Thread: Navarrette: What really bothers Immigration foes!

Navarrette: What really bothers immigration foes

By Ruben Navarrette
Special to CNN
Friday, August 11, 2006; Posted: 9:52 a.m. EDT (13:52 GMT)

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Ruben Navarrette: The Hutchison-Pence proposal reveals what motivates immigration restrictionists

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Immigration restrictionists can be so dishonest.

They've said all along that all they care about is that border security be the first priority of any immigration reform plan and that illegal immigrants not be given amnesty. They insisted that they aren't motivated by racism and that they have no problem with immigrants, if they are here legally.

Now we learn otherwise in light of the opposition to a middle-ground immigration reform plan proposed by two anti-amnesty, pro-border security Republicans: Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas.

Anti-amnesty Republicans in Congress come in three flavors. There are the opportunists who view the issue as red meat that will inspire GOP voters in November. There are the nativists who are frightened over how Latinos affect the culture and who have taken it on as their crusade to reverse that trend. And there are the pragmatists who are willing to work for a bipartisan agreement that fixes a broken immigration system.

Pence and Hutchison are pragmatists. They came up with this: As the first priority, secure the U.S.-Mexico border. For the first two years after the bill becomes law, the emphasis would be on beefing up the border patrol. Once that happens, it would be up to the president to certify to Congress that the border is secure.

Then we'd move on to goal No. 2: establishment of a guest-worker program that would require millions of illegal immigrants in the United States to return to their home country for a couple of weeks to register at privately run "Ellis Island"-type placement centers, where they would receive temporary work visas that could be renewed every two years for a maximum of 12 years.

At that point, workers convert to a new type of visa. And then, in five years -- or 17 years after enrolling in the program -- we'd move on to goal No. 3 in which workers could apply for U.S. citizenship.

You would think that GOP hard-liners could live with this. You'd be wrong. The Pence-Hutchison plan is under fire. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, criticized it for favoring low-skilled workers and not offering preference to immigrants who speak English.

And, during an interview last week with The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, flirted with nativism when he said that his concern is that the plan would provide "unlimited immigration from Mexico and Central America."

Now we're getting to the heart of the matter.

The Hutchison-Pence plan forces the anti-amnesty crowd to level finally with the rest of us about what really bothers them. If it is that people are here illegally, or that the border isn't secure, then the plan has that covered. But if it's the fear that Anglo-Saxon culture and the English language are being eroded by Spanish-speaking foreigners, and that the country is going down the tubes because of it -- then this plan doesn't offer much relief.

After all, under it, the immigrants get to be legal, but they also get to stay. For some people, that's the real problem. As far as those people are concerned, the Hutchison-Pence plan doesn't offer much comfort.

What it does offer is something this debate could use more of: clarity.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/11/navarrette/index.html

Yea, I figured this was coming, more race baiting from their side, this issure of being called racist and bigots when we disagree with them is growing very tiresome.

the fear that Anglo-Saxon culture and the English language are being eroded by Spanish-speaking foreigners, and that the country is going down the tubes because of it -- then this plan doesn't offer much relief.

No it doesn't and I'm not a foreigner here and what makes it wrong for me to want to keep my culture and language from being destroyed? After all it's what they are comming here to benefit from...isn't it? You don't see millions bombarding the borders to live and enjoy and thrive in the wonderful world Mexico and South America have created.

The Truth about Mike Pence’s “No Amnesty” Amnesty:

Allows all illegal aliens to apply for guestworker status

Other than having to take quick trip to Mexico and pay a processing fee, there is no penalty given to the illegals turned guestworkers

Puts corporations in charge of evaluating the need for guestworkers

Allows family members of guestworkers to come as well, and then grants “family unity” as a basis to appeal removal

“guest” workers are allowed to apply for citizenship when their term expires

Gives amnesty for social security fraud committed by illegals
“no numerical limitation” on guestworkers for three years. Undefined levels afterwards

If you like reading boring legal documents, you read a draft of the legislation here.

What prominent conservatives and supporters of immigration reform have to say about the Pence Plan

Odysseus escaped the powerful temptation of the siren song only because his sailors, out of respect and affection for their captain, tied him to the mast. He thrashed about and called on his crew to untie him, but they refused until they had sailed past the temptation. Mike, Lifeboat America’s passengers and crew have to strap you to the mast as we chart this course through the rocky waters of the immigration debate. It’s a narrow channel, in hazardous seas, through which Lifeboat America must resist many alluring temptations. Congressman Pence, America is going to need you for a long time as a leader in the Conservative Movement. Just say it ain’t so, Mike.

-Congressman Steve King (R-IA)

Despite the consistent failure of all guest worker plans (e.g., France), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) is peddling a new plan to import foreign workers who really are guests and really do go home. Pence has turned his back on the 88 percent of House Republicans who voted that we must achieve border security first, because we'll be cheated on border security if Congress passes a "comprehensive" bill..

