Thread: President Discusses Global War on Terror at Kansas State

I just copied a question Bush received on immigration after his speech. If you want to read the whole speech click the link.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases ... 123-4.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 23, 2006

President Discusses Global War on Terror at Kansas State University
Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas



A couple of more and then I've got to hop. Yes, ma'am.

Q Mr. President -- (speaking Spanish.) I know that the relationship between United States and Venezuela is no good. That's not my problem. My problem is -- or the question I have for you is what are you doing in the borders? We try to secure the United States for terrorism, I know. So we're trying to secure the borders, but, as well, some of us of who are Hispanics and professional sometimes are denied the opportunity to work and advance in the workplace because we are minorities.

What are you going to do as a (inaudible) -- what are you going to do provide the most secure job in which we serve the country, we serve the university? I can't complain in this university, I've been treated like royalty here, but when you work outside the university as a Hispanic, you are not look good enough because they think you come from Mexico.

I come from Venezuela, which is a different country, but all of us are Hispanics and all of us embrace ourselves in America because America is -- North America, the United States. In Central and South America, where one continents embrace each other. So what are you going to do to provide opportunities for the Hispanics who come to this country legally, like I did? Or who are illegal here? We should help them to get legal here, not provide directly a green card, but help them to become legal in step-by-step --

THE PRESIDENT: Okay.

Q -- like all of us have done. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I got the question. Immigration. (Laughter and applause.)

First of all, bienvenidos. And we have an obligation in this country to enforce our borders. And there's huge pressure on our borders. We've got a long border, obviously, with Mexico, and a long border with Canada. And the biggest, most problematic area right now is the border with Mexico -- California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The issue is not only Mexican citizens who are coming across the border illegally, but it's other citizens who are coming across the border. And our obligation is to use a wise strategy to shut down the trafficking of anything illegal across the border. We're a country of law, and we must enforce the border. And we spend a lot of time in Washington, D.C. analyzing the border issues, and strategizing with Congress about how to do a better job including the following things: One, increasing the number of Border Patrol agents; two, increasing the use of technology on the border, so that you can see people coming through drones, for example, and then be able to rally the Border Patrol to stop people from coming across.

Some physical barriers, particularly in urban centers, are now being constructed. Some berms -- there's parts of our border, where, literally, you can just drive across and there's nothing. You know, it's just nothing -- land, and in you come. And it's hard -- the demarcation zone is different, and it makes it hard for people to enforce the border.

Secondly, when we detain somebody at the border, we've got to have a rational policy to help back up the people we're paying to enforce the border. And by that I mean if you're somebody from Central America, for example, caught coming into our country that the policy has been to give you a notification to report back to a judge, and they'll hear your case. Well, guess what? A lot of them don't come back. They're here because they're trying to better their lives, and they're going to move into our society as best as they can. And they're not going to return back. So we're ending what's called "catch and release," and we're beginning to provide more detention space for our Border Patrol to be able to say to people -- particularly from Central America and South America -- you've come illegally, we're sending you back home.

Thirdly, in terms of workers. We do have H1, H2B visa programs that we're constantly analyzing with the United States Congress. It makes sense that highly skilled workers, for example, be given work permits here in the United States if it helps us meet an economic objective. But I feel strongly that we need to take the worker program a step further, and I'll tell you why. I'm mindful that most people come here to work. There are a lot of people in your state dependent upon people coming here to work.

I tell you I used to say that -- when I was governor of Texas, family values didn't stop at the Rio Grande River. And people if they could make 50 cents and had mouths to feed or $5 and had mouths to feed, a lot of people would come to try find that $5 work. And so here's my position, and that is that if there is someone who will do a job an American won't do, then that person ought to be given a temporary worker card to work in the United States for a set period of time.

I do not believe that any guest worker program ought to contain amnesty, because I believe that if you granted amnesty to the people here working now that that would cause another 8 million people or so to come here. I do believe, however, it is humane to say to a person, you're doing a job somebody else won't do, here is a temporary card to enable you to do the card [sic].

The length of stay here will be dependent upon the actions of the Congress. It's conceivable you could have a three-year period with a renewal period. I've thought a lot about this issue, I just want you to know. And by the way, when you mention guest worker, a lot of people automatically spring to amnesty, all I want to do is grant legal status. That's just not the case. I don't believe we ought to do that. But I do believe we ought to recognize there are people doing work others won't do.

And there's a lot of good employers here in Kansas employing these people, and the employers don't know whether or not somebody is here legally or not. Because what's happened is a whole kind of industry has sprung up around people coming here. And it's inhumane. It's inhumane for the people being trafficked into the United States, and it's not fair to employers who may be breaking the law.

And here's what I mean -- you've got people being smuggled into the United States of America by these criminal networks. They're called coyotes -- coyotes. And they're bringing them in, in the back of 18-wheelers, stuffing human beings to come and do work in America that Americans won't do -- in the back of 18-wheelers. You've got a whole forgery industry up and running, you know? And so these guys show up with documents that -- so the employer says, well, you look legal to me. They don't know whether they're legal or not legal.

And I know that we've got a lot of our Border Patrol agents trying to catch people sneaking in the country. And so it seems like to me that why don't we recognize reality, give people workers cards on a temporary basis so somebody can come back and forth legally, with tamper-proof card that will enable an employer to know whether or not they're hiring somebody who is illegal. And if we catch employers after that hiring somebody illegal, there's got to be a fine and a consequence.

And so a compassionate way to enforce our border is to give people a temporary worker card without granting amnesty. That's a long answer to a very important problem that is -- now is the time for the United States to take it on squarely, in a humane way, that recognizes the situation and deals with it in an up-front way. And I want to thank you for the question.

Look, I've got dinner tonight. (Laughter.) I'd like to be here for a longer period of time, but Laura is serving dinner for retiring Alan Greenspan and I better not be late, otherwise all that advice, it will be kind of -- have a little different tone to it. (Laughter.) I've really enjoyed being here. I want to thank you for your courtesy for having me. Thank you for supporting a great university in Kansas State University.

May God bless you all and may God continue to bless our country. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END 1:31 P.M. CST

Well....what more needs to be said. The man is insane. He's using the drones to "count" them, not keep them out.

What was he doing at Kansas State anyway? Doesn't he have some President work to do? You know we doubled his salary after he was elected. So we ought to be getting twice as much work out of the guy.

I heard some of this speech yesterday BEFORE I turned it off. It was just SO NAUSEATING that the barf bucket was FULL and I was too sorry to keep emptying it.

Rove has come up with a new TACTIC. They are trying to refocus everyone's attention on TERRORISM because they believe that was why he won in 2004 and why the Republicans won in 2002 and 2004. In the little "town hall-type meeting", he kept STRESSING the global war on terror. And, he just gets up there and has that s----eating GRIN every time he answers a question.

There was a new poll out yesterday that only showed TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT APPROVAL of the way Bush was handling the border situation. I need to go find it and post.

Oh yes, please post that poll, Bootsie!!

I can't FIND THE DAMN THING. I've loooked EVERYWHERE. I did post the segment from Lou last night that gave THAT particular statistic in General Discussion. But, I tried to find the complete poll with NO LUCK.

No problem. There will be another one shortly anyway showing that 25% dropped to 5%. When that one comes out, we'll post it all over creation.

Check out the one I posted on General Discussion. They discussed that one 25% part of it in depth.