the private agencies will match guest workers with jobs, perform a health screening, fingerprint them and provide the appropriate information to the FBI and Homeland Security so that a background check can be performed, and provide the guest worker with a visa granted by the State Department. The visa will be issued only outside of the United States.

Outside of the United States. That is a key point because it is the provision that will require the twelve million illegal aliens to leave. Now, some of you are thinking to yourselves that twelve million people aren’t going to pack up and leave just to get a visa to come back legally. But, I believe most will.

The process that I just described to you will only take a matter of one week, or less. That is the beauty of the program. Speed is so important. No employer in America wants to lose employees for an extended amount of time. No worker who is earning money to feed and clothe a family can afford to be off the job for long.

But, an employer faced with a looming requirement to verify the legality of its employees and stiff fines for employing illegal aliens will be willing to use a quick system to obtain legal employees. And, an illegal alien currently employed in America will be willing to take a quick trip across the border to come back outside of the shadows and in a job where he does not fear a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In fact, I envision employers working with placement agencies to make sure that their long-time illegal employees get their paperwork processed, background checks performed, and visas issued so that they will be back on the job quickly.

Imagine for a moment asking millions of people to line up at the U.S. Consulate in Mexico City to obtain a visa to come to America and work as a guest worker. It would be a disaster. Now, imagine private companies competing against each other to process guest worker applicants and match the applicants with open jobs. Imagine the application of American business ingenuity to this process. That, my friends, is why this program will work.

Let me give you a few other details on the guest worker program. The visas will be referred to as “W Visas.” (No kidding.) I think it is obvious whose support we are trying to garner here. Seriously, the W Visa results from a fortuitous instance of bill drafting. The code already has visa categories for letters A through V, so W is the next open letter. The W Visa, without amnesty, would be the real rational middle ground that the President has called our nation to in this debate.

Now, for some less interesting details. First, the number of guest workers will be limited. After the program is up and running, there will be a period of three years when the market and the needs of U.S. employers will set the limit on the number of guest workers. Not letting the market and the needs of employers govern the number of guest workers initially will prevent illegal aliens from being willing to self-deport. No one wants to be one number over the limit, and that person will want to come here or stay here illegally.

But, after three years of this program, we should be in a vastly different situation from where we are now. The great majority of illegal aliens will have self-deported and come back into a confirmed job. The number of those who don’t should be a manageable number for law enforcement to pursue and employers to terminate. Therefore, after three years of the program, a reasonable limit on the number of W Visas will be determined by the Department of Labor based on employment statistics, employer needs and other research. After the three-year window has closed, this limit will be strictly enforced. Thus, the three-year window will provide even greater incentive to those who are currently illegal to enter into and comply with the new guest worker program.

There also will be a limit on the amount of time a guest worker can spend in America. Guest workers will be allowed to renew their W Visas, but only for a period of up to six years. At that point, the guest should decide whether to return home or enter the separate process of seeking citizenship. We cannot have people coming to America as permanent guest workers. That is why having a six-year limit is important. It keeps the meaning of the word “guest” in guest worker.

In order to receive their first renewal, guest workers will be required to study English and pass an English proficiency class. If America is willing to invite you to come and work, I believe that after two years of working here, the guest worker should be willing and able to speak basic English. They also will be required to pass an updated background check. We are not going to allow criminals to come and work in America.

The bill will require employers to treat guest workers fairly and to follow employment laws. Employment taxes will be paid. Workers will be allowed to change jobs within a certain time period without having to leave the country. No worker will be trapped in a job with an abusive employer.

The W Visas themselves will be issued in the form of secure wallet-sized cards, similar to the cards described and endorsed by the President. Employers will swipe them to verify the guest worker’s eligibility. Border patrol agents will swipe the cards to confirm the guest worker is allowed to enter the country. The card will contain information about the job the guest worker is coming to perform, and it will contain personal and biometric information so that the guest worker can be tracked. If a guest worker is fired, convicted of a crime, or just disappears, the card will be cancelled, preventing another employer from hiring the person.