- Phyllis Schlafly

The so-called compromise proposed by Rep. Mike Pence would place no limit whatsoever on the numbers of foreign workers who could be imported by U.S. employers from any country anywhere in the world. By flooding this country with so many immigrants, legal and illegal, controlling immigration will become impossible and by dumping that burden onto an already-overburdened system of government benefits, these proposals [The Senate Amnesty and the Pence Plan] are a threat to the future of the United States. They must be defeated.

-Conservative Leadership Declartation Opposing Amnesty/ "Guestworker" Proposals- Joint statement signed by such leaders as Phyllis Schlafly, Alan Keyes, John Fonte of the Hudson Institute, Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Don Feder, and David Horowitz.

The Pence plan is going to end up being an amnesty just like all the other guest worker plans. 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.

-James Gilchrist: Founder of the Minuteman Project

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.

-Mark Krirkorian, President of the Center for Immigration Studies

Mike Pence is one of truest free market believers in Congress. Exhibit A: When asked about immigration reform, he said, "It’s a safe bet the Senate will produce a bad bill on any topic."

But that was a few weeks ago. On Wednesday (May 23 rd) the congressman convincingly demonstrated that Senators are not the only ones who don’t get it. At a Heritage Foundation speech that afternoon, Pence presented what he called "a rational middle ground…between amnesty and mass deportation" that would, in effect, reward illegal aliens for breaking the law.

Edward Rubenstein- President of ESR Research Associates

“The House’s strategy in H.R. 4437 was to fix the illegal alien problem by enforcing the law. Over time, as illegal workers cannot obtain jobs, they go home because they have no other option open to them. Pence takes a much different approach: fix illegal behavior by legalizing it. As a conservative and a friend of Mike Pence, I am baffled by his shift on immigration. I hope he reconsiders his position and returns to an enforcement-first position.”

-Tom Tancredo

If the House buys the Pence plan, it will be the end of Republican control of the House in November and the end of Mike Pence as a rising star of the GOP. But that will not matter. For the consequences for the country will be irremediable and infinitely worse.

-Patrick J. Buchanan

[B]eware of House conservatives bearing gifts-such as respectable "compromises" that might satisfy the White House, soften the Senate Republican minority, and "unite" the GOP. Anything that does the first two of these three things will not be a compromise but a surrender. Mike Pence seems like a sound fellow in general but his proposed "compromise" is an utter absurdity

-John O’Sullivan, National Review

There is very little about [the Pence Plan] that is substantially different from a dozen other plans, except that it is a conservative proposing the "compromise" in this case. And that is precisely why I believe that Pence's plan is more dangerous than the other legalization schemes -- because it will not be subjected to the same level of skepticism and examination as a compromise produced by Senators Kennedy or McCain or Reid.

-Human Events

Hey there everyone...

Pence and Hutchison are pragmatists. They came up with this: As the first priority, secure the U.S.-Mexico border. For the first two years after the bill becomes law, the emphasis would be on beefing up the border patrol.
Once that happens, it would be up to the president to certify to Congress that the border is secure

(The following opinion by a registered Independent...):

And what might the standard be to certify 'the border is secured'?
Instead, how about have the Congress certify to the President that 'the border is secured'? I'd trust the Republican-led House more than Bush or even the Senate any day...

Mr. Navarette doesn't seem to understand that very few people still trust the President... In fact, it's one of the very key reasons that we are here having this discussion at all...

marineinspector:

Hey, thanks. I can't speak for anyone else here, but, I'm glad we've got people 'tuned in' that are 'in the trenches' so to speak, and have first-hand knowledge and experience with the subject matter. From a former Fed employee to another - thanks! I know doing the work can be low-paid and thankless at times (well, most of the time!)...
In any case, I, for one, am glad we have people like yourself that are willing and able to do the job. Even better, thanks for stepping-up to join us here too!!

Here's another Patton quote which is one of my favorites:
"Tell people what to do and not how to do it, and you'll be amazed at the results". Patton, it seems, had the sense NOT to be a micro-manager.

marineinspector, you have laid it out very well here. I wish you would respond to Ruben Navarrete, with what you have written in response here. I went to cnn.com to see if they had a respond to this article, they didn't, however I got his email to post here if you are anyone on ALIPAC wants to respond to Mr Navarrette!
ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com

Originally Posted by nittygritty

marineinspector, you have laid it out very well here. I wish you would respond to Ruben Navarrete, with what you have written in response here. I went to cnn.com to see if they had a respond to this article, they didn't, however I got his email to post here if you are anyone on ALIPAC wants to respond to Mr Navarrette!
ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com

I already sent him an e-mail.

BTW, my post was put together by a friend on FR, not I. I just did a cut and paste.

Thanks to everyone, I think we should all send this man an email, not that it would change his thinking one iota, just to let him know we will not stand for his race baiting! Maybe we should also ask him, since he is a good hispanic legal citizen, if he might write an article, standing up for those 2 border agents, trying to do their job on the border who will soon be standing before the court to be sentenced to a possible 20yrs to life for their trouble! Surely he would stand up for our brave border patrol agents doing their job right?

What also is helpful is to copy your e-mails to his editor, newspaper owners, representatives, and jorge bush. I like to also copy the Mayor of Fresno and Governor of California to tell them about the garbage being written by illegal alien supporters such as ruben nubadump.