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FAIR: President's State of the Union Remarks on Immigration Will Highlight Why He is Not Trusted by the American Public



WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When President Bush
delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, he is certain to
propose, yet again, an immigration reform package that provides amnesty to
tens of millions of illegal aliens, millions of new guest workers for
business interests, and another set of worthless promises to the American
public to enforce immigration laws in the future. With the change in
congressional leadership, President Bush is hopeful that 2007 will be the
year he finally succeeds in passing a guest worker amnesty plan that has
been consistently rejected by the American public and the majority of his
own party.
The immigration policy changes Bush has advocated in the past, and will
call for yet again on Tuesday, have contributed in making him one of the
most unpopular presidents in history. They also reflect this
administration's dangerous ideological tendency to ignore inconvenient
facts and public opinion in pursuit of its own goals.
"What we will hear from President Bush on Tuesday will be a radical
immigration agenda that is designed to satisfy business's demands for an
endless supply of low wage labor, but one that will represent a looming
disaster for the vast majority of Americans," predicted Dan Stein,
president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "For
Americans who work for a living, who pay taxes, send their kids to public
schools, care about the environment, or who believe that a nation is more
than just a random collection of people who happen to share a piece of
geography, what the president will call for will be the undermining of
their hopes and aspirations."
While President Bush's plans for what he calls immigration reform will
be long on rhetoric, it is certain to be short on details. Important
questions such as, how many immigrants would qualify for what will amount
to an amnesty program; how many additional relatives will subsequently be
reunited; how massive a bureaucracy would be required to implement an
amnesty of this magnitude; how meaningful background checks would be
carried out on tens of millions of applicants; what impact such a proposal
would have on U.S. population growth and the environment; how local
governments would pay for additional services and infrastructure; and other
critical concerns will not be addressed because neither the president nor
the congressional leadership has the vaguest idea.
"What is likely to be proposed will be the domestic equivalent of the
disastrous policy in Iraq," warned Stein. "It was easy enough to depose
Saddam. But what happens after that, nobody really thought through.
Similarly, 'solving' the problem of mass illegal immigration by having
Congress pass, and the president sign, a mass amnesty bill is the easy
part. What we do the morning after, no one is quite sure.
"One way or another we will eventually extricate ourselves from the
situation in Iraq by bringing the troops home. Unfortunately, the
disastrous immigration plan the president will propose in his State of the
Union will have no escape mechanism," Stein said. "The time to consider the
consequences is before any amnesty plan is implemented, not after."
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national,
non- profit, public interest membership organization of concerned citizens
who share a belief in stronger border enforcement, an end to illegal
immigration, and a reduction of immigration levels consistent with national
interests.
FAIR's nationally recognized spokespersons are available for comment
prior to, or after the State of the Union Address.