Before going to a placement agency with a job, U.S. employers must try to hire American workers. They will have to attest their efforts to the agency. Believe me, this is a tough requirement that will protect the American worker because people will be watching and checking-out employers. Our society has many watchdogs, and I have no doubt that people will be watching to make sure that if an American could be hired, he or she is hired.

With a guest worker program in place, there is no reason why an employer ever should hire or continue to employ an illegal alien. Employers who choose to operate outside of the system, however, must face tough fines in order to be made to comply. That is what the enforcement system and the new fine structure will do.

The strict employer enforcement contained in the House-passed bill is contained in my bill. It sets forth a nationwide electronic employment verification system through which employers will verify the legality of each prospective and current employee. Right now employers are put in a no-win situation. Under the law, they must accept employees with documents that reasonably appear on their face to be genuine. They cannot challenge such documents without risking a lawsuit.

We all know that the use of counterfeit documents by illegal aliens is widespread. To combat this problem, employers need a system through which they can quickly and accurately verify whether an employee is legal. Under the guest worker program, the W Visa cards will be easy to verify, with each worker’s personal and biometric information. However, some will continue to try to use old, fake documents. We must weed out these people.

Under this enforcement system, each employer will transmit its employees’ names and Social Security or alien identification numbers to a confirmation office that will compare the names and numbers to Social Security and Homeland Security records. Within a few days, the employer will be notified of the results, and if an employee is ineligible there is a period of ten days to perform a secondary verification. If after that, the employee is still ineligible the employer should dismiss the employee. Continuing to employ an unverifiable person will be subject to serious monetary penalties and fines.

As a final incentive, my bill requires that in order to hire a guest worker, the employer must be a participant in the employment verification system. Participation in the system is phased-in over a period of two to six years. However, my bill allows employers to voluntarily join the system before they are required to participate in order to hire guest workers. This puts enforcement at the work site first.

Employer enforcement is the key. Once in place, jobs for illegal aliens will dry up. Why hire an illegal alien when you can hire a legal guest worker and eliminate the possibility of a big fine? Why stay in the country illegally when you can quickly return home and come back as a legal guest worker?

So, is all of this pie-in-the-sky? Only if you do not believe in the private market or American business. Only if you do not believe that Americans are a willing and open-minded people. Only if you do not believe in the desire of those who are here illegally to have the opportunity to get right with the law.

We can do this. I believe the Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act is a solution that conservatives can embrace. I believe this legislation is a solution that those opposing amnesty can embrace. I believe this proposal offers a solution that those calling for humane treatment of the illegal aliens in our midst can embrace. And, I believe that this solution is one the American people can embrace. This is the real rational middle ground.

I mentioned at the outset that I am the grandson of an Irish immigrant. I take my name, Michael Richard from his. Richard Michael Cawley came to this country on a boat from Ireland and stepped onto Ellis Island, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, in the early 20th century. Like millions who came before and since, that frightened teenage boy had a simple dream, a dream expressed when his mother handed him the one-way ticket and said, “you have a future there,” a dream we call the American Dream.

My grandfather grew up in a two room house in farm country east of a small village called Tubbercurry, Ireland. When I saw that home the summer after he died, I better understood a moment we shared just a few weeks before he went home to be with the Lord.

It was the fall of 1980 and my father had finally given in to my mother’s wish for a bigger house and the two-story, 4,000 square foot home in Columbus, Indiana seemed like a palace to all of us… especially my grandfather. When I walked into the house, I saw grandpa sitting alone in the family room and I noticed his eyes were moist with emotion. When I asked if he was alright, he quietly replied in a gentle Irish brogue, “I just never thought a child of mine would live in a house like this.” My grandpa, like my mom and dad, lived the American Dream. He got off that boat an Irish lad, he died an American, and I am an American because of him.

Immigration Reform is about renewing the American Dream. We renew the American Dream by reaffirming our commitment to legal immigration. We renew the American Dream by giving those who have made their way into our country illegally, an opportunity to come out of the shadows. We renew the American Dream by creating a system that recognizes the dignity and worth of every person in this One Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.