Thread: Romney Defends Stance on Immigration

thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
January 25, 2012, 4:11 pm

MIAMI — Mitt Romney on Wednesday angrily rejected Newt Gingrich’s accusation that he is “anti-immigrant,” calling that a personal attack that is out of bounds.

“It’s very sad for a candidate to resort to that kind of epithet,” Mr. Romney said at a candidate forum sponsored by Univision. “We don’t attack each other with those kind of terrible terms. I am not anti-immigrant. I’m pro-immigrant.”

Mr. Romney defended his proposal for “self-deportation,” saying that if illegal immigrants were no longer able to find work they would voluntarily decide to go back to their home country.

He said that by criticizing his proposals before the same group, Mr. Gingrich was pandering for Hispanic votes,.

“It’s very tempting to come into an audience like this and to pander to the audience,” Mr. Romney said. Later, Mr. Romney took the opportunity to recognize Mel Martinez, a former senator from Florida.

Jorge Ramos, who interviewed Mr. Romney, pressed him on his wealth and on his taxes, and asked him directly how much money he had.

“Between 150 and 200 some-odd million,” Mr. Romney said, looking a bit uncomfortable and referring Mr. Ramos to the financial disclosure reports that his campaign has filed.

Mr. Ramos noted that Mr. Romney’s father was born in Mexico and asked whether Mr. Romney could claim to be Mexican-American.

“I don’t think people would think I’m being honest if I said I was Mexican-American,” Mr. Romney said, laughing. But he added: “I would appreciate it if you could get that word out.”

Romney Defends Stance on Immigration - NYTimes.com

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.
'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.'
Theodore Roosevelt 1907

: “I would appreciate it if you could get that word out.”

Get what word out? That his dad was born in Mexico???

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Get what word out? That his dad was born in Mexico???

W

no, he was telling the Ramos person to get the word out that he could call him Mexican-American if he wanted to circulate that....

Frank Sharry of UnAmericasvoice, Univision, NCLR, Dreamies, and all the rest hate Romney!
I don't know about anyone else here, but to me that is one hell of an endorsement!

Univision posted they're interview with Gingrich, but not they're interview with Romney!

Newt's interview disgusting!

Newt Gingrich wants to put all illegal aliens into a Guest Worker program just like Bush which would change the law to accomodate and reward millions of illegal aliens. It would not be long after that before some court in America ruled that illegals could not be held in Guest Worker status for long without citizenship rights. Soon millions of illegal aliens become legal voters. Thereafter all immigration enforcement and border security is nullified and Americans stand there dumbfounded after wave after wave of millions of more illegal aliens flood in around them. Some will go quietly into the permanent submersion and slavery, others will crack up or burn out instead of fading away.

W

Guest-worker programs are not a new idea. They began as early as World War I to provide needed workers for the war effort. The next move by Congress was the Immigration Act of 1924 (also known as the National Origins Act) that favored European immigrants.

This law led to the creation on May 28, 1924, of the U.S. Border Patrol in the U.S. Department of Labor. Because the act stated that “undocumented workers” were to be considered “fugitives,” the term “illegal alien” was added to the American lexicon.

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw a rise in deportations of foreign workers, especially Mexicans. The outbreak of World War II, however, created a new need for farm workers.

In 1942, the United States and Mexico enacted the Emergency Farm Labor Importation Program, a federal effort better known as the Bracero Program. This informal agreement between the two nations created a legal guest-worker program that allowed Mexicans to do agricultural work in the United States as part of the war effort.

The Bracero Program was formalized in 1951 in federal law (P.L. 7, as an amendment to the Agriculture Act of 1949. The amendment stated that no Bracero worker could fill a job sought by a U.S. citizen, and employers had to certify that this was the case. By 1954, however, large numbers of Bracero workers were taking jobs from U.S. citizens on railroads and in construction and factories. In response, President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the deportation of these workers.

In 1956, farm labor unions began to organize Bracero workers, with Ernesto Galarza leading the way. In 1962, Arizona-born Cesar Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. Farm worker unions owe their creation and growth to the Bracero program.

In addition to legal Bracero workers, millions of undocumented Mexican workers were crossing the border illegally to take jobs with low wages and no benefits. As a result, President John F. Kennedy terminated the Bracero Program in 1964, because it was holding down wages, impacting working conditions, and denying jobs to U.S. citizens.

In its place, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA) opened wider the door to legal immigrants from developing countries. An unintended consequence was a new wave of undocumented immigrants. They preceded the mass illegal migrations that resulted from Ronald Reagan’s amnesty provisions in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and that continue today.

Despite the problems related to the Bracero Program, a 21st century guest-worker program might alleviate the current immigration crisis. Such a program might function like this:

• Workers in other countries would be able to apply for a guest-worker visa through the U.S. Consulate offices in their homeland. Workers residing in the United States illegally would be allowed to apply to the U.S. Department of State for a guest-worker visa, after paying a fine for their previous illegal entry, which would not be held against them. Background checks and health screening would be part of the application process.
• A guest-worker application would be matched with an employer application of need. The employer would state that guest workers were needed in positions left empty by U.S. citizens. Guest-worker visa holders who were laid off would be required to return to their homelands to await further work assignments. Seasonal farm workers with a visa could divide their time between their homeland and the United States.
• The U.S. employer would pay at least a minimum wage, maintain required health insurance for the job, pay worker compensation premiums, and deduct appropriate taxes. Guest workers would have the same work-place legal remedies as domestic workers.
• Guest-worker visas would be renewable, and the renewal process would be streamlined. Criminal activity by a guest worker would result in cancellation of the visa.

A new-guest worker program would be humanitarian, as it would eliminate the risks of illegal border crossings, including inhumane treatment at the hands of the drug and alien smugglers known as “coyotes.” It would not offer blanket amnesty or a “pathway to citizenship.”

Guest workers wishing to apply for legal permanent resident status would begin by learning English and taking their place in line.
http://www.newsmax.com/JamesWalsh/il...3/28/id/390888

All one has to do is read this article to understand why a Guest Worker program will not work in the 21st century. Their is no respect for any laws governing a program. They would overstay their visas, continue to have anchor babies and continue to drain our nation. They have listened to their activist groups and liberal politicans and believe they have the right to openly flaunt the laws. They are not living in the shadows, they are out in the open thumbing their nose at us.

Personally I think we need to get away from this hypenated American talk.

Originally Posted by dregerk

no, he was telling the Ramos person to get the word out that he could call him Mexican-American if he wanted to circulate that....

Let's not take what was said out of context. Personally, I think it was intended on being nothing more than a little Romney humor.